” Sometimes even after people have had to spend large chunks of money on getting someone in post to fix up their poorly recorded audio, they still don’t learn, and go out and do the same thing again. It never ceases to amaze me! “
I recorded production sound for a variety of industrial, commercial, and documentary films ( really, film, pre-video days ), and even had the pleasure of recording production sound for a ” Hollywood ” feature. Rarely when shooting a low-budget documentary did the producer/director/cameraman acknowledge the importance of sound, usually assigning that task to their girlfriend who hand-held a long Sennheiser shotgun ( which was in constant motion, being waved around like aswash-buckling Errol Flynn) connected to a Nagra slung over-the-shoulder which was never consulted for a hint of proper recording level!
Let’s face it . . . we’re visually oriented creatures. Folks thinking about getting into the video racket think about the gorgeous pictures they could dazzle friends or clients with, not gorgeous sounds they could dazzle friends or clients with. There is an axiom which states: ” The better you do your job ( as a sound recordist ), the more you disappear “. Rarely do video productions receive awards for excellence in sound. The neophite video enthusiast dreams of standing before an audience of their ” peers ” and receivingan award for their videographyefforts, not for sterling sound.
In telling a story, all technical aspects involved must support the story being told and not necessarily draw attention to themselves.
Rick Crampton
