Hi,
I am planning to produce my own short film using a Mini DV camcorder.
I was told today I would be better off using a Mini Disc to record all sound (with an external mic pluuged into the Mini Disc) - (And keeping several diferent discs, i.e. One for dialogue, one for background noise, Sound effects etc)
Can somebody please tell me if this is advisable - and how easy a process is it dubbing the sound and picture together (I will be hiring an outside post production company)
Thanks a lot!
For serious programme-making, separate sound recording's a good idea. You get to record as many tracks as you need. There are two problems with recording on the camera:
1 : Noise. Cameras don't have desparately good signal-to-noise ratios. The in-built mic can pick up motor noise as a background rumble, although many of them include a separate capsule to cancel that, but it still leaves poor bass response.
2 : Flexibility. If you record onto the camera you rely on the camera indicators for sound level and so on. Recording on a separate recorder gives you an extra degree of control, you can delegate sound to someone else and have fewer wires running to the camera.
The only problem with separate recording is syncing it all together. Thyere are two ways:
1 : Timecode locking. Use the timecode generated by the camera (or sound recorder) to lock the sound recorder (or camera). It works with pro kit, but most consumer kit doesn't allow it, so youi need....
2 : Clapper. At the start of each shot, the "Clapper/Loader" person (film term) loudly annouces the shot number/name and closes the clapper in vision, with a loud clack. All the recorders pick it up, so you can use tha clack to sync the disparate recordings together. It assumes that the camera and sound re4corder run at the same speed, which they should for half an hour or so (pro kit will normally run all day, once clapper-synced). The clapper board usually carries visual information as well, like shot number, tape number etc. All useful stuff whenh it comes to sorting it out in post.
Hope that helps.
Hi Alan, thanks for your help.
From what you have said, am I right in thinking this is correct:
Press record on both DV camcorder and Mini disc recorder and leave both running for a few minutes.
With shooting iminate, chalk up the clapper board with necassary info and make a loud clap - which will indicate to the post audio syncer where the two recording devices are in line.
Then record a blank mini disc full of background noise for that same scene. (Will the post audio syncer just know where to put in the sound - i.e where on the video he sees the car pulling in)
Then record a blank mini disc full of detailed sound effects (i.e. a car pulling up) for that scene.
Thanks for your help. : )
Basically, yes, that's right. Your recorders need to be running together, and that's all there is to it. Just make sure that all recordings that have to be in sync have the picture or sound (or both) of the closing clapper.
If you shoose to use separate sound recording, still record on the camera, just to get guide sound, it'll be a nice confirmation that you're in sync during editing. Sound effects needd not be in sync, unless you're recording "wild-track" sound that's specific to the scene. But you'll work all that out for yourself soon enough.
But tecnicaly, will background noise not also be picked up by the 'Dialogue' mini disc?
And what happens to the sound on the actual Mini DV tape?
Your "dialogue" mic(s) are placed close so you get cleanish sound. There will be some background noise on the tracks, no problem usually, because your constructed effects track sounds will mask that.
The guide sound on the miniDV plays no part in the output, but is very handy for viewing the rushes and for confirming that sound and vision are and remain in sync. Also, it's your final insurance, if all else goes wrong, you use it.
Also, you only need to wait a few seconds for the gear to come up to speed - waiting a few minutes is a waste of tape and time.