If you just can't seem to push your videos to the next level of quality, you may be looking too hard and not listening enough. That is right - one of the keys to making better video is making better audio.
If your goal is to make more effective videos, here are some audio mistakes you'll do well to avoid:
(1) Over-reliance on the camcorder's built-in mike:
Perhaps the greatest audio crime committed by video-graphers is: relying on the camcorder's built-in mike to record audio in all situations. It comes as a surprise to most amateur shooters that the built-in mike is rarely the best choice for recording audio. There are many reasons the built-in mike may do a questionable job recording audio for your videos. First, you can't separate the built-in mike from the camcorder, which is often too far from the subject to record clean audio. Second, the built-in mike is sitting right on top of a machine full of whirring, buzzing motors, and some of the machine noise inevitably ends up in the audio. Finally, the built-in mike is one area where manufacturers can (and do) cut costs by using lesser-quality components.
Attaching an external mike is easier and less expensive than many people think, and the potential improvement in audio quality is staggering.
(2) Not getting an external mike close enough:
Using an external mike is a step in the right direction, but you still have to place it intelligently. Simply putting an external mike near (or work - on top of) your camcorder will net you little or no sonic improvement. Instead, use an external mike to explore the 'closer is better' rule of miking. If you’re relying on an external mike to pull your subject out of a mire of background noises or ambience, your only option is to get the mike as close as possible to the action.
Don't let the term 'zoom mike' fool you - no mike can come close to the selectivity of your camcorder's lens. At a tight zoom setting, your camcorder's angle of view is just a few degrees. In contrast, a common directional mike (cardioids pattern) has a pickup angle of somewhere around 130 degrees. The end result is crisp, intelligible, up-close audio.
(3) Using a cheap external mike:
Using a good-quality external mike to get closer to your subject will improve your audio. Using al ultra-cheap, bad-sounding external mike will not. Stick with professional mikes. These usually have balanced low-impedance connectors with no permanently attached cable. You may need to pop an adapter or two in-lines to make the mike work with your camcorder.
(4) Using warless when wired will do:
Wireless mikes are a great luxury, as they allow your talent complete freedom of movement. When you don't need that freedom, however, wireless mikes can be more hassle than they're worth. If your subject is stationary, use a wired mike. This will put an end to battery, interference and signal dropout concerns, and will usually result in cleaner audio. One neat solution is the wireless transmitter than attaches to any professional mike. If you need wireless mobility, use a transmitter. If you don't you can use a cable with the same mike.
Most video-grapplers thing of the lavaliere mike as being wireless by default. It's not. In fact, a wired lavaliere mike may be the most effective (and least expensive) external mike you can buy.
(5) Not using manual record level when available:
Auto gain control (AGC) is one of those good ideas that don’t work in practice. Its job is to keep a strong (but not too strong) audio signal going to tape. It reacts to overly loud sound by quickly reducing the record level. When things get quiet, AGC slowly creeps the record level up. The end result is a distracting up-and-down movement of background noises and taps hiss.
If you can disable the AGC on your camcorder and set record levels manually, do it. This may require using an external mike, as most built-in mikes go through an AGC circuit by default. AGC appears on many VCRs as well, and you should defeat it and set levels manually when editing or copying tapes.
With AGC disables, you'll have to watch and compensate for louder-than-normal sounds. This requires a little extra diligence on your part, but the end result-background noises that stay put - is well worth it.
(6) Record level too low:
Most people know to avoid setting record levels too high, as the by-product is ugly distortion. Recording with levels too low is more common, and the effects are almost as bad. With analog recording, low record levels bury your sound in a blanket of tape audio that lacks detail and clarity. Though the effects aren't as severe, low digital record levels can cause distortion and an overall dulling of the sound. In both cases, the effects of too-low record levels get worse with each generation.
Setting proper record levels takes practice and a familiarity with your equipment. If you're not sure how much signal your camcorder or VCR will handle, do a test recording. Push record levels until distortion is just audible and make a note of that level on the meters. With this knowledge, you can shoot for recordings that sit just below the distortion level.
(7) Shooting in bad locations for audio:
We often have some amount of control over where we shoot, and savvy video-grapplers know how to avoid locations where the image quality will suffer. Few, however, consider the laural landscape of a shooting location.
A good place to record video and audio is free from constant background noises like the compressor motor in a refrigerator, music from a party down the hall, roaring traffic or rumble from a nearby air conditioning unit. Our ears learn to tune these sounds out, but your camcorder will not.
Occasional noises like jets taking off or phones ringing are equally distracting. If moving your camcorder and subject 20 feet or two miles will eliminate annoying noises, do it. When deciding where to shoot, use your ears as well as your eyes.
(8) Not adding background music, sounds or ambience:
Though everyone can hear the benefits, few video-graphers take the time to add background music, sound effects or ambience to their videos. Instead, they often let dialogue or narration plod along with no enhancement from other elements. The result is sterile, un-engaging audio.
When editing, spicing up your video's soundtrack may be as simple as cueing up a CD or cassette and pressing the audio dub button on a VCR. Those folks doing computer-based editing may find adding audio elements even easier than that. Do a little research into how your video gear handles audio dubbing, and devise a plan for adding other audio elements into the mix.
(9) Not using an audio mixer:
An external mike is crucial to good audio when shooting; an audio mixer is your soundtrack's best friend when editing. The ways a professional-quality audio mixer can help your video-making are numerous. An audio mixer will allow you to: combine and control numerous sound sources, apply equalization where needed, cleanly record with professional mikes, plug in headphones, and change the relative levels of several audio fades and more.
Contrary to what you might think, an audio mixer is neither expensive nor hard to master. For just an appropriate amount of money, you can pick up a very capable audio mixer. The learning curve of an audio mixer is no steeper than that of a simple video editor.
(10) Not caring about audio at all:
The last audio crime may be the most insidious and destructive of all. Too many video-graphers think of themselves as image gatherers but not sound gatherers. They don't realize that the audio portion of a production packs as much punch as the video portion. In fact, some argue that the viewers’ emotions are more closely tied to what they hear than what they see.
Taking your audio more seriously is not as difficult as it seems, and it will not turn you into a headphone-wearing zombie. The method is simple: capture clean, crisp audio when you shoot, then protect the integrity of that sound right on through to the final dub.
Sound easy? It is, provided you care about your audio in the first place.
If your goal is to make more effective videos, here are some audio mistakes you'll do well to avoid:
(1) Over-reliance on the camcorder's built-in mike:
Perhaps the greatest audio crime committed by video-graphers is: relying on the camcorder's built-in mike to record audio in all situations. It comes as a surprise to most amateur shooters that the built-in mike is rarely the best choice for recording audio. There are many reasons the built-in mike may do a questionable job recording audio for your videos. First, you can't separate the built-in mike from the camcorder, which is often too far from the subject to record clean audio. Second, the built-in mike is sitting right on top of a machine full of whirring, buzzing motors, and some of the machine noise inevitably ends up in the audio. Finally, the built-in mike is one area where manufacturers can (and do) cut costs by using lesser-quality components.
Attaching an external mike is easier and less expensive than many people think, and the potential improvement in audio quality is staggering.
(2) Not getting an external mike close enough:
Using an external mike is a step in the right direction, but you still have to place it intelligently. Simply putting an external mike near (or work - on top of) your camcorder will net you little or no sonic improvement. Instead, use an external mike to explore the 'closer is better' rule of miking. If you’re relying on an external mike to pull your subject out of a mire of background noises or ambience, your only option is to get the mike as close as possible to the action.
Don't let the term 'zoom mike' fool you - no mike can come close to the selectivity of your camcorder's lens. At a tight zoom setting, your camcorder's angle of view is just a few degrees. In contrast, a common directional mike (cardioids pattern) has a pickup angle of somewhere around 130 degrees. The end result is crisp, intelligible, up-close audio.
(3) Using a cheap external mike:
Using a good-quality external mike to get closer to your subject will improve your audio. Using al ultra-cheap, bad-sounding external mike will not. Stick with professional mikes. These usually have balanced low-impedance connectors with no permanently attached cable. You may need to pop an adapter or two in-lines to make the mike work with your camcorder.
(4) Using warless when wired will do:
Wireless mikes are a great luxury, as they allow your talent complete freedom of movement. When you don't need that freedom, however, wireless mikes can be more hassle than they're worth. If your subject is stationary, use a wired mike. This will put an end to battery, interference and signal dropout concerns, and will usually result in cleaner audio. One neat solution is the wireless transmitter than attaches to any professional mike. If you need wireless mobility, use a transmitter. If you don't you can use a cable with the same mike.
Most video-grapplers thing of the lavaliere mike as being wireless by default. It's not. In fact, a wired lavaliere mike may be the most effective (and least expensive) external mike you can buy.
(5) Not using manual record level when available:
Auto gain control (AGC) is one of those good ideas that don’t work in practice. Its job is to keep a strong (but not too strong) audio signal going to tape. It reacts to overly loud sound by quickly reducing the record level. When things get quiet, AGC slowly creeps the record level up. The end result is a distracting up-and-down movement of background noises and taps hiss.
If you can disable the AGC on your camcorder and set record levels manually, do it. This may require using an external mike, as most built-in mikes go through an AGC circuit by default. AGC appears on many VCRs as well, and you should defeat it and set levels manually when editing or copying tapes.
With AGC disables, you'll have to watch and compensate for louder-than-normal sounds. This requires a little extra diligence on your part, but the end result-background noises that stay put - is well worth it.
(6) Record level too low:
Most people know to avoid setting record levels too high, as the by-product is ugly distortion. Recording with levels too low is more common, and the effects are almost as bad. With analog recording, low record levels bury your sound in a blanket of tape audio that lacks detail and clarity. Though the effects aren't as severe, low digital record levels can cause distortion and an overall dulling of the sound. In both cases, the effects of too-low record levels get worse with each generation.
Setting proper record levels takes practice and a familiarity with your equipment. If you're not sure how much signal your camcorder or VCR will handle, do a test recording. Push record levels until distortion is just audible and make a note of that level on the meters. With this knowledge, you can shoot for recordings that sit just below the distortion level.
(7) Shooting in bad locations for audio:
We often have some amount of control over where we shoot, and savvy video-grapplers know how to avoid locations where the image quality will suffer. Few, however, consider the laural landscape of a shooting location.
A good place to record video and audio is free from constant background noises like the compressor motor in a refrigerator, music from a party down the hall, roaring traffic or rumble from a nearby air conditioning unit. Our ears learn to tune these sounds out, but your camcorder will not.
Occasional noises like jets taking off or phones ringing are equally distracting. If moving your camcorder and subject 20 feet or two miles will eliminate annoying noises, do it. When deciding where to shoot, use your ears as well as your eyes.
(8) Not adding background music, sounds or ambience:
Though everyone can hear the benefits, few video-graphers take the time to add background music, sound effects or ambience to their videos. Instead, they often let dialogue or narration plod along with no enhancement from other elements. The result is sterile, un-engaging audio.
When editing, spicing up your video's soundtrack may be as simple as cueing up a CD or cassette and pressing the audio dub button on a VCR. Those folks doing computer-based editing may find adding audio elements even easier than that. Do a little research into how your video gear handles audio dubbing, and devise a plan for adding other audio elements into the mix.
(9) Not using an audio mixer:
An external mike is crucial to good audio when shooting; an audio mixer is your soundtrack's best friend when editing. The ways a professional-quality audio mixer can help your video-making are numerous. An audio mixer will allow you to: combine and control numerous sound sources, apply equalization where needed, cleanly record with professional mikes, plug in headphones, and change the relative levels of several audio fades and more.
Contrary to what you might think, an audio mixer is neither expensive nor hard to master. For just an appropriate amount of money, you can pick up a very capable audio mixer. The learning curve of an audio mixer is no steeper than that of a simple video editor.
(10) Not caring about audio at all:
The last audio crime may be the most insidious and destructive of all. Too many video-graphers think of themselves as image gatherers but not sound gatherers. They don't realize that the audio portion of a production packs as much punch as the video portion. In fact, some argue that the viewers’ emotions are more closely tied to what they hear than what they see.
Taking your audio more seriously is not as difficult as it seems, and it will not turn you into a headphone-wearing zombie. The method is simple: capture clean, crisp audio when you shoot, then protect the integrity of that sound right on through to the final dub.
Sound easy? It is, provided you care about your audio in the first place.