Making Your Movies Sound Great – Enhance Your Video with
Audio, Music and Sound Effects
By Mark
Shapiro
Making your
movies sound good is a lot more difficult than making your
videos look good. Your eye is a lot easier to please than
your ear. Your sense of hearing is much more critical than
your eyes.
In this
article we are going to talk about how to enhance your
videos with audio. This includes using natural audio, as
well as adding audio effects and soundtracks.
Capturing Good
Quality Audio
You cannot
make a good sounding video or movie if you don’t have good
audio to start with. Yes, it is possible to fix bad audio
but it is not easy.
The secret of
capturing good audio with your camcorder is not to use your
camcorder. It might sound a bit flip, but unfortunately, the
microphones built into most camcorders are not the best. In
addition, they are usually located on the camcorder body in
a position that makes them likely to pick up the sounds of
the camcorder’s motors as well as sounds of your fingers
touching the controls.
In addition,
most camcorder microphones capture sound from all
directions. The camcorder might be aimed at someone talking
but the mike captures sound and noise from all over the
room. You need an external microphone which enables you to
select what audio you really want to capture. Some
camcorders offer directional mikes that limit the extraneous
noise to some extent but still, they don’t provide the
quality you get from an external mike.
Before you
rush out to buy an external mike, take a look at your
camcorder. Does it have an external mike input jack? You are
looking for a small mini-jack connection - often with an
icon next to it of an old-fashioned stand microphone. If you
are not sure, break out the camcorder’s instruction manual
and look it up.
Many
inexpensive and entry-level camcorders don’t have external
mike connections. You are stuck using the camcorder’s
mike. Even if you can’t use an external mike, there are
some things you can do to improve sound recording. The most
important is to get close. The closer you get the better
your audio will sound. When you are recording, put the
camcorder’s zoom to wide angle and get as close as possible
to your subjects.
Another good
idea is to record continuous sound. When you are recording
an event or performance, don’t stop and start your
camcorder. Try to capture the audio as one continuous
sequence and then, by using your editing software, edit out
the bad parts of the video while keeping all the audio.
Finally, try
to capture some room noise before or after your shoot. With
everyone quiet, just turn on the camcorder and record for a
minute or two to capture the audio atmosphere of the room.
If you end up with gaps between lines of dialogue during the
editing process, this ambiance sound can be used to smoothly
fill the holes.
The Secrets of
External Microphones
You need an
external microphone. You can get shotgun, handheld and
lavaliere mikes that either connect to your camcorder via a
cable or you can go the wireless route. Wireless mikes
systems are usually a bit more expensive and may not sound
as clean as cabled systems, but they are a lot more
convenient. Personally I have both and use them as
appropriate.
If you have
only enough money to buy one external mike, get a shotgun
mike that adjusts between wide angle and zoom. To use it,
you simply plug the audio cable into the input jack and
screw the mike onto the camcorder’s accessory jack. Most
camcorders have a shoe on the top that enables you to add
various accessories like a microphone as well as lights,
displays, etc. If your camcorder doesn’t have an accessory
connector, there are a wide range of affordable brackets
that allow you to mount a mike on. Some of these slide
between the battery and the camcorder while others mount to
the tripod screw on the bottom of the camcorder.
Booming your mike
Professionals
use boom mikes for capturing good audio when producing TV
shows and movies. In an emergency, you can fake one with a
shotgun mike and a broomstick. It is best to use a mid-range
shotgun or a telephoto mike dialed in to wide. Use some duct
tape to tape the mike to the end of the pole at a 90-degree
angle. Make sure it is tight. You don’t want the mike
moving. Make sure you securely attach the mike cables as
well to the pole at several locations. You don’t want parts
of the audio cable dropping into your scenes.
Then during
the production, simply hold the mike up over the actor’s
heads and then point it at whichever actor is talking. Try
to keep the mike at a consistent distance away from your
actors, but still out of the camera’s view. It is not as
easy as it sounds. After a little practice though, you
should be able to get the hang of it.
If you plan on
doing a lot of audio recording, it may more sense to buy
what is known as a fishpole and a microphone shock mount. A
fishpole is a telescoping rod with a screw connector on the
end. You then screw in the microphone shock mount. Almost
any size of shotgun or telephoto mike can be used with the
shock mount by simply sliding it through the rubberized
cables and tightening it up. The rubber cables absorb
vibration and movement as you follow your actors around,
enabling you to capture nice clean audio.
Another option
is to use a camcorder-mounted mike that has its own boom.
For many years, I have used an inexpensive SGM-2 shotgun -
boom mike from Comprehensive that can double both as an
on-camera shotgun mike as well as a boom mike.
Borrowing and buying sound
What if you
need a sound or an audio effect that you can’t record
yourself? Or maybe you could but buying a plane ticket and
hiking 300 miles into the Amazon just isn’t practical? There
are thousands of sources for real world audio samples and
audio clips. Many are free and can be accessed via the
Internet. One of my favorites is The Freesound Project
(http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/index.php ) that provides a
huge and easily searched database of audio snippets,
samples, recordings, bleeps, etc. All are released under the
Creative Commons Sampling Plus License that means you can
use them but you cannot resell them.
You can also
find lots of weird and fun audio clips on the net. Some good
sources are FreeAudioClips.com, A1Freesoundeffects, and
Public domain
means you can use the songs in your commercial productions
without having to worry about copyright or royalties.
There are a
variety of other options for getting music sound tracks. If
you are not planning on doing anything commercial with your
videos, you can rip audio tracks of off CDs and use them.
Most video editing packages include an audio ripping
application. If not, you can find hundreds of free and cheap
programs on the net that will do that for you. If you have
Microsoft Windows you can use Windows Media player to rip
music from your CD collection and then use the free
MovieMaker video editing program to edit the music and video
together.
Another option
is to buy music and sound effects. There are dozens of
companies that sell music tracks. Most offer it in one of
two different options – you can get license free and needle
drop. License free music means you pay once for it and then
you can use it over and over again. Needle drop means you
need to pay a separate fee each and every time you use that
audio track. The term comes from the old phonograph records
that used a needle to play back the music from vinyl
records.
A third option
is to create your own audio and sound tracks. If you are not
a musician, you can use a specialized software programs to
create “custom” sound tracks for your production.
Creating a
Soundtrack using Automated Soundtrack products
One of the
most well known of these is SmartSound, which in addition to
selling their own products, is also found licensed in many
top video editing packages like Pinnacle Studio, Ulead Video
Studio, Avid and CyberLink PowerDirector. You can add
SmartSound plug-in to other programs like Adobe Premiere.
In addition
you can find soundtrack production modules built into
various video editing programs. One, SongMaker, is in found
in Magix Video Pro and enables you to easily and
quickly musical scores by automating the complicated steps
such as sample selection and combination. The Song Maker can
take over arranging entire sections of the soundtrack such
as the Intro and Refrain.
The first
step, once you have launched Magix Video Pro, is to activate
the Song Maker with the ‘1-Click’ button. You need to select
a music style (e.g. Disco House) and then deactivate those
instruments you do not want to listen to. To do so, click on
the instruments you do not wish to use in the selection box.
The next step is to
enter the desired length of the song or part of a song in
seconds, click on the button ‘create new arrangement’ and
the Song Maker application will automatically compile an
arrangement. You can then preview the soundtrack by pressing
the ‘play’ button in the category ‘prelisten’.
If you do not like the result, you can create another
arrangement by clicking once more on the push button ‘create
new arrangement’. Once you find a version you like, just
click OK and it will be inserted into the “Arranger”.
You can play
the arrangement by pressing the space bar or by using the
mouse to click on the play button. The arrangement will be
played in a looped manner, until you either press the space
bar again or press the stop button in the transport control.
You can also
use the Song Maker to supplement existing arrangements with
individual samples or complete parts of songs or to create a
basic frame which is for example made up of bass and drums,
which you can then enhance and refine with files to make up
a more complex arrangement.
You can get
the entire Magix Movie Edit Pro 11 program, which includes
SongMaker, for just 59.99. If you need an excellent video
editing program with a powerful automatic editing component,
this is definitely a top contender.
SmartSound’s
SonicFire Pro
As mentioned
earlier, SmartSound is probably the best known and most
sophisticated product for creating customized soundtracks.
You can get the lite version packaged into many of the most
common video consumer editing packages or you can get the
full Pro version for $199.
SmartSound
works with both Mac and Windows machines and enables you to
create soundtracks of any desired length with a smooth
beginning and ending. Lets take a quick look at how
SmartSound’s SonicFire Pro offers and how it works.
Once it is
loaded and running, you begin by importing your entire movie
or a just a scene into the SonicFire program. You can then
import your own music track or you can pick an audio track
from the SmartSound library. You can pick among various
types of music with different intensities, tempos, styles,
etc.
When you
insert the selected music onto the track, it will
automatically adjust in length to fit the length of your
selected clip. It won’t just abruptly stop or fade out.
SmartSound creates a natural ending that makes sense to your
ear.
By using
markers on your video clip, you can add numerous soundtracks
one after another in just a matter of minutes.
SmartSound
also enables you to insert a variety of transitions between
your soundtracks. As Smart automatically creates dynamic
beginnings and endings to each soundtrack, you want to turn
that feature off if you are making soundtracks that are
designed to fade into one another.
You can pick a
variety of audio transitions and control the exact time and
ratio of the effect to make the transition form one
soundtrack to another a smooth as possible.
In addition to
giving more control of the soundtracks, SmartSmart provides
a large assortment of sample soundtracks that you would use
to create the soundtracks. To get even more choices, you can
buy additional CDs loaded with additional base soundtracks.
By the way, if you use the lite version of SmartSound, you
can also purchase packages of additional soundtracks.
If you want to
try out SmartSound but are reluctant to shell out two
hundred dollars, you can download a free trial version of
SonicFire Pro from the SmartSound web site to see if it will
work for you.
Are you ready
to make your audio sound as good as your video looks? By
using the right tools and programs, and making sure you
start with the best possible audio, you can create
multimedia productions that will amaze your friends and
family.
You can get
lots of good audio gear and software at a good price from B&H
Fostex
FR-2LE Stereo Field Memory Recorder
is the little brother to
Fostex’s popular FR-2 digital field recorder.
The FR2-LE records Broadcast
Wave Format (BWF) or MP3 files to affordable type II
CompactFlash or Microdrive cards, at up to 24-bit/96kHz
resolution. It features powerful on-board editing functions
and a USB 2.0 port for high-speed file transfers to PC
editing suites. Time stamping of .wav or MP3 files is
provided; allowing for easy time alignment of audio files in
Audio/Video software workstations.
This easy-to-use unit is equipped with two Mic/Line inputs
(with phantom power) on Neutrik combo jacks, stereo RCA
analog outputs and a 1/8" stereo headphone output with level
control. The FR-2LE’s flexible powering options include: (4)
"AA" batteries or a 12V DC input. The top panel has a large
LCD display and transport and menu keys, & the front panel
adds Rec/Standby controls, LED Metering and input trims. A
wired remote control comes standard with every unit.
The
Fostex FR-2LE’s combination of pro features and low
$499.00 price makes this versatile recorder a top choice for
Electronic News Gathering, location sound and live music
applications.
