Setting Up Audio For Video Interviews
In this blog I’ll discuss how we set up audio equipment for a video interview. The two main takeaways are to film in a quiet location, and place the mic as close to the subject as possible.
If you have control of the filming location, try to choose a quiet space. Location goes a long way to achieving good sounding audio. We try to find a place that doesn’t have people walking through or talking. If it’s a window near a street, we’ll make sure the road noise isn’t too loud. If there is AC or heating, we’ll see if it can be turned off during the interview. If there is some noise we can’t control, it may be able to be removed with de-nosie effects during editing. We also like to check the echo of the room to see if it's distracting. One way to reduce the echo is to place sound blankets around the room.
Next we set up the microphone. We like to use a boom mic that is positioned above the subject. We place the microphone just above the subject at a 45 degree angle to their chin. The closer the mic is to them, the better the sound because their voice will be louder relative to the other noises in the room. We then connect the microphone to the audio mixer using an XLR cable. Like most film mics, our mic requires phantom power to work. So we make sure that setting is turned on in our mixer.
If we are using a lav mic, we have the interviewee run the mic cable down their shirt. Be considerate when asking for this. I typically turn away to give them a little bit of privacy as they adjust their clothing. It's a personal preference if you want to have the mic showing. Personally we think it captures a little bit better sound when it's above the clothing. If you are OK with it showing, clip the mic onto the shirt, lapel, or tie. Most lav mics are omni-directional, so you don’t have to worry about which direction the capsule is facing. If you want to hide the mic, you can use felt stickies to place it under their clothing. The felt prevents the sound of clothing from rubbing against the mic, creating a rustling noise.
Once the microphone is set up, do an audio test with the interviewee. The goal is to have the audio peak around -12db. You’ll adjust the audio later while editing, so the most important part is making sure the audio doesn’t peak or clip. This is when the audio meter goes above 0db and creates a distortion sound. The distortion created isn’t fixable with audio editing. Nicer mixers will have a limiter, which will prevent this in case the interviewee unexpectedly gets louder for a moment.
We also like to have at least one other backup when recording audio.There are a few options. If you are recording with a mic on a boom pole, you could use a lav mic or vice versa as your backup. Another option is to place a portable recorder from the boom arm to record audio separately from the main microphone. You can also plug the output of your mixer into the camera’s microphone jack to record the audio there as well. This doesn’t help if there is an issue with the microphone, but can be useful if you make a simple mistake like forgetting to push “record” on the mixer.
When recording audio separately from the video, most editing programs can sync the two together automatically. To be safe you can use a slate or clap to make it easier if you have to sync them manually.
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