8 On-the-fly Guerrilla Production Tips (page 2)

4: The People Have Spoken - Can You Hear Them?

Good audio is one of the easiest things to overlook and hardest to fix in post, even more so with all the distractions of shooting on the fly.

Monitoring your sound as you record it through the camera is the best way to avoid an audio catastrophe. Wear headphones at all possible times while rolling tape. Check your settings and levels ahead of time, so you aren't messing with them in the field.

Your choice of microphone will vary with each shoot and will generally depend on how mobile you'll need to be.

In covering a bike race, for example, you'll be running through the woods capturing the racers as they whiz by. A camera-mounted shotgun mic is ideal for situations like this, picking up audio directly in front of the camera - in this case from the cyclists - while avoiding distracting noises behind you. Be careful that the tip of the shotgun mic doesn't drop down and show in the frame!

Shotgun mics are flexible enough to use for interviews, but lavalier mics are generally preferred, if you have the time and logistics to use them.

Using a lav and a camera-mounted shotgun mic together is a terrific option when shooting interviews. This gives you one source for ambient sound, with a second channel reserved for the primary interview.

If your camera doesn't have direct XLR inputs, consider a camera-mounted XLR-to-1/8" mini-ada…