A few Sound questions...
 

Hello all,

I have recently become a real audiophile when it comes to sound in movies and have decided to opt for a boom mic. My question is this, will a boom mic give me true stereo sound? As in the person on the left comes out of the left speaker and person on the right comes out the right.

Also in post, if I wanted to apply certain sound effects going from, say, left to right or front to back in a 4.1 setting, would I be better off doing that in After Effects or Premeier? I know I can do it in both, but which on is the perferred method by most?

Lastly I have one issue with After Effects in which I cannot hear sound when I'm doing a real-time preview. Has anyone else had such an issue? I'd appreciate any help at all.

Thanks for any info!!
Jack

No. The vast majority of time mics are on booms (like say, 99% of the time), there's a mono mic recording one track. Stereo fields are almost always created in post.


If those are you two choices, go with Premiere Pro, esp. the current version. But if you really want to create a two-dimensional sound design, look into dedicated audio software.

For more general background on audio for video, you might like one Jay Rose's books (disclosure: I used to be his editor), or Ty Ford's book on location audio, or something from VASST....

Info on Jay's books:

http://www.dplay.com/book/index.html

Best,

Jim

Thanks for the input Jim!

I will def. check out those publications. As far as dedicated Audio programs, which ones are most useful and most used? Also would recording audio onto a seperate track be too much of a hassle for simple effects like stereo and surround sound sfx?

Granted I'm working on a short, nothing too fancy, but I would like to get some decent sound from the onboard mic. What are the advantages of using shotgun over the onboard if everything comes out mono anyway?

Thanks for the info!
Jack

I have occasionally used the onboard mic on my DVX100a for gathering sound (gurgling fountains and such), but this is a decidely low rent way of doing things. Most times I use a dedicated off cam mic for everything. Why?

1) Able to get mic closer to subject (better signal/noise ratio)
2) No camera motor noise bleeding through
3) All built in mics on cams are cheap mics. Almost anything you buy aftermarket is going to be of better quality.

Most films do not come out mono, anyway. Most are either stereo or surround sound. I am a simple guy doing simple inhouse instructional videos, and this is what I do for a stereo output:

Record all dialogue in mono.
Keep dialogue centered in the final mix.
Add sound effects (either collected by me or off disc) that can be either mono or stereo.
Add stereo music underneath.

The stereo music satisfies the listeners ears that the movie is stereo. Better people than I might move the dialogue around in post. I find that no one has ever commented on the dialogue not matching which side the character enters on.

Ahhh I see, that seems easy enough...

Thanks for that info Joe! But one final question, I promise!

If my cam doesn't have mic input, could I just use the line in on a laptop or something to collect sound?

I'm filming a documentary type film and need some quality sound for indoor/close range shots. I was just planning on dangling a hypercarderoid at the end of a boom, but then are there XLR to 3.5mm adapters??

Thanks for helping me out guys, I really appreciate it!
Jack

I haven't used laptops on location, but some people do. They're a bit cumbersome, and most would use an external audio card with XLR connectors if doing so. Something like this:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...e410-main.html

If you're talking about using an XLR-miniplug adapter to your computer, that wouldn't work with most pro mics, as I believe the impedences are different.

If your cam has a stereo miniplug mic input, then something like this is usually used:

http://tinyurl.com/cwd95

If your cam has NO audio inputs, then my first choice would be for some sort of hard disk/flash card/mini disc recorder.

More expensive ones, like this

http://www.sounddevices.com/products/722.htm

are very user friendly in a mobile environment.

Others (such as the iRiver recorders) give up things like XLR connectors, less professional preamps, and LED monitoring for price.

Finally, I second the recommendation of looking into Jay Rose's books before spending ANY money.