Crash Course In Location Sound is a two hour live webinar that will give you an overview of location sound for film and television taught by Ric Viers, author of The Sound Effects Bible. This is your opportunity to learn the tricks of the trade as well as insider secrets to lav placement, booming techniques, plant mics and more. There will be a Q&A session, so bring your questions!

Registration is only $29.99 per person with limited seating.

Sign up for Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 9am PST
Sign up for Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 6pm PST

One attendee will win a FREE Microphone Kit from Rode Microphones (valued at $1,200*) that includes:

• (1) NTG-3 Shotgun Microphone
• (1) Blimp
• (1) Boom Pole
• (1) Boom Pole Bag

More info at The Sound Effects Bible

[Written by Tim Nielsen]

I’ve been recording with MS since I started in this industry, about 12 years ago now. There are of course many other recording techniques available, and I own microphones suited to most of them. I tried to elaborate a tiny bit on some of the other stereo techniques in my previous article, and that’s when I realized that MS really needed it’s own article.

Of all the stereo formats I record in, MS is my favorite. I find it to be the most compact, and by far the most versatile, of all the stereo recording techniques I know. It’s also a bit tricky to wrap your head around the first time you try to understand it. I remember at USC the day I asked Tom Holman, creator of THX, to explain something about MS that had been puzzling me (probably the entire idea behind it and how it worked at all). For the next hour or so, he proceeded to draw math equations on the dry-erase board. I sat, staring and dazed, occasionally nodding to feign understanding. The fact is, MS is a strange recording method.

I’ve had quite a few people, even ones I work with, tell me they don’t like MS, but many times it seems to me that they can’t tell me why. Maybe it’s simply that it’s a bit too much like voodoo. But properly done, MS recording is basically another form of XY recording. David Farmer and I, while both in New Zealand, did some tests between his Schoeps XY microphone, and my MS rig. Neither of us could hear much difference, and my memory is that both of us slightly preferred the MS rig when we felt we could hear any differences. There is really nothing to be afraid of with MS.

For those who don’t know, an MS rig consists of two microphones (or more, as there is a Schoeps Double-MS setup and I’ve personally set up and tried a Triple-MS rig of my own Frankensteinian devising). In the stereo version, there is a Mid microphone, and a Side microphone, hence the name MS Recording, or Mid-Side Recording. The mid microphone faces forward, and can be of any pickup pattern, although almost always a cardiod or hyper-cardiod microphone is used. The side mic is always a Figure-8, or bi-directional microphone, whose polar pattern is perpendicular to the front facing microphone. The two microphones are ideally very well matched, and most of us use mid microphones that have in their family a Figure-8 version as well, for instance the Schoeps MK series of capsules, the Sennheiser MKH series, or the Neumann KM100 series with AK capsules. All of these have cardiod, hyper-cardiod and Figure-8 mics available and are ideal to use in an MS setup. There are also self contained MS microphones, made by companies like Pearl and Sanken, or the Neumann RSM-191, which I know several people here use. The only reason I tend not to like microphones like the RSM-191 is that they use external powering and matrixing boxes, which I find cumbersome. But the RSM-191, the Sanken CMS-7 are very nice sounding MS microphones as well.

You can see pictures of my two MS rigs in the previous article on microphones. My rigs consist of separate microphones in an MS array, rather than a single MS microphone. In my case my first MS rig consists of a Schoeps CMC6XT / MK41 hyper-cardiod mid microphone, with a CMC6XT / MK8 side microphone. My second rig consists of a Sennheiser MKH50 hyper-cardiod mid mic, and an MKH30 Figure-8 mic.

So how exactly does MS work? Basically through some summing and phase manipulation, you can derive from the two channels, a stereo image, which will sound about the same as an XY rig aimed somewhere between 60 and 120 degrees apart. Rather than explain too much how exactly it works, I’ll simply link an article on WikiRecording that explains it better than I could.

So why record in MS instead of XY, ORTF or any other method? I’ll list some of the advantages, but first I’ll admit there are a couple of disadvantages. Let’s get them out of the way first.

The first major disadvantage to recording in this format is that MS Recording requires processing after the sounds have been recorded. This is because what you are actually recording is a forward facing microphone, and a side facing microphone, or two mono channels. Only though some summing and phase manipulation can you turn this into a stereo recording. Many recorders now have the ability to do this during the recording process, and many single MS microphones can do this internally or through the use of an external box (like the Neumann RSM-191), but most of us who use MS prefer to process the sounds in ProTools. The Sound Devices 722 that I use actually has a brilliant feature to decode MS only to the headphones, allowing me to record the raw channels, but hear the decoded stereo channels. I prefer to record MS as the raw mono channels, load the files into ProTools, and master them into stereo files. Processing consists of either using a plugin such as Waves S1 Imager (there are others) or else building a set of tracks to do the MS Decoding. If people here are really interested, I’m happy to write another article explaining more the details of building MS mastering tracks in ProTools. Just make some comments here if you want that kind of thing.

The second disadvantage is that if you decide not to master the MS recording into usable stereo, and store it as an MS file, and forget, you might have problems later. This is because the two channels of an MS recording won’t sum nicely together into mono. In fact the phase will be all over the place. If later you forget that a file in your library is MS, and you use it as stereo, you might not actually catch it just by listening to it. I’ve found that even raw MS files can dupe your ears into thinking it’s stereo. But later, especially in a film environment, in a mix for example, those channels maybe get summed together, and result in a very strange phasey sound.

But now for the advantages, and this is where it gets fun, and why I’d really encourage that your first rig or main rig be an MS Rig.

First, for a stereo recording rig, the MS system can be quite compact, compared to say XY, ORTF, Spaced Omnis, etc. Because the two microphones are placed one above the other, it’s quite easy to fit an MS Rig into a single Rycote zeppelin, even one designed for a mono microphone. In the pictures in the previous article, you can see that in practice, the smaller rigs are Schoeps rigs in mono Rycote suspensions. Unless you’re building a miniature XY set, or using a compact XY microphone, MS is going to provide you with the most compact rig.

Secondly, in an MS rig, you always have a forward facing mono microphone, and for a lot of general effects work, this is incredibly helpful. I mentioned in the previous article the usefulness of a short or medium length shotgun mic, like the Sennheiser 416. While this is true, most of the time, I’m perfectly content to use the hyper-cardiod mic in my MS rig as my mono effects microphone. The MK41 Schoeps, and the MKH50 Sennheiser in my MS rigs are not as directional as the 416. But they are actually close. Close enough for a lot of what I want to record. I’ve built some cables to connect my stereo rig in the Rycote to just one input on my 722, so I can easily use my stereo rig as a mono rig, the cable simply dropping the figure 8 channel out of the way.

Third, MS allows for post processing of the stereo image width after the recording. This can be quite useful. This is done by varying the amount of the side microphone signal against the amount of the mid microphone during processing. Pull the side microphone out completely, and you’re left with only the forward facing microphone going to both channels. Adding the signal from the side microphone back in adds width to the stereo image. This is over simplified, but the advantage of MS is that you can vary the width of your stereo image.

Fourth, a small one, but because the microphones in an MS rig are coherent (the capsules aligned vertically), stereo files derived from an MS recording are fully mono compatible, which can still be important in the film sound business. XY recordings are mono compatible too, but other methods like ORTF or Spaced Omni recordings may not be.

Fifth. OK, I’m going to reveal one of my best kept secrets. Quite some time ago, I realized something. If you’re recording in MS, you’re not recording in stereo. You are in fact recording in LCR. Think about it this way. If you recording a forward facing microphone and a side microphone, and then use them to create two stereo channels which behave like XY recording, then what happens if you add back in the raw mic microphone? Think of the screen channels across the front. Decoding the MS files into stereo give you the Left and Right. The mono forward facing microphone can give you the back the Center.

I now master most all of my MS recordings into LCR instead of stereo. Again I’m happy to build a walkthrough on how to do this in ProTools. It’s not complicated, but there are a couple of pitfalls to be avoided. But I’ve found it incredibly useful. First, LCR recordings are very useful in film. I’ll give you an example. When recording backgrounds, say you record something in stereo. Now you take that material to the mix stage. One thing that mixers tend to do, is to pan in the stereo channel to get some bleed into the center channel. They do this because they need help masking the natural background of the dialog. But this results in your nice wide stereo background now being panned into something less wide. If you instead have a natural LCR file, there is no need to pan in the sides, instead, the mixer will have a natural center channel to be brought up to fill in the center channel. I find LCR backgrounds sound incredibly natural. Things panning across now pan from Left, to Center, to Right, for instance, and the sound image for film use is very smooth and very natural. Crowds sound brilliant in LCR, as do city backgrounds, just about anything really. Just as stereo is a huge improvement over mono, I feel like LCR is a big improvement over stereo.

The other great thing about mastering your MS recordings into LCR is that you are then preserving that forward mono facing microphone. Need a mono version of the effect? You already have it, just use the center channel by itself. When mastering into LCR, you will be placing the raw forward facing mic as the center channel. Need a stereo version, no problem, just drop the center channel of the LCR and you’ll have the normal XY version of the sound. So what you are preserving is a mono, stereo, and LCR version all in the same file. Later versions of Sound Miner will supposedly allow you to just select the left and right channels of an LCR effect for spotting right to a stereo track in ProTools. This will be very useful. For now, I tend to spot to an LCR track, and from there, drag it down into three mono tracks, to allow me to work with the LCR file. It’s cumbersome, but still useful enough to me to make it worth doing.

And if I haven’t confuzzled you enough (for the definition of confuzzled please see the brilliant stop-motion film Mary and Max), here is where it gets really interesting. Imagine an XY rig, consisting of two microphones, the forward facing mono mic, and a Figure-8 microphone. Now, imagine we simply add in another mono microphone, but this time, facing backwards, in the opposite direction to the forward facing microphone. By adding in only one more microphone, we have actually now created another MS pair. This is because the side microphone will also still be facing perpendicular to the newly placed ‘rear’ microphone. It only requires the phase to be flipped the opposite way, and it will work to create backwards facing channels. Schoeps actually makes a microphone doing exactly this. It’s very expensive, but with only three channels, you can derive a quad recording.

But wait, if I told you earlier that recording MS is really recording potential LCR, then a Double-MS rig must be recording Double-LCR, or the ‘potential’ for them. A Double-MS rig can actually be decoded into Left, Center, Front, Left Rear, Center Rear, and Right Rear. Six channels can be derived from just three recording channels. This is very easy to do, once you’ve built a template in ProTools to do it.

Still with me? A few years ago, while living up in Vancouver, I had a crazy idea. To understand it, remember that I mentioned that you could use any polar pattern as a mid mic, but that mostly a cardiod or hyper-cardiod microphone is used? Now imagine we build a simple MS rig, but this time with an omnidirectional mid microphone. What this actually yields are two channels, aiming 180 degrees apart. Or imagine that using the omni, you create a stereo image that follows the polar pattern of the Figure-8 microphone. So back to my crazy idea. I realized, that in a Double-MS setup, adding in a fourth mic, an omnidirectional one, would allow me to derive two more channels, a hard left and a hard right. And actually, the omnidirectional mic itself would be placed right in the center of the image, and could be called a true ‘center’ channel, or top channel for instance. Also, since the omni would be very flat down to extended frequencies, I could use it to derive a .1 channel if I wanted. So what I came up with was that a Triple-MS rig (consisting of two hyper-cardiods, one Figure-8 and one omni) could really record 9.1 channels of info into four recording channels. With it, you could derive the following:

True Center, Left Front, Center Front, Right Front, Left Rear, Center Rear, Right Rear, Left Side, Right Side and LFE.

I am the first to admit that this is silly and fairly useless. But it does indeed work. I set up a Triple-MS rig with the Schoeps, recorded some city sounds, and mastered them in that format. I didn’t have the proper speakers to hear it in it’s full glory. And I can’t say for sure how great the separation of channels would be. And the truth is, in film work, you find that most multichannel recordings don’t sound ‘wide’ enough, so you for instance cheat another sound for the surrounds in an attempt to create that wide spacious sound you want. But hey, I love to do silly things to see if they work, and I can say that with a ridiculously elaborate ProTools session, you can indeed master four Triple-MS channels into 9.1 channels of sound.

That then is a little MS primer. Post any questions in the comments below. Later when I’m home from traveling, maybe I’ll make a screen capture movie showing MS mastering in ProTools, I don’t have ProTools with me at the moment.

But I hope that might give you some ideas of what you can do with MS.

[Written by Tim Nielsen]

My name is Tim Nielsen, and I’m a micaholic. It has been four months since my last microphone purchase, an adorable little Neumann XY set in a Mono Rycote. I bought them from a friend, because when I saw them I just had to have them. Trust me. They’re really cute. You’d want them too.

I probably won’t be writing a lot of technical articles here on Designing Sound. There seem to be plenty of those already. I don’t have much interest in sharing endless plugin settings, or even mastering chains. I don’t much care about fade file type preferences, or your scheme for color coding tracks. I have those too, but explaining mine in depth won’t really do you much good.

But maybe with regards to recording sound effects, I might have some advice that some might find useful. So today I want to write about microphones.

I bought my first microphones from one of my professors while still at USC film school. It was a Schoeps MS Rig, two CMC4 T-Powered bodies, with an MK41 mid capsule, and an MK6 side capsule. By the time I bought them, they were already 15 years old or more. Over the years I swapped out the T-Powered bodies for phantom powered ones. About three months ago I finally parted with them, selling them to a friend at Skywalker for her first rig. That’s the first thing about recording equipment, and in particular microphones. Buy good ones, as they will last you a long time. Plugins, software, computers, will all become obsolete very fast. But a good recording rig should last you a long time. I have no doubt those Schoeps mics have another 20 years in them.

So this in article, I thought I would give a run-down of the mics in my personal arsenal. It’s a bit of a running joke around the ranch, my mic collection. I’m sure Charles Maynes has beat by a long shot! :) But the truth is, every one of these mics has a purpose, even if they’re not used all that much. So here it is, a list of the mics that are currently in my possession:

• Schoeps MS Rig: CMC6XT Bodies with MK41 Mid and MK8 Side
• Sennheiser MS Rig: MKH50 Mid with MKH30 Side.
• Sennheiser MKH416 Shotgun
• Schoeps CMIT-5U Shotgun
• Sennheiser MKH816 Super-Shotgun (x2)
• Neuman XY Rig: KM00 Bodies with AK40 Capsules
• Schoeps CMC6XT with MK2 Omni (x2)
• Sennheiser MKH8020 Omni (x2)
• Telinga Stereo DAT Parabolic
• DPA 8011 Hydrophone
• Sennheiser MKH800
• Rode NT1A (x2)
• C-Ducer Ribbon Contact Mic (x2)
• AKG C411pp Contact Mic (x2)
• Sennheiser MK421 Mark II (x2)
• Countryman E3 Lavalier (x2)
• Crown SASS Mk. II

MS Rigs:

My preferred and go-to rig is always an MS rig. If I had to choose only one set of microphones from the list above, it would still be the ones I started with, a Schoeps MS Rig. Most of my friends have one. I have two MS Rigs, one based on the Schoeps and one on Sennheiser mics. Either of these would make a great single rig for a person starting out (although both are quite expensive for someone just starting out). I realized as I started to write a bit about MS that it really needs it’s own article, the part two to this one, so please check back for something more in depth about MS and some tips and tricks I’ve found.

Shotguns and Super-Shotguns:

Back when I was starting out at USC, the main rig we had at our disposal was a Nagra 4.2 and a Sennheiser 416. It was really the first high quality microphone I had a chance to play with. It’s an amazingly versatile mic, and in many way would also be a very good first microphone purchase. It’s durable, has a great sound, a narrow pickup pattern, and the design hasn’t changed in decades. It’s a very versatile go-to microphone for almost any FX work, from animal recording, doors, machines, impacts, cars, even guns. The other shotgun that I own, the Schoeps CMIT-5U is very similar in pickup pattern, but is lighter and more clinical sounding. The 816s I admit don’t get used much. They’re cumbersome, and I actually don’t much like the sound of such a long shotgun. The off axis pickup sounds bad, and these days, if I want a super narrow field, I’m more likely to grab my parabolic. The 816s do look cool though, I’ll give them points for that. And one I bought very cheap years ago, and the other I traded for a Mackie Mixer. So I didn’t spend much on them, nor wood I. I know Tim Prebble in New Zealand records with them and has gotten some amazing stuff. For me I just don’t like the sound of them so much.

But a single good medium length shotgun like the 416, the Rode NT1G, Neumann KMR81, any of these would be a nice addition to any microphone collection. But the MK41 capsule in my Schoeps MS rig, or the MKH50 in the Sennheiser rig, is already a ‘short’ shotgun, being a hyper-cardiod, and for most uses, it’s reach is enough. That’s another reason I find the MS rigs so versatile, you’re already carrying a mono FX mic as part of the MS rig.

Neumann XY Rig:

Until I bought the little Neumann KM140/AK40 combo from my friend, I had never owned an XY rig. This is simply because with two MS rigs, I found no need. MS decoded is basically XY, the sound of them is very similar. David Farmer and I did a test in New Zealand between his Schoeps XY rig, and my Schoeps MS rig, and for the most part, it was hard to tell the difference.

But XY is a versatile recording method as well, very useful for backgrounds and general stereo work. The normal downside is that because the microphones are angled (where in MS the microphones line up on top of each other) it can be cumbersome. But XY has a fairly smooth stereo image, and in the case of my XY rig, is using cardiod capsules for a fairly even stereo field. In the case of the Schoeps XY mic, or the Neumanns I have, where the bodies are separated from the capsules, it’s still possible to get both microphones into a single Rycote zeppelin. I’ll buy the AK20 figure eight capsule for this rig soon, which will allow me to quickly convert the XY rig into an MS rig by swapping out one cardiod capsule for a figure 8. This should be the ultimate travel microphone set, allowing me to record MS or XY in a tiny package.

Spaced Omnis:

Spaced omni recording is a technique that can provide a very nice stereo image, particularly for things like backgrounds. It consists exactly of what it says, two or more omni-directional microphones, spaced some distance apart, anywhere from 30 inches or so, to up to 20 feet or more. There are few rules, so really just adjust the distance between them to taste. Omnidirectional microphones have a couple of very desirable qualities. First, they tend to have very low self noise. So this technique can be used to record very quiet sounds, even the simplest of room tones, where something like an MS rig might have too much self-noise. Second, omnidirectional microphones tend to have very flat frequency responses, especially in the low end, and they often go noticeably lower than other microphones. The downside is that you need two mic stands, at some distance apart, so it’s not ideal to a run-and-gun style of recording. Because the microphones are not coincident (their capsules are not aligned vertically) there are potential phase problems if the two sides are summed to mono. It’s advisable to use a phase meter when mastering spaced omni recordings to check for phase issues.

I have two sets of omnidirectional microphones, some Schoeps CMC6XT bodies with MK2 capsules, and a pair of Sennheiser MKH8020s, which are tiny and awesome, and are exceptionally wide in their frequency response, going from 10Hz to almost 60kHz. They all sound gorgeous, very flat in their responses, very low self-noise, very natural.

A variant of the spaced omni method is to use a boundary layer in between them, for example a Jecklin Disc or a Schneider Disc (http://core-sound.com/jecklin/1.php). I have one of these, and it’s a way to get a wider stereo image without having to move the microphones so far. It’s quasi binaural recording, as the disc simulates the spaces of the human ears, and the effects on the sound that a human head has. I find I don’t use it much, as if I’m recording with spaced omnis, I prefer an even wider image than I tend to get with the disc.

Teling Stereo DAT Parabolic:

Of the fairly specialized microphones in my collection, I love this microphone the most. I’ve owned it now quite a few years, and it still amazes me how useful it is. Most people think of a parabolic for bird recording, and it is quite useful for that. But it’s also amazingly useful for other things. I remember standing in a field in Minnesota, late one summer night, recording insects with it. The incredibly narrow field of it allowed me to get very different sounding insect beds by simply moving the microphone a few inches at a time. I could single out individual crickets even. The parabolic I have is made by Telinga, and it’s actually a stereo parabolic, and so is also incredibly useful for quiet backgrounds. Because of the acoustic gain of the dish itself, the microphone is very quiet, with very low self noise. So for simple airs, winds, I find it very useful.

It’s not a cheap microphone, but honestly it’s been one of my favorite purchases, and of all the mics that my friends ask to borrow, this one is probably the the most asked for.

DAP 8011 Hydrophone:

OK, I have to admit, that this microphone, the DPA 8011 Hydrophone, doesn’t see a lot of use. And it was expensive. And yes, you can easily wrap a microphone in a condom, or buy or build some cheap hydrophones. But I wanted this one for a few other reasons. First it’s pretty much impervious to chemicals and cold. It can be frozen in a block of ice (which I did). The problem with hydrophones seems to be, no matter what you think you’re going to get, you end up with something different. Because it is a contact mic, it has to be touching something other than air to pickup any sound. In the case of freezing it in a block of ice, as soon as the ice started to melt, air formed around the microphone and it didn’t pick up any sound. I still got some interesting material by adding water back in. Some of the best recordings I’ve gotten with it were in a Jacuzzi, moving the microphone around the jets of water. I’m not sure I could advise anyone to spend the money for the DPA, the amount of really useful stuff I’ve gotten with it probably wasn’t worth it.

Sennheiser MKH800:

This is a mono studio microphone that I use mainly for recording on the Foley stage. It’s a very quiet microphone with variable pickup patterns. But the really nice feature of this microphone is that it has an extended frequency range. It is relatively flat up to about 50kHz. For recording at 96k, and with the right source material, it preserves and captures some really high end harmonics, that when pitching sound down, can keep the sound from sounding muted. Mind you, most of what you record will not have any sounds that high. But for recording metal, even human vocals, and a variety of sounds, having that extended reach can be useful. It’s not ideal for use in the field, it’s a side-address microphone, and I’ve never bothered mounting it into a zeppelin. But for War Horse, the recordists borrowed it, put it quite a ways downstream and recorded some amazing artillery bys with it. It’s the most expensive single microphone I own. Someday if I win the lottery I’ll buy another one to do some stereo recording with it.

Rode NT1A Pair:

I bought these microphones years ago for two reasons. First, they’re very inexpensive, I think $199 each. Second, they have the lowest self-noise of any microphones I own, coming in around 5dBA I think. I bought them for recording the quietest types of sounds. They don’t sound brilliant, but they’re still useful sometimes for super quiet sounds, or when I want to put a microphone in harms way without worrying too much about the cost should it get destroyed. It’s a large diaphragm studio mic though, so they’re cumbersome to use out in the field.

C-Ducer Ribbon Contact Mic Pair:

These were the first contact microphones I bought, but I wouldn’t recommend them. They sound fine, but since they were designed to install in a lid of the piano, they just don’t work well in the field. The problem is that they’re a tape / ribbon type, which I thought would be great for wrapping around things, etc. And it’s true, it works. Sort of. The problem is that the adhesive slowly lets them microphones pull away from the thing it’s touching, and you get a recording full of tiny ticks and pops any time you try and use them, unless you hold them very very tight. The AKG contact mics below were a much better purchase.

AKG C411pp Contact Mic Pair:

These are much smaller point source style contact microphones, and I find them very useful. For those who don’t know, a contact microphone (of which a Hydrophone is also an example) only pick up sound through vibration, through contact. In the air, they’re pretty much silent. But touch them to something, and they pickup the sound. And it needed be anything visibly vibrating, they’ll gladly record doors, cars, just about anything, as long as you’re touching it. This can yield some pretty interesting things. Contact mics are mostly fun because you just never know what you’re going to get. The main problem is that recordings from them are very dry sounding, unnaturally so. But for gathering sound design source material they are very useful. Glass, metal, equipment, trains, anything moving, rolling, vibrating can give you some quite interesting sounds.

Sennheiser MK421 Mark II Pair:

These are cardiod dynamic microphones that are useful mainly for very loud sounds, as they’ll handle a very high SPL. They were probably originally designed to record kick-drums. We’ve used them on guns mostly, although they’re nice sounding microphones, and would work well on anything loud, crashes, impacts, etc. They’re also not so expensive, so are another set of microphones I don’t mind letting get into harms way. Great for crashes or anything that might overload a condenser microphone.

Countryman E3 Lavalier Pair:

Having a pair of lavalier microphones in your bag can be very useful. For miking up cars, even guns. They’re also tiny and can fit into very small places, giving you interesting perspectives. They handle very high SPL, making them useful for guns, explosions, anything loud. They also tend to break easily, the wires getting ripped out. DPA makes some of the best omni lavaliers, but they’re very expensive, and I’m not sure the extra price is worth it. I know people who have built super tiny recording packages with just a pair of DPA Omnis though, and they string them up anywhere they can, using them in a spaced-omni setup. I find the E3 to be a good blend of decent quality and low price. And when someone closes the car door on them, severing the cable, I won’t be too upset. If you intend to record cars, a very common technique is to place one tapes to the underside of the hood (close it gently) and the other rigged up near the tail pipe (sometimes inside a wheel well for a back tire). Then by mixing them together you can get a nice blend of engine and exhaust.

Crown SASS Mk. II:

This is a microphone I bought on a whim. It was for sale on eBay cheap, and needed some work. $200 and a trip back to Crown saw the mic restored, and it’s been a fun mic to have around. It’s in a way similar to set of omnis in a Jecklin disc, it’s a variant of a spaced omni boundary microphone. But the mic elements are piezzo elements, and they’re placed right up against the flat surface of the microphone. While not the quietest, in fact the self noise is fairly prominent, on loud or even medium-loud sounds, it can be useful. It has a very smooth stereo image, and we’ve found it great on a variety of material, especially crowds and louder ambiences.

Next up a bit more about MS, about MS rigs, MS recording, and MS mastering, for anyone interested in learning more about it. But at the moment these are the microphones I have. Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments field below.

A few months ago, I was watching an episode of Family Guy. Peter Griffin was up to his usual antics and during one of the scenes, he was crushed by a falling piano. BAM! I scratched my head and hit rewind on the DVR. Sure enough, the piano smash they used was a sound effect that I created for a commercial library. It’s always fun to randomly hear your work.

Looking back on when I created that sound, I’m actually a little surprised at how haphazardly I recorded back then. When I first started, I didn’t have very good monitors. In fact, all I had was a pair of high end computer speakers and a good pair of headphones. I recorded on DAT recorders which are extremely noisy compared to today’s low-end handheld recorders. Thankfully, I had really good microphones. I created several libraries for major companies using this set up and grew my studio as the work increased.

The piano crash was a combination of a couple of random keys slammed on a grand piano. The recorder was a Sony TCD-8 Walkman DAT recorder. The microphone was the cheap one that came with the unit. The wood smashes and splinters came out of a recording session on a stage. Those elements were recorded with a MKH-416 on a Sony TCD-10 DAT recorder. I mixed the elements together and designed several effects that ended up in a sound library. Nobody knew how the sounds were recorded. They heard the sounds for what they were. Years later, the sounds I created with my beginner package are still being used by professionals.

The point is you don’t need a million dollar studio to achieve million dollar sound!

Mark Mangini told me a story about how he needed a simple sound at the last minute during a mix session at Todd AO for a major film. I don’t recall exactly what the sound was – a pen being set down or something like that. He giggled and told me he whipped out his Zoom recorder and recorded the sound right there on the mix desk. So, in a facility with millions of dollars worth or recorders, mixers and microphones, he used a recorder that could fit in his pocket.

It’s easy to get hung up on gear. But don’t confuse gear with quality. Techniques will always trump the technology. Always.

Gear is a money pit. It’s a trap. It’s fool’s gold. You can sit and stare at catalogs all day and drool over a certain piece of gear, convincing yourself that if you only had this one piece of gear your sound would be amazing. Then, you save up and buy it. It sounds great. Then, a month later, you see something else in the catalog and convince yourself that if you only had this one more piece of gear…

Stop! Put your hands in the air and step away from the catalog. You’re chasing your tail and you’ll never catch it.

You are an artist. The artist paints the picture, not the brushes. Brushes are important, but a true artist knows that he could use his fingers to create art if he didn’t have brushes. The bottom line: don’t wait for that dream studio before you start your career. Press the red button and get started now!

Record, record, record! Edit, design, mix, rinse and repeat.

The White Album by the Beatles is one of the greatest albums of all time. What’s funny is that for less than $2,000, you can go to Guitar Center and by software, mics and even monitors that would probably surpass the quality of the equipment the Beatles used to record that album. This is unbelievable, but true. Digital technology has leveled the playing field. A laptop rig can produce higher quality recordings than what the Fab Four used to record legendary songs.

Don’t let the size of your mic cabinet determine whether or not you are a professional. Start developing your craft now. As the paying gigs come, you can always upgrade. But, don’t wait for the upgrade to get started.

Here are a few tips to help you achieve that “million dollar” sound.

1. Where you position the mic is far more important than which mic you use. This one should be a no-brainer. Mic placement is everything when it comes to recording. A bad mic in a good place will sound better than a good mic in a bad place. Find the sound source and choose an optimal position to capture that sound. If you aren’t using all of the tracks on your recorder, try experimenting by putting additional mics in different places. You can mix them together or choose your favorite position in the edit. A nice trick, if you are recording in mono is to set up a second mic with a level that’s 6-12dB lower than your primary mic. This will give you a back up track, just in case the first track clips, peaks or if something bumps the stand during the take.

2. Recording with good levels on a cheap recorder will give you better quality than recording with poor levels on a great recorder. Preamps are the most important feature I look for in a recorder. A recorder with poor preamps is nothing more than a high tech paper weight. But even with quality preamps, if your signal is too low you will get noise when you amplify the sound in post. Always record at the hottest level possible. You can always back it down later, but you can’t increase poor levels without introducing noise. Quick side note: If you are recording something that is super quiet, for example a grasshopper shaving his beard, you aren’t going to get ‘great’ levels. Don’t turn the mic preamps too far past unity, or you could introduce system noise. Most nature ambiences are the same way.

3. Spend your money on gear that will make a difference, but save on the things that really don’t. Gold plated, super high-end microphone cables that were manufactured by angels up in heaven will not sound better than a cable that costs a third of the price. You have better things to spend your money on. Don’t fall into the trap that a single cable will increase the quality of your work. Buy good cables so that they will last longer and handle the rigors of the field, not because they were hand crafted by pixies. I’ve put a $60 cable next to a $15 cable and ran tests with no noticeable difference to the ears. Perhaps, if we put them both on scopes we could see unique signatures that would prove that one was better than the other, but the audience won’t do that. Remember, consumers think MP3s sound better than CDs.

4. Where you record is one of the most important ingredients for recording good sound effects. I would rather record in a quiet location with a $2,000 gear package than in a noisy, reverberant location with a $20,000 gear package. Unless you are going for a specific effect, try to record your material dry. You can always add effects later, but you can’t take the effect out once it’s been recorded. That said, if something spontaneous comes up, but the location is not optimal, record anyways. You never know when you’ll hit pay dirt. However, if you’re lining up a location to record footsteps, avoid setting up in a building next door to the airport.

5. Avoid over-processing your sounds. Compressors, equalizers, noise reducers and reverbs are all very useful tools. But, like salt, can spoil the taste if overused. When building your sound libraries, go with the less is more approach. Your goal is to create sound effects that can be tweaked and processed later. If you go too heavy on compression when you master the file, you’ll be stuck with those dynamics. However, if you leave the original dynamics in the file, the file becomes more versatile later. The same goes with reverbs and equalization. There are times when you’ll want to over process and go nuts with creativity. That’s great if you end up there. But, if you start there with a processed file, you’ll have nowhere else to go.

6. Monitor at consistent levels. Switching back and forth between loud and soft levels can be deceptive to your ears and lead to poor decision making. This is true for headphones and for studio monitors. Find that happy spot where it sounds “just right” and stay there. Don’t touch that dial! Occasionally, you’ll need to crank up your levels to check for noise or other background problems, but be sure to return the knob to the same level. If not, you’ll end up with weird and inconsistent levels in your mixes throughout the day. Never work at levels that leave your ears sore at the end of the day. When in doubt, work at a lower level and stay there.

7. Your creativity. If you’re not a song writer, a $10,000 limited edition Les Paul will not do you any good. Conversely, if you’re not creative, a $10,000 studio is not going to be of much use to you either. Don’t get hung up on what you see outside of yourself – gear, projects, other sound designer’s techniques and work. Focus on what you see inside of yourself. I might have a bigger recording studio than you, but you might have better ideas than me. Therefore, your work might sound far better than anything I could produce. Remember Mr. Miyaga from the Karate Kid? He told Danielson that Karate is not in his head it’s in his heart. Sound design is not in your rack, it’s inside you.

I have a tattoo on my right arm that my wife designed for me. It’s a deck of cards with the Ace of Spades sticking out from the bottom. It’s there to remind me that life is five card stud, not five card draw. You can’t ask for different cards. You have to play the cards you’re dealt. You can sit and complain about your parents, your city, and even your economic status all of your life and nothing will change. Or, you can sit up at the table and play the game with what you were dealt. But, don’t worry – you can still win a round of poker with a crappy hand as long as you play your cards right.

The whole point I’m trying to make is don’t waste your time waiting for something to come along to make you a better sound designer (school, projects, money, gear, a different city or country). Look around at what you do have and start there.

Avoid getting blinded by the flashing LEDs on that new piece of gear and save your money for the things that really matter. Remember, even though the Imperial Army had more advanced weapons, they were defeated by Ewoks using only sticks and stones.

[Ric Viers has prepared a series of quick videos, where he will be sharing some useful tips and tricks for anyone who records sound effects in the field. All the videos were produced directly from the Detroit Chop Shop and will be published exclusively on Designing Sound TV during this month]

Today, let’s go with the second part of tips for using mic stands.

Watch the video on DSTV

If you want to stay tuned for new videos, just check here.

Recording in the field is like camping: you only have the supplies you take with you! When you go camping, you are separating yourself from your daily amenities. For me, I think camping is a little funny. Most people want to ‘get away from it all’, but when they go camping, they bring it all with them. Why? They need their creature comforts!

Nothing can spoil a camping trip like forgetting the right supplies. For example, you can spend all day searching for the perfect campsite, but that trip can quickly turn into a nightmare if you forgot your tent! So, it’s important to plan ahead and pack accordingly.

Smart campers will air-out their camping gear. When they get ready to pack, they’ll line everything up outside of their storage bins and work a checklist to make sure that everything is accounted for. Experienced campers will even return from a camping trip and make a list of things they forgot to bring or didn’t even think about bringing until they went into the woods.

Here’s a list of ten things that I recommend you take into the field when you head out to record.

1. Mic Stand

A microphone stand is a very useful tool when recording in the field. If you are recording alone, you can use the stand to hold your microphone for you while you perform with the item you want to record. It can also be helpful when recording long ambience tracks. During long takes, your arm will get tired, especially if the bulk of your day is dedicated to ambience recording. A mic stand will give your arm a break and will also make sure the mic doesn’t move or pick up any handling noise. Don’t forget mic thread adaptors if you plan on mounting a pistol grip or blimp on your mic stand. These items have special threads for a boom pole that will not fit standard mic threads.

2. Boom Pole

A boom pole is basically a handheld mic stand that can put your mic closer to the sound. This can be useful for miking birds up in a tree, extending your mic towards a basketball net or following someone on ice skates as they pass by. There are two types of boom poles to choose from: cabled and uncabled. A cabled boom pole provides the convenience of having a coiled mic cable mounted through the inside of the pole. This allows the pole to be extended and retracted with the cable. The catch is, if the pole moves too abruptly, the mic cable bounces against the sides of the pole introducing handling noise into the mic. An uncabled pole reduces this problem because you wrap the cable on the outside of the pole. You loose the convenience of simply extending the pole at will because you have to wrap the cable each time. Wearing gloves can help reduce handling noise when working with a boom pole. Newer boom poles eliminate this problem by providing foam handles on the end of the pole.

3. Gaffer’s Tape

This heavy duty, non-stick adhesive is the Porsche version of duct tape. It’s found on every film set, theatrical stage and television studio the world over. Gaffer’s tape (a.k.a. movie tape or g-tape) can help quiet objects, mark out action areas (e.g. drop that television set right… here), and of course, hold things together. I always carry a roll with me and I even leave little strips on gear so that if I forget the roll, I still have something to work with. It comes in many colors, but trust me black is the best!

4. Leatherman / Multipurpose Tool

These little lifesavers are great for repairing gear, loosening stubborn mic stand adaptors and tightening or loosing objects to get that perfect squeak to record. The Leatherman brand claims to be indestructible, but I’m already on my third pair (the first one broke and the second one is… well, I can’t remember). Keep in mind, they have a knife inside, so don’t try to bring one on a plane or in a courtroom.

5. Extra Batteries

Back in 2000, I was working with MSNBC traveling around with Al Gore while he was campaigning to be president. I had packed everything I would ever need for the trip, including cases of batteries. At one event, literally minutes before Al Gore took the stage, the batteries in my field mixer died. I was shocked. These were brand new batteries that I just checked five minutes before hand. So, I grabbed a new set of batteries from a brand new case. The new ones were dead too! Two more sets later, I realized that I had been sold a case of dead batteries, despite a valid expiration date. A fellow sound mixer noticed my plight and gave me a fresh set.

I always tell that story to new interns who come to work at the Chop Shop. Just last week, we were packing for a location that was an hour drive to the middle of nowhere. I asked if he had extra batteries. He didn’t. I grumbled a little bit and grabbed an extra case of batteries for him. He politely protested, telling me that he had enough batteries. Sure enough, we got on location and his ‘fresh’ batteries died within twenty minutes! Had I not packed enough, we would have been screwed. The point is, bring extra batteries!

6. Extra Media

Media, like compact flash cards, is less likely to randomly die on you. You should bring extra media for two reasons. One, it’s cheap but priceless if you need another hour’s worth of record time. You never know when you’ll hit pay dirt with a location and need to extend your session. Two, if something happens to your media the show can still go on. For example, you accidentally drop your media in water, the card craps out for some strange reason, or gets confiscated by border patrol (which happened to a Chop Shop crew once).

7. Extra Mic Cables

Okay, so I’m going a little heavy on the “extra” factor, but unfortunately, this is because I’ve learned the hard way! I’ve had brand new cables that shorted out on me. I’ve had cables get cut by falling objects, sharp corners and even by a mindless stage hand once at a Limp Bizkit concert that resulted in Fred Durst calling me nasty things from the stage (long story…). The point is, without a cable, your microphone is useless. And of all the gear you have, the mic cable is the most likely candidate for failure. Think of an extra cable as a $20 insurance policy.

8. Cell Phone

Insert random “Ric’s an old fart” joke here. Okay, you youngsters! I’m fully aware that everyone has a cell phone nowadays. I didn’t see my first cell phone until years after college when the bass player of my band bought one. And yes, he was rich.

Ok, so everyone’s got one, including your Grandma who insists on texting you every Saturday to ask why you won’t come over to visit. Why would I suggest one? Well, because cell phones are basically really tiny laptops that carry very useful apps that you can use during your recording sessions. You can use map and GPS apps to find places to record or places to avoid. There are notepads to help log interesting things that take place during your sessions. And, of course, the camera!

Taking pictures of everything I record was a pipedream when I first got started. Today, I take pictures of just about everything, including useful information like model numbers of electric tools and motors that I’m unfamiliar with. This gives me a reference to Google later so I can give the sound file the proper description. Plus, you can take pics of your gear in action and post them on the Sound Effects Bible Facebook page!

9. Quiet Clothes

A few weeks back, I was recording some ambiences out in the snow. The snow turned into sleet and suddenly, my mic started to short out. My perfect forest ambiences were littered with this high pitched crackle noise. I headed back to my truck to see what was wrong with the mic. Surprisingly, the crackle went away once I got into the truck. What? I stepped back outside. There it was again! A few seconds later, I realized that the leather coat I had on was giving the sleet a hard surface to land on, thus creating the crackle noise.

Wearing soft and quiet clothes is important when recording. Most of the time, you want to avoid moving and creating the sound yourself. In the case of the sleet, my clothes became a surface that was creating the extraneous noise. When choosing clothes to wear remember that you might have to move your arms during a take. This is especially true if you are performing the sounds in front of the mic. So, pick something that gives you a little flexibility to move without making noise.

10. Creativity!

Gear is useless if you don’t know what you’re doing. But, knowing what you’re doing is useless if you’re not creative. Bring your thinking cap! Choose a quiet one, though.

(Play inspirational military music while reading this next paragraph.)

In the field, you will face challenges. You will be forced to think outside the headphones. Things will go wrong and gear will break. But, you can still bring home useful recordings if you use your creativity.

(End musical cue.)

More times than not, I’ll leave a location with a ton of material that I didn’t plan on recording. A few weeks back, we went to a YMCA to record fitness sounds and came back with an hour’s worth of mechanical motors from a large maintenance room that we were given access to. Survey the location with your ears, not your eyes. Your eyes can quickly discourage you from choosing a good location. Your imagination and creativity is the most important thing you can take with you in the field.

During this month, our special guest Ric Viers has created an special promotion exclusively for Designing Sound readers, called The Sound Effects Bible Starter Kit, a package that includes three great products at an affordable price. Below are the details:

The Sound Effects Bible

According to George Lucas, “Sound is half the experience”. The Sound Effects Bible is the complete guide to recording, editing, and designing your own sound effects. If it snaps, crackles, pops, crashes, booms or bangs, it can be found somewhere in this first-ever book on the black art of Foley and sound effects. Imagine how your movies will come to life when you use the tried-and-true sound techniques that give films like The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean and There Will Be Blood deeper dimensions in storytelling.

This definitive book covers microphone selection, field recorders, the ABCs of digital audio, understanding digital audio workstations, building your own Foley stage, designing your own editing studio, sound design, and much more.

The Sound Effects Bible Hard Drive

The Sound Effects Bible Hard Drive is a collection of 5,000 sound effects recorded by Ric Viers and his team at the Detroit Chop Shop including close to 2,000 new and previously unreleased sound effects. All of the sounds were recorded at 24/96KHz, along with a small selection of unique 16/44.1KHz sounds that were pulled from the Detroit Chop Shop archives.

The sounds are delivered as 24-Bit/48kHz broadcast .WAV files complete with metadata that is compatible with your favorite search engine and are neatly sorted into 25 category folders: Ambience, Animals, Cartoon, Emergency, Explosions, Fire, Foley, Food, Footsteps, Horror, Horror Production Elements, Household, Humans, Imapcts, Industry, Multimedia, Office, Production Elements, Science Fiction, Sports, Technology, Vehicles, Warfare, Water and Weather.

Rode Blimp

The Rode Blimp is a complete windshield and shock mounting accessory for any shotgun microphone up to 325mm in length. Features an adjustable dual hoop suspension system, 3/8″ thread attachment at the base (for boompoles, tripods) and includes an Dead Wombat windshield and tail cable.

Price and Shipping

The price is $699 (retail price of the whole kit would be $1324). It ships worldwide (standard shipping) and it’s available right now.

Note: The only way to access the promotion is this page, so please don’t follow any external link that is not related with Designing Sound.

Field recording is defined as any recording made outside of a controlled studio environment.  So, pretty much any audio recording you make whether it’s in a garage, your backyard or out in the middle of nowhere is considered field recording.  Recording inside a studio is already challenging enough, but add in portable equipment, wind noise, airplanes, birds and all of those unpredictable annoyances and you’ve got yourself a real challenge!  If you enjoy fresh air, meeting interesting people and doing things that can be down right fun, then field recording is definitely for you.

The purposes of field recording

There is a quite a variety of reasons for sending recordists and their gear into the ‘field’.  Film and TV productions, newscasts, sound effects libraries, games and even music production all have dedicated professionals who’s task is to capture clean audio no matter what the situation. Working as a field recordist can put you in a wide range of situations and all with some definite challenges.

• As part of a film or TV production crew, the field recordist (also referred to as ‘sound recordist’ in this case) is not only expected to record actor dialog and specific sounds that may be happening in a scene, but to record ‘on location’ sounds for later sound design, location ambience and room tone for Automated Dialog Replacement (ADR).  Each of these tasks requires a specific thought process and sometimes different equipment to accomplish successfully.  As part of a location sound team, the variety of recording activity and the pace of the shooting schedule will keep you hopping.

• Live action news teams typically have a dedicated sound recordist who’s job is to make the on-air talent not only sound good but to record ‘story’ related sounds as well.  If the focus of the segment makes a sound, it’s a good idea to let the audience hear it.  These folks often find themselves in wildly unpredictable and uncontrolled situations as they chase down dramatic news stories.

• Sound effects libraries have to be recorded by someone and this is one instance where field recordists really get to show off their skills.  Recording everything from ambience to explosions, crickets to jet aircraft, there are plenty of noise making objects to be collected and cataloged, so there is plenty for these folks to do.  And knowing fellow sound designers will be listening very critically and using them in their work is a great motivator to get it right.  Plus having a viable and usable collection of sounds is a nice feather in your cap.

• Games require fresh sounds for practically every production.  Ambience and sound effects are the main focus of field recordists in this corner of the industry as they’re often found pointing microphones at typical subjects like weapons, exotic cars, military vehicles, aircraft, animals and junk yards.  These sounds are collected to be used ‘as is’ or as elements in the sound design creation process – so no sound is a bad sound.

• Music production is a little known venue for field recordist but one where they can play a major role in a performance.   For in-studio productions, ambience or sounds which help support the ‘story’ are often used, especially in the ambient genre, and non-musical sounds can be used as musical elements in beats or as percussion.  Recorded live music productions will typically require audience reactions as well as location related sound needs for television simulcast and future CD/DVD releases.

There are a wide variety of opportunities in field recording, and whether you focus on one specific corner of the profession or become adept at them all, your skills and talents will play a major role in any production. And, with the variety, you’ll find yourself placed in exciting situations and always challenged – plus, the pay isn’t bad either.

Field recording prep

Before running  full throttle into the great unknown, it’s wise to take a moment of pause to evaluate what you’re facing and plan for every contingency. It can be incredibly difficult choreographing the intricate ballet of the logistics involved to not only get the recordists and equipment to the field but scheduling the location, finding and gathering the recording subjects (such as tanks, exotic cars, weapons, etc) and their special needs, that you can’t take the preparation phase too lightly. There’s nothing worse than having one cog in the wheel derail the entire session , so this is the time to ensure you’ll be able to get what you came for no matter what.

Here’s a few things to consider before recording day:

Define the objective of the recordings. Identifying the purpose of the sounds and how they will fit into the production will help get your planning off to a good start. Will the recorded ambience playback in surround? Is the car engine you’re recording a ‘signature sound’ that will be front and center in the production? Is the sound meant only as a low priority item which will be buried under explosions and gunfire? Knowing the sounds importance, priority and use within the project will determine the amount of effort needed to capture it. Also knowing whether the sounds will be recorded for a big budget flick or for a cell phone game will also provide appropriate direction.

Define the sounds needed.  Make sure you have a solid list of required sounds before making any plans since these will determine your equipment needs, recording techniques, crew and location. Most field recordists like to take advantage of the access they have to a subject and will typically record every sound that object can make while it’s sitting in front of them.  But, a tight budget and schedule can preclude any extra recordings other than what is specifically needed. If you only need to collect static vehicle sounds, for example, then you won’t need to worry about how to record the vehicle as it blazes down the road at 100 miles per hour. And if you did need sounds of an exotic car traveling at high speeds, you’ll need to find an appropriate place to make that happen – a safe place where the drivers can open ‘er up, that is relatively quiet and within budget. Knowing what specific sounds you need will lead you another step closer to the big day.

What is the available budget? Budget constraints will affect the equipment you rent, the size of your team, the location you use and a myriad of other factors. Knowing what you have to work with will help balance these factors against obtaining quality recordings and a decent paycheck. Recording in your backyard with your own car is one way to satisfy the needs of a low budget project. The opposite end of the spectrum will allow for track rental, suped-up vehicles with professional drivers, a team of experienced recordists and top-notch equipment. Either way, your challenge will be to remain within the budget and grab great sounds.

What equipment do you have available?  Take inventory of the field recorders, microphones and all of the accessories you have access to early in the process. Your collection of gear will grow for each project but only having a Zoom H2 on hand to record gun shots might not have the best results. Factor equipment rental into the budget if you need but exhaust your on-hand gear first in an effort to keep the ‘to-do’ list short. Knowing what you have to work with will help determine recording methods and your plan of attack ready for D-day.

Anticipate the recording conditions and scout the location. Having some idea whether the location of choice will be acceptable is definitely something you need to know before the day you show up to record. Even if you plan to head out to the middle of nowhere, it’s no guarantee there won’t be issues. Is it under a busy flight path?  Is it a popular area for off-roading? Is there wildlife, especially birds and insects, who might pose noise challenges? If you happen to be renting warehouse or shop space, are there local businesses that might have noisy equipment running? Don’t forget the weather forecast too. Rain, wind or temperature extremes will be a definite factor. Check out your location beforehand, and if you have to, find another place, day or time to record. If you are stuck with it, though, you’ll be a step ahead and can plan accordingly.

Plan for necessary staff. If the field recording session calls for a single person ‘running and gunning’ or several crew members to cover all of the bases, it’s a good idea to think the process through and decide in advance. Too many folks standing around tend to be a distraction, too few puts undo pressure on the crew on-site. As a good rule of thumb, make sure each person has a specific duty to perform and reason to be there. One person should be ‘in charge’ as the recording supervisor. Specific recordists who focus on capturing the best audio and handle the gear and should be appointed. Larger sessions might require assistants to set up mics, run cable and control curious onlookers. Sessions which have an element of danger, such as when recording weapons, explosions or heavy machinery, it’s a smart idea to contract a medic or ambulance service depending on the risk. Additionally, having a consultant on crew who is highly knowledgeable about the subjects you are recording will ensure you get what you came for and are usually worth their weight in gold.

Equipment choices

Once you have an idea of what you’re hoping to record, the equipment you may already have available, the proposed location, a budget and a crew, it’s time to decide what you really need to make it all happen. Like a combat unit choosing weapons, ammunition and supplies based on their mission, developing a mindset that you are in fact heading into ‘battle’ will ensure an excellent probability of success. The choice of microphones, recorders and accessories can make or break a recording session and nothing is more heartbreaking than showing up in the field with the wrong gear. Remember, you don’t have to own all of the gear you use and it’s typically more practical to rent.

Field Microphones

Microphones come in all shapes and sizes and having the right one pointed at the sound can make a huge difference.  The most expensive one isn’t always the best choice and the one that is perfect won’t always be practical. Field recording can often be a bit of compromise as you evaluate the conditions, sounds and equipment, the microphone you pick for any given situation can either solve prevalent issues or make them worse. Remember, sometimes microphones are chosen specifically for what they can’t hear rather than what they do.

Let’s face it, there are so many types of microphones to choose from that it becomes a real effort to find the right one for each situation. Most field recordists have their ‘go to’ mics, the ones they grab first whether it’s because they like the way it colors the sound or because they always have good luck with it. But, until your experience guides you, there are more scientific ways of choosing a useable mic for a given challenge.

Microphone types

There are basically two distinctions of microphones – ‘type’ and ‘polarity pattern’. ‘Type’ refers to the physical construction and characteristics of the mic, ‘polarity pattern’ describes how the microphone hears sound. Both have equal influence when deciding what is best for a given situation and should be given close consideration when making your choices.

Types

• Stereo - These types of microphones are designed to capture a stereo image using a standard XY pattern, MS (mid/side) or matched pair configuration.  These are great for ambience and sound effects when required in stereo format.

• Shotguns - From short shotguns to long, mono and stereo versions, these mics capture a narrow focused image of whatever sound it is pointed at and reject sound to the sides and rear.  These are perfect for recording dialog during a scene or any other sound that needs to be brought ‘closer’ or separated from other sounds.

• General purpose - Utilitarian microphones which can be used in a wide variety of situations, these are great for general sound effects, voice and any other instances when a mono format is desired.

• Lavalieres - These tiny microphones are designed specifically to capture voice in a variety of situations but their small size can be useful for other applications when the size of another mic is an issue.

• Dynamic - These mics are generally robust, inexpensive, resistant to moisture and can handle sounds with heavy attacks, such as gunshots and snare drums with ease.  Their sensitivity doesn’t allow them to capture quiet sounds well but are great with loud sounds.

• Condenser - Capable of capturing very quiet sounds, these powered microphones are perfect for whispers, quiet ambience and other sounds where their subtle nuances are desired.

• Miscellaneous - In addition to the standard field microphones, other mics offer solutions to very specific needs.  Contact mics record the vibrations of an object and are not susceptible to issues ‘sound wave’ capturing mics do.  Hydrophones are specifically designed to record sounds in liquid.  Binaural microphones simulate how a person would hear a sound, typically a ‘head’ and microphones for ‘ears’.  Surround microphones have six mics placed in an array to capture sound from each direction for playback on a 5.1 system.

Polarity patterns -

– Omni-directional – The omni pattern has a equal response at all angles with a full 360 pickup angle. These mics have a very natural sound and are good if the room or space ambience is desirable.

Use omni-directional:

• Where the sound source to microphone distance is small so that the fact that it is non-directional does not cause a severe disadvantage.
• Where the source is a ‘talker’ and the mic can be very close, right in front of them.  This type is less susceptible to popping and no bass boost (proximity effect) from close use.
• When wind is a significant problem.  Pressure-sensitive microphones respond much less to wind noise than directional or velocity sensitive mics.
• Because of the requirement for a small size such as a lavaliere or planted mic.
• When multiple, spaced omni’s are used in one type of stereophonic recording – useful with certain large-scale effects such as a train moving past the array of mics.

– Cardioids – The unidirectional pattern is most sensitive to sound arriving from the front of the mic and much less from the rear.  The most common type is the heart-shaped pattern and should be used if a more isolated pick-up is desired.

Use cardioids:

• When the sound field can be differentiated into desired sound coming from one direction and undesired sound from 180 degrees away such as placing a mic near a speaker on a busy street and pointing the mic at the talker and the back of the mic to the street.
• Note that cardioids, while the most common type of directional mic, are not widely used in film making (as in music recording or public address systems), hyper- and super-cardioids are used to discriminate against noise and reverberation in these cases.

– Super/hyper- cardioids – Unidirectional mics come in other variations like the super-cardioid and hyper-cardioid.  These have a very focused pattern and are used when the source is far away or there is a lot of ambient noise to deal with.

Use hyper- and super-cardioids:

• When you want to discriminate against reverberation and have a mic with a relatively small size.
• Where the source of noise can be placed in the null zone between 110 to 126 degrees from the front and the desired source is on axis such as on a boom capturing an actor on-mic and placing the camera in the ‘null’ – typically with noisy film cameras.
• These considerations lead to the selection of these mics for boom use.

Use short shotguns:

• For greater discrimination against reverberation and noise at high frequencies although they are equal in bass and mid range frequencies.
• When, if the actor/event is moving, a boom operator can’t accurately aim the mic because of poor off-axis sound.
• The most often used boom microphone.

Use long shotguns:

• For the greatest discrimination against off-axis sound over a wider frequency range than the short shotgun.
• Outdoors, for wide shots, dolly shots and when the sound source is further away than normal.
• Indoor use is not generally recommended because the interaction of the complex polar pattern of this mic type with room acoustics leads to coloration.

Microphone selection factors

Unfortunately, it takes much more than simply picking a type and polarity pattern for the perfect mic to stand out – although it is a good start. How do you plan to mount the mic? What are conditions like on location? Are there any weather extremes which might be a concern? Answering appropriate questions which are specific to your mission will help you close in on the right equipment.

• Visible characteristics. The size of the microphone can impact the decision if it must be carried all day or if cramped space requires something small.  For example, large microphones are difficult to mount inside of an engine compartment when gathering vehicle sounds under driving scenarios – a lavaliere would make better sense than a long shotgun.  Additionally, the method of mounting the mic may be a factor if a shock mount, mic stand, blimp, boom pole or gaffers tape are used.

• The method the mic uses to change acoustic energy or ‘sound’ into electrical energy. There are advantages and disadvantages to using pressure or velocity sensitive mics, especially when wind noise is a factor. Contact mics are an entirely different sort of mic in this respect and are able to capture sounds from an interesting, non-sound wave perspective.

• Directional characteristics (polar pattern). Whether you intend to collect sounds from a full 360 degrees around the microphone or from a focused area, the polar pattern selection is not only chosen because of the direction of the wanted sound but often as a way to minimize unwanted sounds.

• Susceptibility to wind and handling noise. Wind is by far one of the biggest challenges of field recording and having a microphone which is able to ‘ignore’ its effects can sometimes save the day. Wind covers and other accessories can be effective but sometimes the right microphone makes all of the difference. Many field mics come with a ‘low cut/high pass’ feature as well which can minimize wind and handling noise.

• Coverage of the frequency spectrum without discrimination. Microphones are designed to be as generally flat in their frequency response as possible but due to their construction and circuitry will have bumps or dips in various spots along the spectrum. If the fundamental frequency you are recording is within the ‘flat’ portion of the mics frequency response, then you can expect no coloration unless that is what you’re looking for. Other interesting ‘features’, such as with some lavaliere microphones, have a bump in the higher frequencies to actually compensate for these mics hidden underneath an actor’s clothing.

• Coverage of the polar pattern across the frequencies. Unfortunately, frequency response isn’t always consistent throughout the entire polarity pattern of the mic. This isn’t so much a concern when using a shotgun mic, for example, but if the desired sound covers a wider area such as in ambience recordings, a better representation can be captured if the frequencies are constant throughout the entire pattern.

• Power requirements. If the microphone of choice requires power, this added condition will need a reliable source.  Some mics utilize internal batteries or can be powered from the recorder with phantom power, neither of which will impact a mobile setup other than restricting your choice of recorders.  Others that require a separate power supply might influence your ability to stay mobile.  Ensure the power requirements don’t hamper your capabilities.

• Susceptibility to temperature and humidity. Extreme hot or cold conditions can not only affect the human equation but the gear as well. Batteries tend to become unreliable in cold conditions and equipment that usually runs hot increase the chance of damage or failure. Also, the overall sound and capabilities of a microphone, especially the delicate diaphragm when heated or cooled, can color the sound in ways that can make you cringe. If your location is going to be a challenge, research the equipment that can withstand the temperature and use it.

• Ability to handle loud and soft sounds. Recording sounds with a large dynamic range can test even the most experienced recordists. It’s challenging enough to record strictly loud or soft sounds on their own but when sessions are mixed, such as when recording gunshots and weapons Foley, microphones which can record both equally as well is a plus. Knowing what types of sounds you’re heading out into the field to record will ensure you take the mic that can handle both extremes when needed is a good thing.

• Ruggedness. Studio mics are typically more delicate due to their need to capture the smallest nuances of instruments and vocals, and that’s not to say you couldn’t take some nice large diaphragm condensers to the field if needed, but why bother if the mic can’t take the more demanding conditions? Ensure the mic selection is robust enough to handle the journey, being mounted to a vibrating, jostling vehicle, for example, and being knocked around by overly aggressive ninja recordists.

• And finally, how the mic sounds. Unfortunately, how the mic sounds can’t always be the first reason to choose one but it should weigh in as part of your decision. Some mics sound REALLY good no matter what you point them at and if they meet other criteria in your list, then these should be part of your arsenal. If you have several which are worthy, always choose the one which will capture your sounds the cleanest and in the highest quality because after all, you’re reputation and future employment possibilities are on the line.

More coming up! Part 2 will continue with recorder choices, field recording accessories and recording techniques.

Written by Aaron Marks for Designing Sound.

I’d like to talk a little on the perception of sound. We’ve mentioned how intangible it is, and therefore our perception of it is wide open to our own interpretation. I like this definition of Perception, as found on Wikipedia:

“The processes of perception routinely alter what humans see. When people view something with a preconceived concept about it, they tend to take those concepts and see them whether or not they are there. This problem stems from the fact that humans are unable to understand new information, without the inherent bias of their previous knowledge. A person’s knowledge creates his or her reality as much as the truth, because the human mind can only contemplate that to which it has been exposed. When objects are viewed without understanding, the mind will try to reach for something that it already recognizes, in order to process what it is viewing. That which most closely relates to the unfamiliar from our past experiences, makes up what we see when we look at things that we don’t comprehend.”

And this very accurately describes one of the most profound career-changing moments I’ve ever had. On one of the earlier shows I was doing at Skywalker Ranch, I was perusing the sound library (which was then on audio CD). I can’t remember the show, but it might have been Con-Air. I was looking for some air releases. I had some pretty good ones in my library, but for obvious reasons I wanted to explore the Skywalker library, being a major fan of the sound work coming out of there. I found an ambient track of a garbage truck. You know one of the ones that has the lifts that pick up and dump the contents into the back of the truck? It started in the distance, and had these fantastic squeaks & wronks. It was just an amazing sequence of sounds that wove in & out of each other. The truck pulled forward to its next stop, slightly closer. Air brake release, hydraulic arm reaches out, grabs the bin, air release, raise the bin, clunks several times, engine revs, hydraulic arm lowers, bin clunks onto the ground, hydraulic arm retract, air brake release & the truck pulled forward even closer to repeat……. Now only a sound geek like myself could sit there in awe of the sounds I was hearing. You’d think I was listening to Mozart or something, but no, just a garbage truck. But I remember being mesmerized by the uniqueness of what I was hearing. The wonderful ambience & distance of the air releases on a quiet morning. I remember saying to myself, “How the hell do these guys find these things?” I was amazed, but at the same time very frustrated. I’d done a lot of recording myself, how come they repeatedly find things to record that have such interesting qualities? These were not just ordinary air releases, they had a voice, a tone, a nature that changed each time. Why was it that these guys could find these things to record but I could not? I kept listening, it sounded like the truck was approaching the recordist position, yep it was. Cool! I was going to hear these things close up! And then it happened. “Wait a minute… this sounds like my garbage truck… yep that sounds familiar… this sounds just like mine… this can’t be mine… what the @#$%?” I backed the CD up a couple of times – yep that was my garbage truck alright. At some earlier point, I had sent up a DAT of some train recordings I’d done using a DAT walkman and an Audio-Technica AT822. I had forgotten, but I’d included this recording of our neighborhood garbage truck.

Now before you get the wrong idea here, this is not intended to put down any Skywalker work, in fact I remain a loyal fan. This incident changed none of that. In fact I was flattered that one of my sounds wound up in their library. But what did forever change was how I perceived sounds, and not just my own. Why did my own sound, sound at least 10 times better to me, when I thought it was theirs? I’d heard and used portions of that sound many many times before. How did I fail to recognize it as my own for the first minute or so, when I always paid so much attention to detail? It was like an alternate reality, and I’ll never forget how that reality morphed when I realized I was listening to my own sound. I remember just sitting there for a good long while, like someone had clubbed me over the head. Clearly I felt a bit bothered that I had been so duped, but what I took from it was what was possible. I realized that I HAD in fact been able to get amazing things recorded, even with off-the shelf consumer-grade gear. Those moments hadn’t eluded me like I’d thought. They weren’t reserved for just a select few. Doing the level of work I had always aspired to do was suddenly within reach. I felt more free to embrace my own style and stop trying to copy-cat.

There’s a book titled “The Holographic Universe” by Michael Talbot. In it, he describes reading a street sign. He recalls reading it as one thing, based on the color of the sign and what he expected it to read, then literally watching the letters re-arrange themselves while he was looking at it to say something else. This was exactly how I felt when I recognized that garbage truck. Our predisposed notions provided a stimulus and an observation that was as real as any other. And so what we expect something to be, is what it is, unless something occurs to change it.

It’s in the details – or not

How many times have you worked on something, and thought it was the best thing since sliced bread, only to listen the next day and think its garbage? I’m guessing this has happened to pretty much everyone. Fortunately, the reverse is also true. We can work on something we think is crap, finally give up, then come in the next day and say – “hey that’s actually really quite good!”. Now detailed work is very important. It’s very difficult to get an inspired track without it, but it’s easy to find ourselves operating on an area of detail that only we the creator will ever notice, and is of little or no consequence to the final product. I’ve seen people work for days on a scene, and really hard I must add, to make only minor changes or improvements. I’m certainly guilty of this too, and it’s because of this that I’ve devised my workflow to minimize this.

In a linear scene (film style), everything is in motion. Things go by fast and only once, at least to the audience. When we’re working, we stop & start, go back & forth, and go over scenes & shots again & again & again. We notice details that the audience will never pick up on as the scene whizzes past them. It’s import IMO to not get bogged down on the details that are of no consequence, or worse – distracting, to the scene. What is this scene trying to do? What do we want the audience to know, or not know, at this place in the film? I like to watch the scene and build according to what my eye is drawn to first, then go back & watch again. Again I build according to what my eye is drawn to. I do this until I feel nothing is missing where my eye is drawn. This is the base, the part that must be covered, the part that will be distracting if not there. Then comes the more abstract pass. Is there something the scene needs to play on the emotion? Are there details that can help put us on screen? Is there anything I’ve done that is already distracting? These are purely subjective, and it is here where the art can change direction the most. There is a scene in FOTR, in the mines of Moria, where Gandalf is reading the book to the group. I wanted to make sure we heard those pages crackle & sound dirty. When he runs his hand over the pages, they needed to sound gritty. When he blew the dust off, flecks of dirt & grit needed to land on the floor. All these things help convey that the book was old & not a prop. These are the worthy details IMO, and they DO take time and a great deal of thought & review. Design is a lot more than just the big loud hero moments, the subtler details are just as important, as tricky, and satisfying.

When deciding what elements are helping, particularly when creating a single event, I use a very quick test. It’s pretty easy to get caught up in adding too many elements to create something. So to test an element’s “worthiness”, I’ll play everything together, then mute that one element. If I have to play the sound more than 3 times, muting & unmuting, to decide if it’s making an improvement, it’s not significant so I can lose it. If I can’t hear it at all – it’s a waste of VU energy and it goes bye-bye.

Sonic Memory

How many times have we had this happen? A director listens to something, and buys off on it. Then s/he hears the exact same thing later or another day, and says “Hey we need to take a look at that section”. I’ve come to the conclusion that this is not because they can’t make up their mind (OK sometimes that is the case), but because things are perceived as sounding different when heard on different occasions. Whatever they were focusing on the first time, affects how they hear it. If they change their focus to something else the next time, that can easily change the perception of what they hear. And I’m not talking about focusing just on sound. It can be anything. They might be thinking about a VFX shot, or an actor’s performance, or did they hang on that shot too long…. It can be anything.

Once I was in a playback of an entire AB reel, for final fix notes (project & names withheld). Director, Producers, Mixers, Supervisors, we were all there. I noticed pretty quickly that something was wrong so I went to the machine room. It took a few minutes to figure out that the FX stem had been patched incorrectly so wasn’t coming up on the console. The first 9 minutes of the reel had no sound effects, only ambiences & foley. This was not a walky-talky either, there was big action. So after the reel was done, the lights came up, and we proceeded to notes. I didn’t want to call anyone out on this faux pas, and while I was searching for a tactful way to bring it up the director went right into the notes. We went thru the entire reel, and not one person noticed that there were NO SFX for the first 9 minutes. In fact the music supervisor made the comment that it was “the best reel yet”. I’d say this is a pretty far-out scenario, but still it was fascinating to me that noone else noticed. I can imagine a scenario where the foley had the SFX covered and that would be why, but that was not the case this time. So how great do the distractions need to be to not notice 9 minutes of missing SFX? Were the images so compelling that they thought they heard something that wasn’t there? Did the memory of going over & over the mix fill in the gaps? I can’t say, but it was certainly a very interesting phenomena.

Is louder better?

Hell no. But your chance of getting something approved increases drastically if it is played louder. And not just to clients, this goes for to sound people too. Louder just makes things appear more “there”. I certainly do NOT think louder is better, nor do I know anyone who would say that. However I prefer to make sure something is heard clearly before doing a fix, if at all possible. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked to replace something in a mix, only to wind up right where I started from, just turned up so it could be heard. This is not a slam at SFX mixers either. Frankly I’m amazed more things aren’t lost in a mix with all the tracks of SFX hitting the desk. It’s a lot to keep up with.

But in design, and also mixing, this phenomena of “louder is better” is a dangerous perception trap. Lots of times people go for the compressor or limiter and squash the snot out of something, thinking it’s helping, when all they’re noticing is its getting louder. Typically when something get compressed, the output goes up. The dynamics go down, but the output goes up. It sounds louder, and therefore we hear more detail, but we haven’t noticed what else happened during the processing. Some plug-ins have an auto-match function (SoundToys “Decapitator” is one), that can automatically adjust the output to as gain is applied. If you’ve never used a plug-in or device like this, it would pay off to give one a try. The first time you try one you’ll be astounded by what you hear. When you apply the compression or drive, the output level will not increase, but instead you’ll hear what you’re actually doing to the sound. You might not like what you hear.

A mic is not a camera

This past weekend, I went to the Reno Air Races to record. It was a very last-minute decision. For the past 10 years or so I’ve wanted to go, but it slips my mind and I don’t get a press pass in time, or am too busy to go. This year I happened to check just last Thursday and saw the races were going on through the weekend. So I sent out a few inquiries where I might be able to get some good recordings. My main question was “Where can I go to get away from the PA?” One response was to get a pit pass as the PA is not so noticeable there. I had been to an airfield years ago where a P51, Corsair, and Harrier had started up & taxied right by me, so I thought maybe that was a great place to be. I also got another tip for a place outside the event. So I convinced myself that I’d get good material, and decided to go. I’d never been, so didn’t know what to expect, but in the worst worst case I figured it would be a great scouting mission for another year.

So off I went. Getting into the pits was easy & not expensive. And the tip was correct, I was able get away from the PA. However, I wasn’t able to get next to anything I wanted either. They don’t start the engines in the pits. They tow the planes about 75 yards out onto the tarmac & start them there. It’s too far away for the recording I’d hoped to get, not to mention all the other sounds. Typically there are other events going on, like acrobatic shows, etc.. So even with my trying to record a 75 yard away idling P51, there were far more other things that stomped all over it. There were gas trucks, tons of golf carts, other planes, photographers, voices……. And also the planes that were racing never got any closer than about 200 yards to me. No good.

Now I should’ve known better than to expect to get anything as part of the general crowd, but I tried anyway. It was just another reminder that people that don’t work in sound have no idea what it takes. They think what they’ve seen in movies is how it works, or that you can record something from 200 yards away and make it sound like it was 5 feet away. They see a microphone, and think it works like a camera. If it’s not pointed AT them, it’s not recording them – WRONG!!! There are 3 major misconceptions:

1- “Don’t you have some kind of directional mic?”

Yes but it doesn’t work like that. It’s not a camera. With a camera if its out of frame it doesn’t exist. Not so with a mic – we can minimize it to a degree but for full range recording there’s only so much off-axis rejection we can do (or want to do).

2 – “Can’t you “just get that out” of the recording?”

No, you’ve watched “The Fugitive” too many times. We don’t move a slider & magically remove unwanted sounds without screwing something else up. Sometimes we can help it out, but it’s by far best to have an uninterrupted recording. (Izotope RX’s Spectral Repair is the closest thing to this kind of magic I’ve seen – but I still don’t want to base a field recording session on being able to “get things out”)

3 – “Oh yeah it’s quiet there.”

Really? From the other tip at the races, I also tried to record at this “quiet” location. There were lots of people at this spot, and there was no getting away from them. In many ways this was worse than being in the pit, except the planes did pass closer there. At one point I wrote down everything I was hearing.

• Walla out the wazzoo – where there are people, there is yapping
• Car radio blasting AC/DC’s “TNT”
• 4 guys revving their motocross bikes
• Tents flapping (it was pretty windy too)
• A tied up trash bag flapping like crazy in the wind.
• About 4 cars right around me, all playing the announcer from the races over the radio – it was worse then the PA inside the event.
• Radio controlled helicopter
• During a race, a guy standing in front of me kept taking his camera in & out of a velcro holster.
• Same guy – twisting his foot on bone-dry crackling tumbleweed brush as he tried to get a better shot.
• Another race – a guy next to me decided it was time to clean his cereal bowl, during the ENTIRE race. Clank clank clank, then rinse the bowl with a crackly plastic water jug, pour water out on the ground.

Not one of these people did I perceive as intentionally ruining my takes. They simply have no clue what it takes for us to get a good recording. They see the mic pointed at the planes, and to them, that’s all I’m getting. Not one of them asked or offered to be quiet. However one guy that walked in front of me ducked under the mic, as if it were a video camera and couldn’t “hear” him if he went under it.

Naturally this was a shot in the dark that had little chance of turning out great recordings, but I did wind up with some good pieces in spite of all this. Actually it was another example where finding the source without headphones was IMO hands down better. The speed & distance of the planes were all different, and the sound lagged behind the planes by varying distances every time. The only way to find the source was to use both ears in the space (you need both to locate), and point a mic there. If someone were recording & using headphones, in all likelihood they’d be pointing the mic at the plane, but that’s not where the sound was coming from at all.

OK there’s one more major misconception – 5 tweeters (essentially) & a subwoofer do NOT make a good sound system.

I need my mids man!!! I need my mids!

RODE University has been updated, now offering 10 free online classes on recording sound for film and TV, delivered by sound effects master Ric Viers. Now you don’t need to own a Rode mic to sign up to the classes. It’s free and open to everyone. These are the topics:

• Ep 01: Location Sound Recording (NTG-3) - This week Ric Viers, author of The Sound Effects Bible, demonstrates fundamental techniques for recording dialogue and environmental audio on location.
• Ep 02: Location Sound Recording (Indoor Dialogue) - In this episode Ric explores options for getting the best audio when recording dialogue indoors. Whether it’s in tight spaces or sporting venues, Ric has the tips and tricks to help you get the best…
• Ep 03: Camera Microphones - Getting good quality audio is often a struggle with consumer camcorders and even digital SLRs. In this episode Ric explains how to maximise your sound when using on-camera microphones.
• Ep 04: ENG Recording - ENG (Electronic News Gathering) is the staple work of many audio professionals, and possibly the most demanding. From ‘one man bands’ to full ENG teams, Ric gives you the advice you need to run…
• Ep 06: Voiceovers and ADR - In this episode Ric covers the best approach for recording high quality off screen dialogue for voiceovers (VOs), as well as his personal tips for getting best results from talent when using ADR (automated dialogue replacement).
• Ep 07: Foley Recording - Foley artists add depth and reality to a scene, creating sound effect overdubs that supplement the dialogue and score. In this episode Ric shows how to record and perform foley like a pro!
• Ep 08: Studio Sound Effects Recording - The creation of sound effects is Ric’s home turf. From headline effects like car crashes and bone breaks to subtle environmental sounds like door opens and falling debris, RØDE University lets you in on the industry secrets.
• Ep 09: Location Sound Effects Recording - In the second part of Sound Effects Recording, Professor Ric takes the gear out of the studio and gets his hands dirty recording a car-by on location.
• Ep 10: Semester Wrap-Up - School’s almost out, but before you leave be sure to check out the semester wrap-up, where Ric gives his all time top ten tips for broadcast recording. This is an episode not to miss.

RODE University
Via: @blastwave