| Film Fanatic February 2004
Now Close Your Eyes and Listen: Part Three
It’s easy to watch a film and enjoy the sound.
It’s another thing to be the person who has to record the sound. The job of a
sound recordist is just as important as that of the cinematographer. Where a
cinematographer records light, the sound recordist captures the sound within the filmed
frame. However, recording live sound is not as easy as holding up a microphone and hitting
Record. The job requires specialized tools and an ear for detail. A sound recordist must
be capable of filtering out extraneous sound that could result in a bad take. They must
also have a fair amount of physical endurance and self-confidence. A big part of a sound
recordist’s job is to alert a film’s director before a glitch in the sound ruins
a shot. And that takes some nerve -- especially when calling "Cut!" stops
expensive actors and a film crew in their tracks.
The tools
There are four basic tools that allow a sound recordist to
capture live sound on location: an audio recorder, a shotgun microphone, a microphone
boom, and a pair of headphones.
There are many different brands of audio recording
technologies that can store the electrical impulses produced by a microphone’s
diaphragm -- everything from analog magnetic tape to digital tape to the platter of a
computer hard disk. The Swiss company Nagra manufactures the most popular of these
devices. In fact, the name Nagra has become synonymous with the highest-quality film
recordings.
A big part of Nagra’s success stems from its
recorders’ incredibly low noise floor and durability. In film, silence is as
important as sound in conveying tension. Any hiss or background noise caused by equipment
can displace tension and lessen the dramatic impact of a scene. Newer digital
technologies, such as Nagra’s hard-drive-based designs, have even wider dynamic
range. This allows the recording engineer to capture subtle sounds that add tangibility to
a scene. The sound of a bird’s wings against the air is as important to the success
of Winged Migration as its outstanding visuals. Without the delicate chirp of a
baby chick or the rustle of feathers, there would be less of an emotional connection with
the audience.
Next to the audio recorder, the shotgun microphone is the
most important piece of equipment in a recordist’s bag. Typically 12 to 20 inches
long, the cigar-shaped shotgun mike is designed to pick up soundwaves within a very narrow
area over a short distance. This allows the microphone’s diaphragm to pick up sounds
with a minimum amount of ambient noise, but also requires the microphone to be within
close proximity to, and pointed directly at, its subject. Shotgun mikes use a foam
"sock," or windscreen, so that the "chuffing" sound of wind will not
spoil the recording. The narrow sensitivity of a shotgun mike also allows a director to
direct talent offscreen with little chance of his voice being picked up.
Placement of a shotgun mike often involves the use of a
"boom" or "fishpole." If you’ve watched behind-the-scenes footage
of a film being made, you can often see a boom hovering over actors as a scene is played
out. Microphone booms are typically made of a very durable but lightweight aluminum and
have a reach of 3 to 8 feet. Some booms are made of composite plastics, which have an even
greater resistance to microphony. Even the gentle rubbing of a hand or cable along the
outside of a boom can create audible bumps and static in the recording. A shock mount
further decreases microphony by isolating the mike from the boom. Unlike a standard
cradle-type mount, an elastic shock mount prevents the movement of the boom or mike from
conducting mechanical vibrations that would end up on the recording.
When an assistant director or director yells "Quiet on
the set!," the only sound should be coming from the action within the frame. A good
set of headphones focuses a sound recordist’s attention on the action. As the actors
speak their lines, the recordist tilts the mike in the direction of the dialogue. This
way, the sound is captured in as crisp and uncolored a fashion as possible.
The tools and the person in action
The primary task of a sound recordist is to record the
dialogue in a film. Secondary tasks include recording ambience and other sounds unique to
the location; for instance, the din of a farmyard. Having been a recordist, I can tell you
that one of the most difficult aspects of the job is holding the mike boom for extended
periods of time while keeping attention focused on the action. To get an idea of the
endurance involved, try holding a couple of books above your head while paying attention
to another person speaking. A sound recordist not only has to keep an ear out for flaws in
the live sound, but also an eye on the recording devices. If a particular shot requires an
actor to scream, the recordist had better make sure the instantaneous peak in sound
pressure created by the scream doesn’t add distortion to the recording. Any audio
engineer will tell you that there’s no way to fix a clipped audio signal. And any
film producer will tell you that audiotape is cheap when compared to the cost of film.
This attentiveness to sound quality is only
half the battle. Like a cameraman, a sound recordist is often asked to assume a
less-than-comfortable position in order to get a clean recording. Lying in snow and mud,
or hanging from a cliff or the back of a moving vehicle, are just a few examples. I can
only imagine the level of stress and peril the sound recordist felt capturing the sound on
Winged Migration. You don’t know how hard it is to keep focus until your
instinct to survive gets the better of you.
There are myriad other challenges. Sometimes an acute
camera angle makes it impossible to use a boom. Often a wide shot requires a recordist to
use wireless microphones (Lavalieres, or "Lavs") so that what actors are saying
on a long shot will match what they say on tighter shots. In the early days of sound
films, it wasn’t uncommon for a mike to be placed in a prop, such as a bouquet of
flowers, to capture the dialogue.
New tools don’t necessarily mean an easier job
From the advent of live sound recording to the latest
blockbuster, the challenges of capturing good sound haven’t changed. While technology
has made life a little easier, the complexities of the new tools have made solving some
problems even more daunting. Filmmakers of the 1930s and ’40s had to contend with the
clatter of noisy film cameras; moviemakers of this millennium pull their hair out over the
electronic interference caused by cellular phones, rumbling air-conditioners, and crowded
radio frequencies.
As I mentioned in Part One,
many glitches in the mix can be remedied by looping dialogue and ADR tinkering, but even
the most weathered audio master can’t perfectly reproduce a venue’s sonic
signature. It is therefore up to the sound recordist to make sure that the live sound is
as clean as it can be.
...Anthony Di Marco
anthony@hometheatersound.com |
