What is location sound?
Location sound is the craft of recording quality sound on location, meaning : in a a flat, a field, a train, on top of a mountain or whatever place you can think of. It require a specific skillset and equipment. It is also sometimes called field recording (usually when recording ambiances or sound effects more than people).
It can be a one person job, like often on documentaries shooting, then we usually call the operator a sound recordist (preneur de son en français).
It can be a team job, like on narrative shootings (fiction), then the work is split between the location (or production) sound mixer (ingénieur du son), the first assistant sound (1AS), also called boom operator (perchman) and depending on the film, second assistants, utilities and/or trainees. (see paragraph "titles")
A video on location sound for film
What microphones do we use for location sound?
It depends on the situation but, generally speaking, we use shotgun mics (eg. Sennheiser MKH416, DPA 4017) on a boom when outdoors and short hypercardiod mics (eg. Sennheiser MKH50, Schoeps CCM41) when indoors.
The difference between the two is that a shotgun mic has an interference tube (hence its long size) which make the microphone more directional but can affect the sound in a reverberant space.
To complement that we also put "radiomics" (HFs en Francais) directly on people.
They consist of lavalier miniature mics (eg. Sanken Cos11, DPA 6060) connected to (Ultra) High frequencies ((U)HF) transmitters (eg. lectrosonics Smdb, Sennheiser EW G4).
Additionally we might use "plant mics" (microphone hidden on set) as well as stereo pairs to capture an immersive stereo sound. Those can be setups like Mid/Side, XY, ORTF, AB etc. (here is a video on stereo ambiance recording setups)
Example (those are raw tracks, not edited nor mixed, if this sounds a bit harsh or muffled that's normal at this point) This scene is a conversation between two friends, camera is only framing Will, ambiance microphone is on a stand near the camera.
Are radio mics used only as a backup?
This a frequent misconception. Radio mics are likely to need more post-production editing to provide a clean sound than a boom mic (especially when they're hidden under clothes). However they offer more control to sound editors due to their close and constant position to the mouth. Some post-production mixers alternate between the boom mic and radiomics, other mix them together. In the end we have to make sure we get a decent sound with all mics so that post-production mixers can work properly.
Does sound naturally travel upward?
No, if we generally place microphones above people or other sources of sound it is for different reasons : sound has less obstacles, less close reflective surfaces, less clothes noises, also it is simply more practical to operate a boom from above. But sound doesn't travel upward more than in any other direction.
Can you plug a microphone in a camera and have a good sound quality?
Camera pre-amplifiers and converters (what turn the analogue signal into numeric informations) are not as good as the ones in audio recorders. Sometimes we have to send the audio from a recorder to a camera for reference, syncing purposes or to improve playback on set but the sound recorded on the camera should preferably not be used in the final product.
Can we sound proof a room by using thick blankets?
This is quite a common confusion in music recording too. It can happen that we have to use sound treatment materials such as blankets to reduce reverberation/echo in a room. However efficiently sound proofing a space (meaning keeping the sound from entering the room) requires heavy materials (e.g. rock wool) and is not a quick and easy process. Sound proofing is not the same as improving the acoustic of a room.
Can dialogues be fixed after a shooting?
ADR (automatic dialogue replacement) is the process of re-recording dialogues in studio. This can be used for technical reasons (e.g. too much background noise) or to fix an acting performance. Some big production rely heavily on ADR because recording location sound would not give good results from the beginning (set too noisy due to various engines, lights etc. typically on films with lots of VFX) .
You're free to use ADR in your film but there are constraints attached to this process :
- Budget : hiring talents for additional time, hiring re-recording mixers and studio time
- Talents availabilities
- Time : depending on the conditions this could take a few months before all the lines are successfully re-recorded
What do you get renting "expensive" gear when entry level gear actually sounds fine?
First difference is sound quality, good equipment bring a more detailed sound, less background noise, clear transients or can even give a pleasing aesthetic to a sound.
Aside from that good equipment is also easier to work with : good recorders have more functions, good HF kits have more range and less interferences, good boompoles are lighter, meaning we can be more precise in our movements etc etc. Expensive gear is also tested to endure very harsh treatment, because you don't want a microphone that stops working in the the middle of a shoot.
All of that combined makes your shoot easier and faster and save hassle on post-production so in the end it is money you spend before but that you save after.
Are sound recordist and mixers technicians or artists?
A bit of both. An amount of technical knowledge (physics, acoustics, electronics, software learning) is required. Then sound designers and mixers have generally more room to be creative but recordists can already give an artistic direction to a project. There are many ways to capture a sound.
Some people handle both camera operating and sound recording, is it necessary to hire a sound recordist even for simple jobs?
If you do it to save money, keep in mind that you take the risk (even small ) of having a low quality, faulty or even unusable sound and that it's likely to cost you more in the end than what you saved. If you have a super small budget, know that plenty of sound students and beginners are happy to work to get credits and experience, I gladly put you in relation if needed.
Also remember that sound recordists are not only microphone holders. A big part of our job is advising and solving problems. We experienced plenty difficult situations on sets and edited or mixed sounds in a studio and saw what could be done, what could be fixed or not etc. so we can make decisions on the spot to anticipate for that.
That said I think there are some specific cases where "shooting solo" can be justified, mostly in a documentary context. If you have questions about that don't hesitate to ask me.
Sound titles
Sound engineer/mixer : broad term generally describing a person mixing music or sound for film.
(Location) sound recordist : person in charge of recording sound outside of a studio.
This appellation is mostly used in the domain of sound for picture but also sometimes in other domains like orchestral recording.
Location/production sound mixer : person in charge of recording sound on a film, head of sound department. S.He monitors all mics on a set and mixes them together. On broadcast events for exemple this is the mix that is going to air. On films it mostly serves as a temporary mix that editors rely on.
Boom operator : first assistant of the location sound mixer. S.He operates the boom and put radiomics on actors.
Utility : second assistant of the location sound mixer. Handles various tasks such as managing cables or wiring actors (putting on radiomics)
Foley artist : person manipulating objects to recreate sounds in films (eg. footsteps, fabrics, bicycle sounds...) S.He has to work in pair with a foley recordist.
Sound designer : broad term designing the person creating sounds or using sounds from libraries to create the sound universe of a film, advertising, documentary etc.
Note : Sound designers and foley artists have jobs that "cross" each other but, to some extent, foleys cover "basic" and realistic sound effects while sound designers cover more complex and multi-layered sounds (engines, explosions, creatures, gunshots etc.). Foleys are also less frequent outside of narrative work.
Music composer : composes music and either create a soundtrack on a software or write music sheets that are then played by musicians. This a domain on its own.
Dialogue editor : person cleaning, repairing and editing dialogues recorded on set to be ready for mixing. S.He might also separate all non-dialogue location sound to be used for an international version.
ADR recordist : person in charge of recording ADR (see ADR paragraph). Might also be a dubbing recordist.
Re-recording mixer/post-production mixer : S.He receives all the clean location sound, sound effects, foleys, ambiances, music etc. and mixes them together. S.he comes last in the sound post-production process.
Note : Depending on the category of film/video and the scale of the production, those titles might fuse together. Eg. on a short YouTube skit, the sound designer might also handle dialogue editing and mix. On the other hand, the bigger the production is, the more people will work on it and the tasks might be split between different studios, sometimes in different countries.
The name of those titles might vary depending on countries but in a general way they should allow you to be understood by most sound professionals.
Production timeline
A film or documentary project is split into the stages of pre-production (casting actors, scouting locations, organizing in general), production (actual shooting) and post-production (video editing, color grading, sound work, visuals effects etc.).
While the two last stages have dedicated sound professionals, I would strongly advise involving at least your location sound recordist and your post-production sound mixer in the stage of pre-production. They will both advise you and consult each other on the best way to proceed.