Surviving Without
Your Sound Man
By Sam Mallery
courtesy B&H PhotoVideo
This is the first
installment in an ongoing series of articles
dedicated to helping video people solve
common audio issues. Audio is a deep
subject, and its language can be
intimidating, so the ultimate goal of this
series is not to eliminate the need for
experienced audio professionals in video
production. When a knowledgeable audio
person isn't at your side, this series will
act as a valuable information resource for
you.
Did you know that it's
possible to utilize a
boompole and a
shotgun microphone with a video camera
even if you're working alone? With the
proper equipment and accessories, a solo
videographer can incorporate a boom mic into
their work and have their hands free to
operate the camera.
In order to make this
happen, you're first going to need a shotgun
microphone and boompole. If you're
unfamiliar with shotgun microphones, you can
familiarize yourself with this
introductory article. Learn more about
boompoles with this
educational buying guide. Professional
shotgun microphones need to connect to a
video camera through XLR inputs. To find out
how this works, read
this informative article.
You will need to assemble
a boom stand:
The three basic
components needed to mount a boompole are a
C-Stand, a
Grip head, and a
Pole Holder. For those of you who
already own a C-Stand and a grip head, you
only need to buy a pole holder. If you're
just starting out you can get an
ATS Ram boompole cradle and use it in
the place of the grip head and the pole
holder.
Using a boompole stand
can benefit you in the following situations:
1) During an audition
when multiple people need to speak to the
camera, one after the other, and you don't
have time to wire each person with a
lavalier.
2) When the on-camera
talent is not wearing clothing that can
comfortably facilitate a lavalier
microphone:
Some clothing is
difficult to attach a lavalier microphone
to.
Another technique that
makes this process a lot easier is having a
50 or
100 foot XLR cable to run from the
mounted boompole to your camera or
mixer. The extra cable length will give
you extra leeway to easily create a wider
shot. In some instances it's possible to
experience radio interference and signal
loss when using longer cable lengths. It's
important to always have shorter
XLR cables handy. It's also vitally
important to always have a decent pair of
headphones on set. Keep the headphones
plugged into the headphone jack on your
camera.
Using headphones to
monitor your camera's audio is crucial in
the practice of using a microphone boom
stand. You are going to have to position
your on-camera talent in the sweet spot
underneath the shotgun microphone. You can
find the sweet spot by listening on good
headphones while your talent maneuvers under
the mic. It will be clear in the headphones,
and then you will know where exactly to
position your subject under the microphone.
Shotgun microphone techniques
Boom microphones
typically sound the best when positioned a
few inches in front of the subject's head
while pointing down diagonally at the middle
of their chin. This practice catches the
speaker's voice as it emanates from the
mouth. It's always a good idea to experiment
with microphone positioning and listen on
your headphones as you move the mic.
Keeping your on-camera
talent in the sweet spot of the microphone
is one thing that experienced boompole
operators do exceptionally well. Since your
microphone is set in a fixed position, your
subject is going to have to remain in place
and not move around. If you have a
wired or a
wireless lavalier microphone, you may
want to consider using it as well as the
mounted shotgun microphone. It may seem like
overkill to use both mics at the same time,
but doing so will deliver a richer, fuller
sound. Also, if your subject moves out of
the sweet spot momentarily, the lav mic will
keep their dialog from being lost. You can
hear for yourself what this combination
sounds like because these miking techniques
where used in the production of this
B&H web video.
Capturing the voices of more than one
person
The question often comes
up whether it's possible to capture the
voices of more than one on-camera subject
with a single boom microphone. When you have
a boom operator, capturing two people's
voices with one microphone is possible,
because the operator can point the
microphone at the person speaking in an
instant.
When using a boom stand
it's not advisable to try to capture more
than one person's voice. When you listen to
a shotgun microphone on a boompole through
headphones, you quickly realize how
directional shotgun microphones really are.
Their sweet spot is relatively small. They
really sound best when pointed directly at
the sound source. In fact, the closer you
can get a microphone to the sound source,
the better it will sound. When you set up
your shot using a boom stand, it's a good
idea to get the mic as close to the frame as
possible for optimal audio quality.
If you must use a single
boom stand to capture two people's voices,
position the two people as close together as
possible, and again get the microphone as
close to the frame as possible. If you have
a shotgun with a less directional pick-up
pattern, like the
Sennheiser ME64, you will achieve better
results.
