Capture High Quality Sound for Video
Movie-goers won't tolerate muffled or tinny sound. They might tolerate some little hiccups in shooting or framing or lighting, but in audio? Forget it! Viewers won't stand for it. You have to strain to make out what the actors are saying when the audio track cuts out. You have to cover your ears when it gets too loud. You have to struggle to make out what's happening when hisses, hums and ambient noises block out the dialogue. That's because there's something so needling on a deeper level about sound. Sometimes people react to it, even if the problems are so subtle that they don't know why they're reacting. Poorly mixed sound makes your skin crawl and drive audiences out the door. You don't want that. You want people to stay in their seats and watch your entire movie. And you want them to enjoy it, to clamor for more. And the easiest way to make sure that you're on the right track for success is to make sure your sound is coming out perfect.
All Your Sound Needs in One Training Video
If you want audiences to know that you're a professional, you're going to have to make sure your audio is perfect. How to: Advanced Audio for Video is the no-nonsense guide to audio that will help you conquer the sound problems that have been holding you back. Whether you're worried about fixing ambient noises in post or struggling to figure out where to put the microphone in a whole room of muttering actors, this is the training video with the answers. We collected all our best audio solutions to help you make your next production sound great.
To produce high quality videos, you need to capture and edit high quality sound. Learning the tips and tricks to record and edit audio will raise the production value of your whole project and convince people that they're dealing with a real pro. In How to: Advanced Audio for Video, we teach you everything from the initial recording process to the post production filtering.
How to: Advanced Audio for Video includes:
- How to Record Voice Overs – Almost all videos make use of voice-overs — from news reports to commercials to documentaries, the voice-over helps explain the action on screen to the audience. Audiences are trained to instantly pay attention to a narrator's voice, so a poor voice-over is one of the fastest ways to sink a promising video project. This video segment will lay out all the steps to recording a perfect voice-over, from finding the right quiet recording space to choosing the best type of microphone.
- How to Use Compressors, Limiters and Noise Gates – What's worse than uneven sound? Nobody likes being forced to constantly fiddle with the volume controls to hear a poorly-balanced soundtrack where the quiet parts are inaudible and the loud parts hurt your ears. Luckily, there are some easy tools available to every videographer and filmmaker that can make short work of this annoying problem. In this segment, we'll show you how to use compressors, limiters and noise gates to make your audio sound its very best.
- How to Use Audio Effects and Filters in Post – Plagued by annoying hisses and hums in your audio? You thought that the room was silent while you were recording, but now you hear all sorts of intrusive noises. Never fear! It's still possible to fix up your audio in post so that it sounds great. In this segment, we'll show you how you can improve your mix using effects and filters like EQ, Lowpass, Highpass and Notch filters as well as compressors, limiters and reverb.
- How to Mic Groups of People – Setting up a microphone to record one person isn't too tricky — but what if you need to mic a group of people? Suddenly the situation can be a lot more confusing, since your microphone choice will depend a lot on the number of people present, their arrangement and the nature of your video. In this segment, we'll explain some of the more complicated group mic set-ups and what kind of microphone you should use for each.
- How to Sync Dual System Sound – Capturing flawless video and awesome audio is certainly a crucial part of the process but if the two aren't properly synchronized in post then the results will be disastrous. We show you how to bring it all together using timecodes, slates and waveforms, and synching software, to keep your project's timing on track, looking and sounding its absolute best.
- How to Design a Professional Sound Mix in Post – You've captured great audio and brought it into the editing timeline where you've synchronized and cleaned it up even further. For one final touch before releasing your masterpiece to the masses, we'll show you how to design a professional sound mix in post, using ducking, frequency gaps and normalization to give your audio a particularly professional polish.
When it comes to video, sound signifies everything. It may be a visual medium, but you can't afford to ignore sound. To make a great video that people can recognize as great, you'll need to create the ultimate marriage between sight and sound. You need clean visuals and crisp sound. Only when you have achieved this union, with both your video and your audio working in concert to make your project shine, will your project reach its full potential. You already know how to make great video; let us help you do the same with your audio. How to: Advanced Audio for Video is available in DVD and Digital Downloadable formats.