“The more things change the more they stay the same.”
This could be a motto for the audio engineering profession because while the technology, location or source may change, the fundamentals of sound stand firmly in the grounds of physics. Indeed, this is why, for an aspirant, core concepts such as the propagation of sound, how the ear/brain complex works and frequency vs. time domain are absolutely crucial to understand in order to achieve excellence, no matter what field of audio they may find themselves drawn to.
Speaking of being drawn to a field, one of the most overlooked and exciting jobs in audio engineering today is the location recordist for film and television. Here you will find men and women working long hours (shocking, I know) often in remote locations in harsh conditions and battling the elements to capture that perfect performance. Although this time the performance is not by a musician, but by an actor and the environment.
The basics
What every location recordist has to understand is that you and your equipment should be neither seen nor heard. The shot is everything and in fact therein lays the art of capturing pristine sound while tackling the challenges of hiding your tools from the camera. That being said, a big mistake is that filmmakers often see audio as ancillary to the video aspects of the job. It is not. Bad sound can ruin a film faster than Donald Trump at a liberal rally so it is also important that you are able to do your job unhindered and without prejudice. They’ll thank you for it later.
The goal of any artistic or entertainment endeavour is to invoke an emotional response in the audience. Visual elements in film, of course, are a big part of this, but the other half is sound. Emotional involvement is the utmost definition of entertainment and good sound is paramount in achieving this. In fact, I would go so far as to say that sound conveys emotion and visual elements convey information. Combine the two well and you have a good production.
One thing to keep in mind is that, as in all fields of audio, it is almost impossible to fix a mistake after the fact. If a mistake registers even subliminally in the audience’s psyche you have not done your job properly so therefore it is best to attempt to achieve the best possible sound from the word go. You’ll thank yourself for it and so will the sound mixer.
Another important aspect is kit. The rule of thumb is to always use the best equipment you can afford because the resulting sound quality is only as good as your signal chain. This is a rule throughout all of the audio engineering disciplines. Equally important is effective microphone placement. You can have the most expensive microphone available but if you don’t know where to place it, it may as well have come from Cash Converters.
Microphones
Despite there being a wide variety of microphones on the market today for an equally wide amount of applications, it is probably worthwhile to discuss the three most common types found on today’s film set: shotgun/hyper-cardioid, cardioid and lavaliere microphones.
A “shotgun” microphone is typically long, tube-like (similar in appearance to the barrel of a gun) and is found in two common varieties: long shotgun and short shotgun. Generally a long shotgun has a narrower axis of pickup while short shotguns will have a wider pickup pattern. So, in essence, if you want to isolate certain sounds, such as dialogue, a long shotgun should be used and, conversely, if more ambient sound is required then a short shotgun is the mic of choice. The variation in pickup is achieved via the design of the microphone and its cardioid pickup pattern which can either be cardioid, super-cardioid or hyper-cardioid. These microphones are used in 90 per cent of sound for picture recording to pick up the talent and are found at the end of the boom, covered in a windsock or zeppelin, and often operated by a dedicated “boom swinger.” Even more often the boom swinger and the location recordist are one and the same person. Common shotgun microphones seen in productions include the Sennheiser MKH-416, MKH-60, Neumann KMR-81i and the Sanken CS-3.
The lavaliere microphone is the covert guerrilla of the sound for picture world and a huge aide to the location recordist. A marvel of modern engineering, these tiny microphones have capsules smaller than the head of a match and can be hidden in the most unassuming places such as the talent’s hair or behind a neck tie. They usually come in two variants: omni-directional and directional. Omni directional picks up sound in a 360 degree pattern while directional lavalieres have a narrower pickup on-axis to the capsule, such as a cardioid variant. Creatively placing these microphones can enhance a recording immensely, particularly when a microphone on a boom is just not filling the gap. They are also often used wirelessly via wireless UHF systems to conceal their signal path completely from the camera.
Of course, a location recordist is free to use whatever microphones he or she sees fit to capture what needs to be captured. This includes boundary microphones for recording discussions or audience reactions, stereo microphones for capturing sound beds and ambiance and choir mics for pickup up crowds. The recordist is an artist in his or her own right and microphones are the palette.
Portable field mixers, recorders and monitoring
The core of any location recordist’s rig is the field mixer, the recording medium and the monitoring system. This can be achieved in a variety of ways such as direct to camera, through a dedicated mixer and out to a dedicated recorder or via a mixer with an integrated recorder.
The modern advances in digital audio technology has enabled today’s location recordists to take advantage of more discrete tracks on site and downsize their rigs to more manageable proportions thanks in no small part to hard disk recording. For this reason mixers with integrated recorders from manufacturers such as Sound Devices and Nagra are common in small to medium productions. Larger productions such as feature films will sometimes require more tracks so in that case, larger, more elaborate rigs with more dedicated components may be required to handle the workload along with multiple boom operators and a dedicated recordist.
In its most basic sense a field mixer isn’t much different from its studio counterpart. It is a device, usually battery powered, that allows you to combine signals from multiple microphones and mix them down to a stereo or mono output. It typically includes two or more integrated microphone preamps, meters and headphone monitoring outputs so the recordist can monitor the recording in real time while having quick access to the essential controls needed to keep the audio in check.
As mentioned earlier, field mixers with integrated recorders have become the norm as opposed to the exception. Units such as the Nagra VI or the Sound Devices 688 or 788 have made field recordists’ jobs easier than ever with up to 16 tracks and integrated studio-quality microphone preamps available at their fingertips. As with dedicated recorders, they also include on-board time-code generation for mulit-camera sync options and often word clock I/O for connecting multiple devices. Synchronisation is paramount in field recording as it’s almost impossible to fix after the fact.
Lastly, headphone monitoring is the field recordists last stop for good sound. Without a good quality pair of headphones, monitoring what you are recording can become a nightmare. Headphones that isolate outside noise are preferable, such as the Sony MDR-7509 or Sennheiser HD-280 Pro closed-back headphones are ideal for this job. However, conceivably any good quality closed-back headphones of choice will do just as good a job and it all boils down to the preferences of the field recordist.
The wrap
The field recordist’s job is diverse, dynamic and exciting. Granted, it is hard work to carry around a heavy bag full of cables, wireless microphone systems, batteries, mixers and recorders but it can be as rewarding and complex as any job in audio today. Audio is an art form and location recording is no different. Therefore it is the location recordist’s job to take the tools at his or her disposal and perform the best capture as possible, while mitigating noise and battling the elements. At the end of it all conveying the emotive elements of the shot is key and when done correctly, the final product will be elevated beyond what the eyes can behold.
Written by Greg Bester
