Okay, I'm working on a small independent film in Chicago with a small crew. We're using two Sennheiser wireless lavs and an MKH-416 shotgun mic to boom.
The main problem we're having is with ambient noise. It seems like it's almost always a problem, and I'm looking for any tips or tricks that people use. I've been searching online but can only find really common sense stuff for the most part.
Some other things:
- Wind is the worst. Any crazy ideas beyond windscreens here?
- We're hiding the lavs 90% of the time and taping them to wardrobe the rest.
- We're framing shots so that we can get pretty darn close to the actors.
- We're experimenting with turning the gain up or down to minimize ambient noise.

Obviously, we don't have a real big budget for ADR and want to minimize it.

ANY ideas will be much appreciated.

Thank you.

Hi there

You could try using a large panel as a windbreak (the lighting guys might have something like a large 4x4 mathews cutter that you can hold just out of shot. I assume your 416 has full rycote windshield/windjammer etc? If you're doing street exteriors and getting a lot of road noise - perhaps you can boom from underneath? I know it gives you a more bassy, full sound (proximity effect) but still this may be preferable to lots of background noise bouncing off the pavement! The 416 sounds great but I feel it does pick up a lot more low freq signal than say a Sanken CS3, which rejects off mic noise much better. I would try to avoid radio mic use outside if you can get it on the boom. What lav mics are you using? Trams TR 50, Sanken COS 11 and Countryman B6 are most popular mics - Tram probably best option for wind resistance.

Regards

Peter Kraan
Auckland
New Zealand