‘Every picture tells a story’, so we've always been told, and pictures frequently dominate the thinking within our industry. But although a television set seems to ‘pull’ your eyes towards it when it's on, how long would it hold your attention without any sound? No, I'm not going to debate whether sound or pictures are more important … that depends on subject and context. But what I will assert is that both must be ‘telling the same story’. If the pictures and sound appear unrelated at any point, the viewer will be distracted. He or she may not realize why they're having difficulty following a programme, but subliminally they will be disturbed, and may well change channels or switch off. Not the effect we're striving to achieve! Not only should the sound match and enhance the pictures, the viewer should remain unaware of the technical considerations involved. The exercise of any craft skill should be transparent to the audience.
Thus, the emphasis herein is on listening to sound via a microphone, and ensuring that the signal it produces, and that you record, provides the viewer/listener with the sound that he/she expects to accompany the pictures they are watching. Our ear/brain combination is extremely sophisticated in processing the sounds we hear, interpreting distance, direction, frequency, loudness and other qualities. The mic and the sound system are not! They simply pass electrical information through a series of circuits until it's reproduced by a loudspeaker, leaving the listener's ear/brain to interpret the result. So as a recordist, you have to ensure that the resultant sound is realistic, or perhaps a better word is ‘believable’, as an accompaniment to the pictures.
I make no apology for the fact that the one item I repeat at regular intervals throughout is that you must know how your recorded material is to be used, in other words, you need an understanding of the post-production process. Most of the material you record is likely to undergo some form of post production before it's heard by your intended audience. Therefore, you must be certain that you're able to provide the ‘type’ of sound needed to provide sufficient flexibility for the dubbing editor to modify if necessary in order to match the pictures, which may themselves be altered or ‘treated’ during the post-production process. Throughout the audio chain, both at acquisition and the subsequent dubbing and editing, all involved must be aware of how the sound will be reproduced for listeners, together with their probable listening environment. The digital recording quality now available has improved the dynamic range available to the recordist, but the television transmission system is unable to cope with too wide a dynamic range. Most domestic environments, for instance, have a relatively high background noise level, thus rendering any very low sound levels in your recorded material ineffectual.
For those of you at the start of your career, I hope that within this handbook you can find all you need to begin to tread the path of the Sound Recordist alongside a single video camera on location. Working ‘hand in glove’ with a cameraman and acquiring high quality sound may seem a daunting prospect, but like driving a car, it's all down to ‘hands-on’ experience. From that point of view, I would suggest you endeavour to work as an assistant alongside an experienced recordist before taking the plunge yourself.
At the same time, single person operation has also become a regular method of working in many areas of broadcasting, and so several sections of the book address the limitations this places on sound acquisition alongside other operational responsibilities. Another facet of broadcasting is multi-skilling, and some operators may only spend part of their time working as a sound recordist. To this end, I have included a broad overview of planning location work from a recce through to assembling equipment and understanding a call sheet, together with checklists of do's and don'ts regarding safe operational practice and the rigging and de-rigging of equipment.
Although the industry is moving away from the use of Beta SP as the de facto recording standard towards digital formats, I have made reference to it in some sections of the book. This is because it has been in use on location for over ten years, and will continue to be found in many parts of the world for up to another ten. The difference in acquisition techniques, however, should not be affected by the choice of recording format.
Unfortunately, the book's structure cannot take into account every reader's present knowledge, experience and aspirations, although I have attempted to present the information in a logical manner. Having read it through, therefore, you may find that you subsequently have to skip backwards and forwards in order to correlate the sections and topics to your particular skill level and method/s of operation.
As your career progresses, you will find that not only do operational methods and production styles change over time, so too does technological advancement vis-à-vis equipment design, frequently necessitating a re-appraisal of the skills and techniques necessary for sound acquisition. Therefore, treat the contents of this book and the techniques outlined within as a starting point. As your experience grows, together with the type and amount of equipment you carry, you will often need to modify aspects of your operation in order to adapt to changing practices within the industry.
Before we start
This book grew out of articles written for Zerb, the journal for the Guild of Television Cameramen, and at the beginning of these I asserted that you only need two things to record good sound, and they were to be found on either side of your head – yes, your ears! The point I was making was that listening is all important. So, before you set foot on location, you can begin to familiarize yourself with the basics of sound recording through listening to the end product, as well as working through the suggested practical recording exercises contained within the text.
Listen to as much broadcast and recorded sound as possible and judge the quality and clarity of what you hear, as well as any changes in volume or level relationships between differing sound sources. I would suggest that the best way to go about this is to listen to a variety of material on headphones, in order to gain future practical recording experience. If you can record some television programmes, play them first with your eyes closed, listening closely to the results, and make sure you can distinguish each aural element contained within the mix. Then replay the tape with your eyes open, and notice what a difference the pictures make to both understanding and interpreting the sound. Take, for example, a vocalist singing to a musical accompaniment; can you distinguish each individual instrument, as well as understand the words being sung? Proceeding in this way, you can begin to discern the difference between good and bad sound balance and relative levels.
Adjust your own listening level, via the volume control, and notice how, as you turn it up, the low and high frequencies appear to increase relative to the overall signal. The ear's sensitivity to frequency changes with volume, and thus altering the volume will affect the perceived tonal quality. Therefore, when you are recording, you must always ensure that you monitor your sound at a constant – and comfortable(!) – listening level. Take care – do not listen to high levels of sound for any length of time, you could permanently damage your hearing by doing so.