[Cinecom’s intro music]
Hey folks, it’s Jordy here for cinecom.net and welcome to Creative Tuesday.
Recently, Saramonic -an audio brand- sent us some very nice equipment
which we're going to take a look at in this video.
But for all the five hacks we have for you, you can use any kind of microphone.
To capture good and clear audio, one of the first rules
is to bring your microphone as close as possible to your subject.
We're mounting the Saramonic Shotgun mic onto a c-stand,
as it's perfect for dialogue because of its warm sound.
So, I'm placing this mic close to Lorenzo.
You can either point the microphone from above or from below.
Speech always goes into a cone out of the talents mouth,
so either position can capture that audio well.
Now, having that microphone so close to the subject is great.
But when we switch to a long shot, that microphone becomes visible.
Now instead of moving it to the back, which will produce too much reverb,
we can film our shot from a tripod and leave that mic in the frame.
After you're done, remove everything and take an empty shot.
By placing these two shots on top of each other and cropping the mic out of the clip,
it's not visible anymore, and this way you can keep your mic close.
-Alright, Yannick, I’m going all in.
The shotgun mic is connected with an XLR cable to the camera.
Obviously, this connector doesn’t fit within my DSLR,
so, that's why we have an audio interface and this is the Saramonic Pax.
Apart from having an interface that goes from XLR to mini-jack,
this thing comes with a ton of more features.
For starters, you have multiple XLR and mini-jack inputs,
which you can map to the left and the right audio track which your DSLR captures.
This way you can manipulate the audio
of two different mics separately in post-production.
So, let's do that, I'm going to connect another shotgun mic to the interface.
Shotgun mics always need to have some power, this is also called phantom power.
The Saramonic mic has an internal battery, which means it can run on its own.
The other mic, which is from Deity, does not have that.
Luckily, the Saramonic interface has a phantom power switch.
Now we can place one mic over each actor,
and with that interface also separate the audio tracks.
-So, Lorenzo, do you wanna drink something?
-Well, Yannick, I could go for a drink, yeah.
-One moment!
When your mic sits still you don't need a wind cap.
It's also best to leave it off when you don't need one,
as it could alter the audio quality.
But when you're booming and following your subject,
it is advisable to add a soft foam to your shotgun mic.
-Nice.
[Ice cube falling]
[Pouring whiskey]
[Sound of card against t-shirt fabric]
Most mics have this.
If you're outside and there’s heavy wind, you can use a dead cat.
This is usually an accessory, but luckily it's for most mics the same.
Saramonic also has one of those and it works great.
-There is so much wind right now!
-No, there isn’t.
Now, I also use a deadcat when recording voice overs.
That way the plop sounds from your voice could be eliminated.
-I like pancakes.
If you do still hear such plopping noises,
you could take the mic a little bit out of the deadcat,
leaving more empty space in the top.
-I like pancakes.
If you don't have such a deadcat, use a thick sock,
or any other thicker fabric to remove wind or such plopping sounds.
-I like pancakes.
Now, not all sounds can be recorded on the spot.
And it's also best that you don’t.
For example, if you would record voice with one mic from your actor
and a certain handling with a second mic,
that second mic will also record a bad version of the voice.
-Hey Yannick, everything okay there?
If you like to get a crisp sound of these poker chips, record them separate.
You can really focus on certain visual elements by capturing a crisp sound of them.
-Hey Yannick, is everything okay there?
Now if you cut to a long shot, a close up sound might not be in place.
So keep in mind to take some distance with your microphone is here as well.
That's why it might be a good idea to first edit your video,
which could be a rough edit,
and then playing that back while you're recording your sounds.
That way you remember the shots that you took,
and it also helps with synchronizing certain handling.
Now, apart from the handling sounds there're two types of other sounds.
The first one is ambience.
Between your captured sounds, there will be silence.
And it's very weird, you wanna avoid that at all time.
Even when there is actually silence, there should still be some form of audio,
and this is called the ambient sound.
Basically what you wanna do after a shoot is record the silence in a room.
Every room has a certain tone.
You then lay that ambient sound track over your entire scene,
which will eliminate those complete silent parts.
And finally are sounds you can't record, these are sounds such as breaking bones.
Unless you really wanna do that.
But there's a less painful way, by cracking carrots, for example.
Or if you're in a hurry, you could crack your knuckles
or snap your finger nails against your teeth.
-Yannick!
-Ugh!
[Bones cracking]
-Aaaah!
That brings me to these little things, which are wireless microphones.
It comes with a transmitter in which you can plug in a small lavalier mic
and a receiver which goes into your camera or audio interface.
This one from Saramonic is a very interesting one,
because it has a dual channel,
meaning that you can wirelessly connect two transmitters to it.
Other brands on the market are pretty expensive if you like one of these,
but Saramonic managed to build a very affordable system
without compromising quality.
Now, lavalier mics are used to clip on to your shirt
and capture a clean audio of a person that is hard to boom with a shotgun mic.
Definitely if that person is running around or you don't have a sound guy with you.
When I started with filmmaking, I made a big mistake and I bought a shotgun mic
as my first audio tool.
Usually filming alone or in very small teams, that shotgun mic was pretty clumsy.
So after some time I purchased a lavalier set,
which helped me so much with being faster at my work
and not having to need a sound guy.
The quality of the audio is however not as good as a shotgun mic,
but it's definitely something I would recommend to buy
if it's your very first audio equipment.
I'm a very big fan of the Saramonic gear myself,
definitely that dual channel receiver.
But of course, you can look at any brand available on the market.
So, having two transmitters going to one receiver,
means that you've got a compact system as you don't need an audio interface for this.
And you can capture close-by sound of two people.
-I’m sorry Yannick that I kind of broke your arm.
-It’s okay.
-So, let’s continue, I guess?
-Sure.
So, like I was saying, that is how you should use a lavalier system.
I got some pretty good alternative uses.
First of all is the live sound designing.
We've got a poker table right here
and I'd like to capture some crisp sounds of the handling.
So what I can do is tuck the transmitter away under the table
and hide the small lavalier mic behind some poker chips.
The other lav mic will go next to the cards Lorenzo has on the table.
A quick setup to capture close-by sounds immediately.
[Chips sounds]
[Card slide sound]
And by the way guys, if you don't have lav mics and you're not planning to buy one,
You can use your smartphone's earbuds.
It comes with a small mic for phone calls, but with a voice capture app,
you can tape your phone under that table
and have a small mic tucked away somewhere else.
Now since I'm recommending to get a wireless lavalier system first,
there might be situations where you do need a boom mic.
And if you don't have that, why not tape the lav mic to a stick
and follow your subject around.
Maybe your talent is moving too much,
where the rubbing of the clothing is interfering too much.
So hanging that lav mic on a stick is a perfect solution!
And, you know, if it looks stupid but it works, it ain't stupid!
-I’m so done with this game!
-Oh, Jordy!
Look what Yannick did!
That brings us again to the end.
Thank you so much for watching, thank you Saramonic for the support.
We have links to all the products that we used in the description below.
And if you have any other questions, pop me a comment down below!
And as always:
Stay Creative!
-I’m so tired of this game!