Achieving clean and clear location sound should always be an important priority in the video or film production process.
Getting it right at the source saves you time and money trying to clean or “rescue” the audio in post-production.
The problem is, many producers aren’t trained in sound. So, naturally, they tend to entrust the role of capturing good on-location sound to ad-hoc freelancing sound guys which they could hire – usually on a limited budget that they have been given.
Then there are many cases where hiring a sound person is simply “out of the budget”…
Thus, we see more and more someone in production crew would double up as a “sound recordist”.
He or she may not have not been trained in audio recording, nor is experienced enough to setup the recording chain correctly and know what to look out for to avoid capturing bad audio on location.
As a video producer, it becomes important to have some basic concepts of sound recording in order to watch out for situations where the sound captured would be un-useable in post.
Here’s a good introduction video that serves as a useful reference.
We have also took an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look of the production process of feature film, Jimami Tofu, and shared “5 ways to achieve great sound for your film or video“. Check it out.