The route to achieving good production sound - pre-production process.

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Pre-Production

The route to achieving good production sound

Good production sound does not happen by accident nor on its own. It requires concerted efforts from all the production executives (producer, director, production manager) as well as from members of the crew.

Achieving good Production Sound, as does every aspect of filmmaking, hinges upon decisions made early on during the pre- production process.

Location Scouting

One of the most critical areas for Sound is the selection of the shooting location. All too often, sites are selected without even remote regard for noise or acoustic conditions.

Unlike the camera lens, which can frame out those items which the director does not wish the audience to see, the microphone cannot be particularly selective in what it hears. Unwanted background noise is omnipresent, and will permeate a set irregardless of camera framing or the addition of a few flats & props.

For example, imagine the production of an 1860’s period western. The camera operator can remove a tall radio tower gridwork from the visual background by either framing it out or blocking it from view with a strategically placed foreground cactus tree. The sound mixer, on the other hand, has no simple method of "framing out" distracting sound such as a busy freeway directly behind the setup.

In this situation—a western being shot in an urban location—the odds are extremely high that all of the dialogue would have to be replaced by means of ADR, unless some science- fiction quirk in the storyline could successfully explain the presence of freeway noise during the 1860’s!

In a less extreme example, imagine the difficulties involved in trying to record dialogue or interviews in tightly cramped, hard-walled offices that sound like echo chambers. As if the acoustics weren’t evil enough, add to this nightmare the sporadic rumble of a central air conditioning system along with the frequent intrusion of nearby office typing, phone calls, loudspeaker pages, and computer printers.

If you think that either of these examples are just bizarre creations of a twisted author’s imagination, then you haven’t been out on very many shoots yet!

One time, I was hired to record sound on a video interview with the legendary Mother Theresa. The site that the producer and director selected was virtually the chamber of audio horrors described above. We videotaped in the library of a convent. The room was a visually acceptable array of book shelves, and with some artistic rearranging of the volumes it transformed into an okay background for picture.

As for acoustics, forget it! Hard walls and bare floor all contributed to extreme echo. Noncontrollable air conditioning and venting created a distracting level of room noise. Add to all of that a ton of machine noise from the adjacent physical plant. What we had was the Dante’s Inferno of Sound!

Although I did the best that I could, there was no way that this saintly woman was going to sound as good as she should have for an interview of this magnitude. Considering that this video interview relied mainly upon what she had to say as opposed to what she looked like—the production company really blew it when they came up with this location.

Sound, despite its importance to the final product, usually gets very little consideration on the set—or BEFORE.

Scout with your ears.

Prospective location sites (and even many so-called studios) should be evaluated for their conduciveness to good sound as well as good picture. Location scouts should learn to examine a site with their eyes closed and ears open—literally—and for about ten to fifteen minutes minimum.

In fact, I know of one professional scout who goes so far as to plant a cassette recorder at each location and then returns later in the day to retrieve the recording. In this way, her producer/clients have the option of asking their own soundpeople for opinions as to the workability of a proposed location.

Scout with regard to time of day.

It is equally important, when evaluating a location, to do the scouting on the same day of the week and hour as the proposed shooting schedule.

One show that I was involved with had chosen to shoot at a ranch out in the country. When the producers visited the site, they did listen for sound and found the location to be as pastoral as a storybook. That was on a Wednesday. The producers figured that a weekday would bound to be noisier than the weekend on which they planned on shooting. Or so they thought...

Come the Saturday of the shoot, the ranch itself was as quiet as could be. But just a hoot ‘n holler down the road happened to be the local dirt-bike racetrack and play area. All day long, both days, our takes were continuously interrupted by the roar of un-mufflered motorcycles. Some of these weekend riders even did us the added favor of performing practice runs up and down the roads on either side of the ranch.

What more is there to say? Scout locations carefully and wisely, with your ears as well as eyes. A few extra dollars spent in checking a place out can be worth tens of thousands in either lost production time and/or post-production "repairs".

Putting together the crew

Attitude is important. Professional results in any phase of production will not happen unless everyone involved thinks, identifies, and performs as "professionals".

Simplistic as it may seem, no producer/director is going to achieve consistently good Production Sound without having a qualified team officially assigned to that crew function.

 

Choose your Sound Mixer carefully

For reasons that have never made any sense, student productions (and even some low-budget professional productions) often delegate the position of Sound Mixer to whoever on the crew seems to have nothing better to do. It seems like the "best people" are asked to do camera; others to fill in on lighting & grip; someone organized and literate to handle script/continuity; more bodies to supervise make-up, wardrobe, and props; and finally, somebody to run the Nagra or VTR.

Somebody?

And if "somebody" is lucky, maybe "sound" gets another "helper" to hold the fishpole and point the mic. Usually though, that same "helper" is also expected to do double duty as an electrician or grip, and gets to rehearse with the mic only after the C-stands and flags are adjusted.

With production attitudes like that, is it any wonder that the resulting production sound is less than breathtaking? Perhaps a more apt phrase might be "hardly usable"!

The Sound crew should only wear one hat.

You will not achieve good sound with anything less than a "dedicated" soundperson and crew! By dedicated, I do not necessarily mean someone who has devoted his or her career to the pursuit of audio (though it sure helps); but at least someone who has devoted all of their attention ON THIS PRODUCTION to the pursuit of good production sound!

A meticulous sound mixer or boom operator does not have the time, concentration, nor the endless stamina to properly perform more than one job. Sure, times will occur when the sound crew can help out other members of the crew in setting up—and sometimes in those cases, the sound crew should lend a hand. I’m not suggesting that we all become prima donnas. But it is not conducive to good sound for the mixer or boom to be playing with lights or grip stands when, instead, they should have been paying close attention to blocking & walk-throughs, or busy miking rehearsals.

First priority must always be to do the job you were hired or assigned to do. In this instance, Sound comes first. This includes setting up OUR equipment; deploying mics; keeping an eye and ear on the director in case he changes the shot; watching the blocking; and miking the rehearsals. Anything else cannot be allowed to supercede those professional responsibilities.

There is no room for split allegiances. A grip ("helping out" on sound) will almost always throw down the fishpole and rush over to adjust a flag the second that the camera operator complains! That may help the camera crew out, but it deprives the boom person of a much needed rehearsal and leaves the mixer useless.

If any person is assigned to any department, then that person must act and react accordingly—these newly assigned duties must assume first priority! A transfer from one department to another must be considered a complete transfer (during the duration of that transfer and until the person is re- assigned back to their original department). An important point to remember: when Camera says they are ready, then Sound is expected to also be ready! Directors do not like "waiting on Sound". Nor will they accept as a valid excuse the fact that we are late because we were too busy helping other people out.

Rely on people who absolutely know what they are doing!

Very few of us would serve as our own legal counsel in a murder trial, nor would we remove our own inflamed appendix. For those life & death situations, we naturally turn to the expertise of the best professionals we can find.

Well, career life & death for the novice director/producer can be decided in the screening room, so why should we act any differently? To increase the chances of success, employ an experienced specialist!

Don’t wait until major mistakes have taken place either in the planning or production phases of the show. Consult with a professional at a point early enough to take advantage of his or her suggestions!

The seasoned mixer can often save the production company money during pre-production by pointing out equipment selection fallacies; anticipating potential location problems; highlighting complicated recording situations as well as offering solutions; and so on.

The advantages of having a professional sound mixer during the actual production should be rather obvious. Although Sound may look easy when it is done right, if you have ever attempted it yourself then you know it is not near as easy as it looks.

Even if the budget constrained producer cannot afford to hire the best, he or she should at least consult with them. A new producer may be surprised to discover that most of the industry’s top mixers are very down-to-earth people and are usually happy to provide information and offer advice. In addition, the seasoned pro may be able to recommend the name of an aspiring protege more willing to work at an entry-level rate.

In any case, it is always best to employ or at least pick the brains of someone who mixes Production Sound for a living as opposed to utilizing an inexperienced (though well meaning) novice who is likely to guess and fumble around.

Even the experts learn from each other

Learn from the old pro’s as much as you can, and as often as you can. This advice applies especially to the aspiring or novice Production Mixer.

I have been in the sound business for well over a decade, yet I still find myself learning from peer professionals. There is so much to learn, and only a lifetime to do it in. Only fools think they know too much to continue learning.

As you gain experience, you will discover that the gaps between your knowledge and that of your respected peers lessen. Never-the-less, every now and then you will discover a fallacy in one or another of the old truths; someone will turn you on to an even better way of solving a particular problem; or pass along advice on some new piece of equipment. Ask lots of questions, but be wary of the Rental Clerks.

Rental Technicians are rarely experienced in the ways of Production Sound. The job of a technician working for an established Equipment Rental Facility is mainly that of shipping clerk. They take orders, fill orders, and jot down serial numbers. In the best of cases, they may actually know how to set up and operate the hardware.

There is a major difference, however, between operating equipment on a test bench and mixing an actual show! The craft of Production Mixing involves dealing with a great number of location variables, such as camera, lighting, blocking, human nature, time, budget, requirements & capabilities of post- production, and so on. These are areas in which the majority of Rental Technicians are totally unaware. Unless you specifically know otherwise, always assume that these technicians have little or no real world, PRODUCTION EXPERIENCE.

If you ask them for advice, most of them will not admit that they are ignorant and/or inexperienced. They will not inform you that they have recently graduated college and have taken this job as an entry level position into the film industry. Instead they will try and answer your question the best they can based on reasonable (though not always correct) assumptions, or based on what they would like you to rent in order to maximize profit or minimize their effort.

Always take the Professional Approach.

Sound Mixing can be a lucrative profession, but it does require a combination of skill and political tact to keep getting the work.

Professional image and reputation are critical! If you want to survive in this business, it is imperative to always take the Professional Approach. Do the job right... regardless!

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If budget or conditions won’t let you do it the way you know it should be done, then turn down the job and walk away. It is better to have a reputation for being excellent (though a little stubborn) than for being easy (but incompetent).

There are no apologies nor excuses run under the dailies. Good sound is always expected (and taken for granted). Bad sound, on the other hand, is always attributed as your fault. You will never heard it said that "even though the soundtrack was poor, the Mixer did a good job considering that we made him ...

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