Videosound 101

I am listening to a stack of Hi8 videotapes (remember them?)

And yes, you read it right. I’m listening. Nice pictures but the sound is what counts because I am trying to pull off audio clips to use in a radio program I’m doing. Because I can’t go to Chennai before my deadline.

When you’re not looking at the pictures, it becomes evident very quickly what sounds good and what doesn’t. Here are a few tips that spring to mind when you’re doing a videorecording and you want to get good sound (which of course, you do)

a) Determine what’s the most important. Is it the picture or the sound? If you’re doing an interview where the person’s voice is the most important, you might need to sacrifice the nice picture for the good sound. In this case, I am listening to an interview done outside in India. There are some very wild birds .. lots of kids crying and the voices can only be heard by straining one’s ears. So find a quiet room (ya, I know, that’s a tall order anywhere in India .. but at least find a QUIETER room).

b) Set the camcorder up as close to the person speaking as you can. Keep in mind that the microphone that comes built in the camcorder is called an OMNI-directional. Which means it picks up all around you. It’s like a wide angle lens on a camera. So just like you’d walk in closer to get a close-up with a camera, get in closer to get better sound.

c) For the clearest voices you can get, use an external mike. Not every camcorder has an external mike jack .. it’s well worth it to buy a camera that does. Your best solution is a clip-on (lapel) mike with a long cord. You won’t hear the crying kids or the funky bird as much .. if they’re loud, the bird and the kids will still be there. But they’ll be in the background and they won’t distract your audience or obscure the voice of your subject.

d) The above will only work if you have one person who you need to hear. If you have two people, have the person doing the interviewing hold a hand mike. Or have another person hold the mike and move it between the two people talking (best to frame it so that the mike handler isn’t in the frame)

e) Don’t record outside on a windy day. The wind makes noise as it passes over the mike, which makes a really nasty sound. If it’s really gusty, you might not be able to salvage anything.

e) WEAR HEADPHONES! I cannot stress this enough. That way, you’ll hear whether or not the balance between background sound and the foreground sound (ie. the sound you REALLY want to hear). Not every camcorder has a headphone jack … if you’re serious about this, buy the one that does.

Hope this helps … on the plus side .. there is some great Indian music that I’ll be able to use .. and a few other surprises too. And I am reminded .. there is no such thing as quiet in India.

The Sound to go with the Picture

Bear with me, folks. I am learning how to embed a sound link in WordPress (there’s another way to do this .. which is to buy an upgrade which will allow sound and video files. I will likely do this too, but I’ll start with the cheap way ..)

This is a piece that I composed while in India — it’s called “Millions of Gods and Goddesses”. It was inspired by Lake Nagin .. the picture in the previous post. Kashmir, the most northerly state in India, has been a disputed zone ever since the British left in 1947. The conflict is centred upon religious differences .. because Kashmir is mostly Muslim, Pakistan believes it should have been given to them. India disagrees.

The region is divided by the LOC (Line of Control) between India and Pakistan but the conflicts cross the line on a regular basis (though not as much as it used to).

The piece doesn’t just have the sounds of Kashmir .. or of Muslims. But the sounds from Lake Nagin were its inspiration. Every morning I sat on the veranda of my exquisite private houseboat listening to the calls to prayer from at least 25 different prayer places and mosques. All out of synch with each other.

I’ll post the URL in a minute, but first a big thank you to the Dandoo family for hosting me on the HB Silver Bell. The Dandoos are a Muslim family who truly embody the spirit of peace …

Here is where you can hear “Millions of Gods and Goddesses”

Hearing the Picture

Those of you who have been reading my blog have been reading about my transition from being an Ear person to being an Eye person too.  I am now starting to add pictures to my sounds.

Which is the reverse way most journalists are doing it, so it seems.   Most of the AV journalism being done (especially on newspaper websites) happens when photographers are adding sound to their pictures, not the other way around like I am doing.

I found a really great article on the basics of adding sound.  It’s by Ron Galbraith on his website called Digital Photography Insights (DPI — cute .. ).  The article has some very good advice for those of you who are venturing into this for the first time.  Historical background, a connection with Kentucky where I lived for a while, very solid technical advice .. check it out.

And when you’re ready for some really sophisticated examples of combining evocative audio with equally evocative pictures, be sure to go to Media Storm .. a New York based group of people who are true artists of digital storytelling.

I think I need to pick up my camera so I can write a companion article to Ron Galbraith’s … this time from the other perspective –  sound gathering, field recording and composition is something I know well .. now how do I start adding pictures to it?

Editing Cures for the Common Cold

I’ve been editing some long-form interviews today for a client. Not exactly podcasts .. these are talks from a conference in their entirety for the benefit of the people who weren’t able to go.

One of these interviews was something I haven’t had to deal with in a while .. the speaker had a cold. By the time I was finished with him, all his coughs, sneezes and sniffles were gone.

That’s just one example of some the things I listen for when I’m editing. My philosophy of editing is to have the person sound as natural as possible, but also the best as possible. Just as you’d correct the lighting, make sure the person looks good before shooting a publicity photo, you also want to make sure the person you’re editing sounds the best they can.

For me, this means …

* cutting out many of the verbal “extras” such as ums — I will leave an occasional um in if it’s so closely attached to the next word that the next syllable or vowel would sound like it’s been cut.

* tightening up the pacing … sometimes I’ll encounter a person who leaves large gaps between her/his words. Or conversely, doesn’t leave enough space. In a case like this I will play with time to make the piece flow more smoothly

* compressing/limiting the voice – compressors and limiters are built in to most computer programs and are standard pieces of gear in sound studios. What they do is minimize the dynamic variation (loud and soft) in the voice. I try not to do this too much — because the dynamic range is partly what makes the voice musical and beautiful. But you don’t want so much dynamic variation that your listener can’t set a constant volume. I only use it when there are real extremes in the person’s voice .

* equalization — Equalization is when you adjust the frequencies (soprano, alto, tenor, bass). Sometimes you might want to tweak the voice just because you know there is some glorious bass in there that the mike isn’t picking up. For me, this has to be a subtle thing. You don’t want to change the voice .. you want your audience to hear the person at her/his most natural. What you’re doing is enhancing the voice to make your person sound the best.

Sometimes, when I’m talking to other broad/pod casters, the question will be asked “shouldn’t you just play a recording exactly as it happened?” My position is to be as natural as possible, but to also make the person sound their best. A little bit of enhancement is a good thing … and I think the person with the cold will appreciate it that I made him sound better than he felt … instead of leaving in his coughs and sniffles.

My Favourite Mikes

Every week I get a new post about a new microphone that’s come onto the market. I’ve heard a lot of podcasts, some of which are recorded well, some of which .. well .. sounds like the producers need to use a different microphone.

Microphones are very personal — like a musical instrument. Just like one musician might be totally in love with her Stradivarius violin, another might think the bargain instrument they got in a used instrument shop is just perfect.

I’ve tried out a lot of microphones — some of them are just bad mikes. Others are great mikes but they’re not compatible with my voice. Here are my favourites and why I like them.

Audio Technica 822 – if I could only have one microphone, this would be it. It’s an omni-directional microphone — it will pick up sound in a circle. It’s great if you like background sound (which I do). It records both music and ambient sound beautifully. And there is nice separation between the left and right channels. When a car goes by, you can hear it move from one channel to another. It’s also great for recording three people at once — you can position your interview subjects at three points — left, right and centre. It will pick up the people on the edges too, not just the person in the centre. Drawbacks: this mike is like a wide angle lens. it picks up everything, so make sure the background sound is congruent with your subject (for example, if you’re recording an interview with a farmer, don’t do the interview in a factory). About $400.

Electrovoice 625 – this is the workhorse of the ENG (electronic newsgathering) industry. It’s also the first mike I fell in love with. Again, it’s an omni. This microphone is so rugged that you can use it to hammer in your tent pegs when you’re doing sound remotes in the great outdoors. (According to legend, somebody actually ran over this with a tank to see if they could wreck it. It worked fine after they dug it out of the ground). What makes this mike great is that the case is rugged, which means handling noise is reduced. It also has a built in windscreen and limiter, making it much more difficult to get a bad recording. Disadvantages: it’s a “dynamic” microphone (runs off a magnetic coil instead of a battery). What that means in practical terms is that the sound output to your recorder might be low — you can boost the sound on your computer but you will get hiss. You can solve this by buying an impedance matcher. Cost: around $240.

Samson C01U – a lot of people are using USB microphones these days — which means they connect to your computer directly. This year, when I worked as Broadcast Tech consultant with the Laurier Brantford University Journalism Department), I got a chance to use this mike. I like it. Seems to be fairly robust, sensitive but not so sensitive that your mike technique has to be perfect. With a windscreen and pop filter (which I highly recommend for any studio mike), you will get a pretty good recording with good frequence response. Disadvantages: leave this one in the studio. Not suitable for field recording) Cost: under $100 – which is a bargain for this baby.

In posts to come, I will talk about other types of mikes — shotguns, using a boom pole, uni-direction (cardiod microphones) and other ones you might want to try.

Two things to remember: Beware the internal microphone — a few of them are not too bad. Many are dismal and not worthy of the name “microphone”.

It’s about technique as much as it is about equipment. The best equipment in the world will only make you sound good if you know how to use it.