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You don’t need fancy gear to get pro-level sound—just a few smart, budget-friendly tricks and a bit of creativity, and you’re all set to show off your cinematic project, proving that raw skill can beat expensive gear.
8You Don’t Need Fancy Gear
You don’t need the most professional setup to create a visual or auditory masterpiece, just having a couple ofessentials in your kitis enough. Having expensive tools can make things a lot easier, but it doesn’t always guarantee success.
7Clean Sound in Recording
In the film industry, there’s a saying:Great sound quality can save bad footage, but great footage will never save bad sound.It shows the importance of putting emphasis on sound quality in your film. Making sure thathigh-quality audiois captured during recording to avoid issues inpost-productionis essential. This way, you won’t compromise the overall film quality and avoid spending too much time on unnecessaryvideo editing.
One way to capture clean audio is toreduce echoes through soundproofing, which is especially useful if you’re making a voice-over film indoors. You use blankets or foam panels on walls to dampen or absorb sounds. If you’re shooting outdoors, it can be hard to plan ahead if noise pollution is unavoidable. However, it can vary from location to location, and you may need to plan around it to get to a place where sound pollution is at its lowest, while lighting is still good. Remote locations are usually quieter, but if there’s a city nearby, rush hour traffic can affect audio quality, especially if you’re trying to minimize post-production editing. There are also a lot of affordablenoise-isolating lape micson the market to choose from.
6Picking Your Microphone: Built-in or External?
To capture good audio, you’ll need a microphone. There are manytypes of microphonesyou can pick from, depending on your needs, with each having differences in terms of overall audio quality, design, and functionality. Microphones are alreadybuilt-in into smartphonesand cameras and are often the cheapest route you’re able to go. You can even use yoursmartphone as a mic on Windows.
External microphones are detached from the main body of a recording device that needs to be connected either through a cable or wirelessly, which are considered the standard type of microphone you typically see when capturing music orpodcasts.
Several types ofexternal microphonesare available for you to pick from. One of those is shotgun microphones, which minimize background noise and isolates dialogue. It’s ideal for film styles like outdoor scenes, interviews, and film shoots. The lapel type is another microphone that can be clipped either on shirts or somewhere it can be held onto. It’s great for films, vlogs, interviews, and scenes with a moving subject. Who wouldn’t recognize themicrophones people holdthat are typically used in broadcasting and live events? They are commonly used in recordings for their direct sound capture and durability. Getting a basic understanding ofmicrophone polar patternscan also help you decide on one.
5You Need to Position the Microphone Correctly
Placement of the microphonecan either mean great audio quality or redoing the whole session. You certainly don’t want the latter. The most important rule is to get the microphone as close to the subject as possible, but you also don’t want it to be too close. If you place it too far away, the microphone can pick up room echoes, reverberations, and ambient noises if the microphone is placed too far away.
4An Easy DIY Boom Pole for Better Sound
If you’re worried that the microphone may ruin the scene, you may use a DIY boom pole instead, just by attaching a microphone clip to a pole with some foam surrounding it. This will offer you more flexibility in movement while maintaining professional audio capture, without having to spend a ton of money. For indoor or outdoor scenes, the best position for your boom pole is overhead, as it will give you a natural-sounding dialogue. But if your scene includes a high ceiling, then an underhead is perfect. If you’re looking for anaudio mixer, choose one with plenty of microphone inputs.
3Record the Audio Separately
You don’t need expensive equipment to record or capture high-quality audio. This can be done with the use of yoursmartphoneor any affordable audio recorder. There are a ton ofuseful appsavailable. These apps use advanced technology for audio processing that further enhances your recording,including noise reduction, compression, and dynamic equalizer.
Once you’re done with recording the audio, you can then begin syncing in post-production. Start by creating a clear sync point, either by using a clapperboard or clapping your hands at the very start of the session. This will serve as your cue when you’re on your editing software by locating both video and audio tracks. You can then align the visual to the audio cue that you made using a clapperboard or your hands by matching the waveform spike. Audacity is free and open-source, but there are alsotons of audio editing alternatives.
2Adding Music and Sound Effects to Enhance Overall Quality
If you’re a content creator, elevating the overall quality of your video with sound effects and music can hook your viewers. The secret to a high viewing rate in any video is to capture the emotions of your viewers. One way to do that is through music.
Musichas this effect on humans, by having the ability to manipulate your current emotional state. Depending on your video, you can choose your background music and sound effects accordingly. It’s almost a make-or-break situation.
you’re able to begin by picking which music and sound effects align with the mood and to effectively communicate the message of your content. There’s a ton of free software and apps out there you can use to add sound effects, includingDaVinci Resolve,Freesound, andYouTube Audio Library.
1Recommended Budget-Friendly Gear
With budget-friendly gear, you can still capture decent quality audio, especially with plenty of practice. If you’d like to step away from your smartphone microphone, there are still budget-friendly options for you to try.
For microphones, you can try theAudio-Technica AT2020, which is priced around $100. It’s a condenser-type microphone that offers a natural and clear sound, ideal for instruments and vocals. If you need an excellent handy recorder, try theSony PCM-A10costing under $250. This field recorder will provide you with high-resolution and low-noise audio capture. To listen to your audio quality during post-production, grab yourselfAudio-Technica ATH-M20xheadphones with high-quality audio feedback, making sure you won’t miss a track. For a free or cheaper option, you can use avoice recording appon your phone.
From now on, you don’t have to worry about capturing high-quality audio even when you’re on a budget. With a little imagination and commitment, you’ll eventually create a masterpiece you’ll be proud of. Don’t be afraid to experiment with new methods and practice until you’re happy.
So go ahead and start capturing amazing shots with your budget-friendly gear. Polish those in post-production and then publish them online for the whole to see.
