Readings and Writings
Here’s what I learned after reading the following articles:
7 Secrets for Getting Pro Sounding Vocals on Home Recordings
- Get in the zone: put yourself in an environment where you can focus and record.
- Hack your bedroom: avoid recording in rooms with an echo. Use pillows, blankets, or curtains to absorb the sound.
- Position your mic and pop filter correctly: Place the
mic diaphragm facing your lips and have a pop filter in front of the mic. This will reduce your “P” and “T” sounds. - Get the right mic levels: Let your mic “warm up” for a few minutes and then keep your vocals below the red to avoid peaking (because that is a sign that your audio is too loud).
- Do several takes: We often do not get it right on the first try. Record more than one take to have more options to choose from. Make sure to label every track and take.
- Be careful with your vocal editing: Focus on the performance of your takes. Use big portions of a take to keep the original vibe intact.
- Know when (and when not) to process your vocal sound: If you are just starting out with audio editing, feel free to use plugins to make the work easier. Get some that have:
- a good parametric EQ
- a couple of compressors
- a de-esser
- two or three types of delays
- one or two high quality reverbs
Editing Audio for Video
First, there is A-roll and B-roll. The A-roll is the primary footage in a piece, and the B-roll is any footage used to support it. In an interview, the footage of the subject talking to the camera would be the A-roll and any clips shown while they are talking would be the B-roll. When editing, place all the important A-roll first and edit it in order of importance for the “rough edit.”
Trim up the footage by getting rid of “unnecessary fat” like a subject struggling to think or them taking a few steps without saying anything. Just be sure to leave about 15 frames extra for when we overlap the ends of each (audio) clip, using tracks 1a and 1b. Then add a fade in or out for the smoothest transition between clips. Close your eyes and listen to the edit to see if it sounds clear. Use audio compressor and equalizer plug-ins to fix any issues.
To spice up the audio (or hide any mistakes) add music to the background, low enough that the subject can be heard clearly. When the edit is completely finished, export the audio on its own in case any editing for it is needed down the line.
To hide any mistakes when going back to the video editing, use cross-dissolves. A flash of white for a few seconds could also be distracting enough to help, or simply place B-roll over the messy footage.
Research to Inform
Here are some examples of audio and video being beautifully used together.
On Brittany Broski’s interview show Royal Court, she invites celebrities over to her “kingdom” where they answer questions for a spot on her court. As Drew Barrymore mentions in her introduction, this show is meant to carry a comedic tone.
If this wasn’t evident through the set design alone, there is medieval background music playing, which ramps up during the transition between interview segments. Royal Court also uses a loud spotlight sound effect to make the lighting change feel dramatic and sudden (3:37).
For a more intense use of sound design, check out this scene from the Until Dawn remaster. Fair warning, click away at 2:18 if you’re squeamish.
In this scene Chris just woke up in an unfamiliar place and is searching for his friends. The music is low and eerie with the only other sounds being creaky footsteps and chains clanging until cries for help are heard. All this is to set the scene of the deadly Saw inspired trap he is about to find. As Ashley and Josh get more desperate, the chain clang more frequently, and the buzzing of the saw gets louder as Chris makes his choice and Josh meets his fate.
While the stakes aren’t nearly as high in this scene, Kelly Wentworth’s game is on the line in this Survivor: Second Chance tribal council. In a typical Survivor fashion, the music in this scene is meant to make the viewer believe they are in a tropical, tribal environment.
As Wentworth reaches for her game-saving idol, the music lowers for just a second and then continues its suspenseful drumming until the votes are revealed and the music speeds up as the votes fly in one after the other. All the while, like with most reality TV, there is that classic “dun” sound used whenever a player says something surprising (0:27 for example).