This post is about the three days Sam Jenkins, Rob Wynne and I spent recording Location Sound for Cognition. We did document some of the process with pictures, and were able to experiment to some extent with boundary mics and plant mics.

The days were all rather similar. We got to the location for 8am each day, and were normally ready to shoot by 9, half 9. I would have liked to attach a radio mic to each actor immediately after they had finished having their makeup done, which would have saved time in the long run. We only managed to do something like this on the second day however. We took turns booming and mixing, with one other person listening critically and also making notes on our sound, something we’ll type up and send to Tom (the films editor). Originally we had said that we would maintain our role for the entire day, which across the three shooting days would allow us all ample time to boom and mix. By lunchtime though, we felt that switching after lunch was a better idea, so we cycled roles a few more times than planned, over the course of the shoot. We found the boundary mic was really useful when recording Susan’s dialogue at her desk; in shots without clear view of the desks surface we were able to set it right in front of Anca, the actress playing Susan. It produced some really clear audio, but with far less of an isolated feel that happens with laveliers. We made sure that actors knew not to perform any physical actions the scene demanded over their lines, so most dialogue is free of clinking chains and chair squeaks, with the odd exception here and there.

The second day passed much like the first. We were very pushed for time on this day, with more shots to cram in than yesterday, and I did feel a little bit rushed. I would have liked time to potentially rig up some plant mics, but we were unable to because of the time constraints placed upon us. We relied heavily on booming throughout the shoot, and because of the low ceiling we did have to scoop in a few scenes. In places we double-boomed, which gave the third person a little extra to do, and I feel this worked well, producing decent audio, background traffic aside. I purchased a 6.35mm Jack splitter, which allowed both the mixer and primary boom operator to monitor with headphones. This was well worth what I paid for it! We also miked up both actors with radio mics, but one was a lot more sensitive than the other, perhaps due to the mic attached to it, so I’m not sure how useful it will be if we attempt to use the raw recording. Lewis, the actor playing Jack, was wearing it during a rather physical scene, and when he had to yell, the mic would peak and clip without fail. We did boom this as well, so will have some decent audio, but it is a shame all the same.

The final day was intended for re-shoots, so in the morning we went through some shots we had rushed in previous days, and this allowed us to experiment with the boundary mic and the laveliers as well. I’ll upload some photos of our final setups, but it was really interesting, and one of the more rewarding experiences of the three days. This was exceptionally useful to me, as one of my learning outcomes primarily revolves around gaining more knowledge and experience in location recording techniques, and we were able to spend a decent amount of time experimenting with boundary and plant mics when filming the corridor scene at the beginning of the film. Trying to get the best possible sound from mics, while insuring that neither the mic nor any of the cabling is visible to the camera, was a real challenge. The rest of the day was spent much the same way, and we were able to finish a little earlier, as the last few shots required no sound. We did have an issue with one radio mic pack recording far hotter than the other, which meant the signal had some background hiss even when we had the channel gain on the 633 turned right to its minimum. However, the issue wasn’t too severe, and it’s something we’ll look out for when we next use radio mics. Since shooting has finished, I’ve ordered some adaptors which should allow us to connect the radio mic receivers to the TA3 inputs instead of the XLR inputs, which mean we’ll be recording at line level instead of mic, and will also free up space for us to use a second boom perhaps, or even two booms and a boundary microphone.

Overall I believe the shoot went well; not as well as it could have, but well enough. I’ve uploaded a separate blog post analysing the location, but to summarise; the place is stunning visually, and looked excellent when dressed, however there was persistent traffic noise from the main road, which was punctuated with louder traffic coming down the street Lincoln BIG is located on. We also picked up the odd snippet of conversation and movement from the office workers downstairs, and the ceiling was a little on the low side. Arguably not an ideal space. However, we persisted, and only time will tell if the resulting rushes are any good. We recorded multiple takes in most instances, and were fairly good at adjusting metadata accordingly. Hopefully that won’t have been in vain, as I am struggling to find information regarding whether or not the 633 can record in Broadcast Wave Format when also using Poly Wav. Whatever the case, I’ll try and find a decent way of documenting and packaging up the files for Tom to use.