What to do with audio issue caused by client
 

Well, maybe I'm losing my sense of what to do, but I could use a little direction here.

The wedding I am working on has an audio issue as follows. During the vows, there is this very heavy breathing into the grooms mic, and I can only think that it's the groom. Prior to the wedding I had put two mics on him, one about 4 inches below the other one. I do this because his bride was short, and it's just a way to capture or not capture audio if there is problem with one mic or the other.

That being said, when I got the mics back from the groom, he had clipped them together, side by side, which meant that the heavy breathing is in both mics. I can some what get around it with the minister's mic, but it sounds a little funny, and one heavy breath I can't get rid of.

So, my question is, do I explain why there is the breathing there to the client? It's not terrible, it just messed up a really good audio setup.

do u have additional backup to the minister's mic, e.g. shotgun mic on your camcorder?

how bad is it? darth-vader-ish, or is it the sort of level where u might get away with it if u don't say anything at all?

in the future, tell the groom to hold his breath between words :)

The audio is not bad, infact I was able to lower the breathing in between the bride's words, but it's a spot or two that she's talking and the groom's breathing that I'm not sure if I can fix. But I'll keep hacking away at it. I just don't want them to hear it, and say, what the 2$!#!@ and give me a bad rep for it.

I had placed the mics where they were for this specific reason.

go to the brooms house and loop it! guys understand these things...

did you use an omni-directional mic? where did you place it?

You're actually worried about somebody complaining because they didn't breath right? :)

I think you've already put too much time into this. Delete the gaps between sentences, play with the envelopes a bit and call it good.

Unless you can find a "whistling booger" filter somewhere. :)

Well yea, guilty, perfectionist. Thanks though, I just want to give them the best.

Nice! Damned near spit my gulp of Dr. Pepper out on that one!

It sounds like you placed the mics where you wanted them, and then someone else moved them? If this is the case I would tell them that because the mics were moved you didn't get ideal audio, but that you worked very hard to make the best of it. Most likely, with that background, they won't have a problem with it.

I wouldn't say a darned thing about it. Wouldn't even mention it.

Well, I would say something because I wouldn't want the couple to think that I was responsible for the audio issue. If the issue isn't really noticeable then I wouldn't say anything probably. But if it is I want the couple to know why it's there.

I may spend a little extra time with them, and tell them if they have any questions about the video to just let me know. Thanks for the coments. The wedding ceremony was really beautiful. We are very happy with it.

Ok then... you can still do all that after (if) they say something. What's the point of drawing attention to it beforehand?

I don't know how many times I've worried about this crap and all they've ever done was rave about the video. And in this particular case, I don't know if I'd want to even critique the groom on how he breaths. Maybe this is just how he does it so why embarrass him? :)

Good points Rick. Thanks.

Well, it really depends on the severity of the issue. If it's bad enough that it will impact the B&G's opinion of your work, then you owe it to yourself to explain that you're not at fault for the issue.

Worst case scenario here is that you give them the DVD's and they don't say anything to YOU about the audio issue but they tell all of their friends and family. I agree that if the issue is minor in your eyes, then there's no need to bring it up.