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    Roll Sound! A Practical Guide for Location Audio
    Roll Sound! A Practical Guide for Location Audio
    Roll Sound! A Practical Guide for Location Audio
    Ebook282 pages2 hours

    Roll Sound! A Practical Guide for Location Audio

    By John Fielden

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    This book is based on 30 years of actual location audio production setups from various production sound mixers & audio assistants for National and International movies, commercials, episodic TV, music videos, sports and news programming, variety shows and more.

    It gives a practical understanding of basic working applications in location sound for setting up and mixing location production audio.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJohn Fielden
    Release dateNov 22, 2010
    ISBN9780984437924
    Roll Sound! A Practical Guide for Location Audio

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    Book preview

    Roll Sound! A Practical Guide for Location Audio - John Fielden

    ROLL SOUND!

    A Practical Guide for Location Audio

    Smashwords Edition

    John Fielden

    Copyright ©2010 by My Planet Press, Honolulu

    All Rights Reserved.

    Smashwords Edition, License Notes

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other persons. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this ebook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author

    Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a data base or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher.

    ISBN 10: 0-9844379-2-4

    ISBN 13: 978-0-9844379-2-4

    This book is dedicated in loving memory of my mother, Maria Guadalupe Rodriguez Fielden and my father, Woodrow Wilson Fielden.

    Even though my parents never really understood what I did for a living, I do know they appreciated that I went out and forged, on my own, an accomplished and happy life.

    This is really all that parents can ask of their children.

    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

    First, I would like to acknowledge and thank all employers that took a chance and hired me for their productions. Next, I would like to acknowledge the crew that I have worked with over the past 30 years in making a wonderful career with some very exciting and poignant moments that created the heart of this book.

    I would also like to thank Shellie, for her guardian energy that propelled me into the world of television audio.

    I would like to thank Lew, who took me under his tutelage in introducing me to the film side of the business, and making work more enjoyable.

    I would like to thank Peter for the tedious proofreading, editing and making me look better in print.

    Last, and definitely not the least, thank you Joe, for the farcical, inspirational and conversational support. Without your input this book wouldn’t have been written.

    PREFACE

    Throughout my work years, there were numerous souls who wanted to learn location audio but wouldn’t put in the time and effort, and with today’s fast-paced digital-era media environment, where the need for immediate results equates to professionalism, I felt there is a consequential requirement to learn the basics of location audio.

    Thusly, this book was written to give students and inquiring audio engineers, a basic but thorough understanding of audio engineering in the real-life production world, ranging from a simple one-man, over-the-shoulder mixer to complex multi-camera, live-broadcast video productions. I tried to convey this outlook by presenting from a colorful first-person point of view; as if I were physically instructing a summer audio class instead of monochromatic scientific facts.

    Even with the current use of digital technology, all productions vary (even the similar ones). Use this book to guide you through the setting up process for productions analog or digital and then let your own natural audio instincts take over from there.

    -John Fielden-

    TABLE OF CONTENTS

    HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

    INTRODUCTION

    The Audio Link

    PART 1: AUDIO ENGINEERS

    The Audio Engineer: The Recordist; The Production Video Mixer (A1); The ENG Video Mixer; Boom Operators; The A2; Audio Utility (A3)

    Audio Engineers Review:

    PART 2: AUDIO TOOLS

    Microphones: Omni; Cardioid; Boom Mics; Lavalieres; Wireless; Headset

    Cables, Connectors & Adaptors: Cables; Connectors; Adapters

    Consoles & Mixers: ENG/EFP/EPK Mixer; Field Production Mixer; Fly-Pack Consoles; Production Consoles; Digital Consoles

    Recorders: Audio Recorders; Video Recorders; Camera Audio

    Audio Monitoring: Headphones; Audio Speakers; Specialty Audio Monitoring

    Audio Tools Review:

    PART 3: LOCATION SETUPS

    Announcer Booth:

    On-Camera Announcer:

    Stand-Ups:

    Sport Setups: Football; Soccer; Baseball / Softball; Basketball; Volleyball; Tennis; Fights; Golf; Workout Shows

    The Variety Show: Small Music Competition; Large Venue Talent Competition; Sub-Mixed Variety Show; Concerts; Talk Shows; Game Shows

    Location Setups: ENG/EFP/EPK; Film Production Audio Setup; Audio Playback;

    Location Setups Review:

    PART 4: LOCATION MIXING

    Levels & Metering:

    Compressors & Limiting:

    Distribution Amplifiers:

    Routers:

    Mixing: ENG/EFP/EPK; Commercials, Episodic TV & Motion Pictures; Video Productions

    Location Mixing Review:

    APPENDIX A

    Parab Tuning:

    Plant Mic:

    Cable Color Coding:

    Weatherproofing:

    APPENDIX B

    Production Credits:

    GLOSSARY

    HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

    Mixing location audio is not an absolute science. Varied location and production styles create the need for flexibility in audio setups. I advise reading the entire book first from cover to cover, thereby understanding the relationship of similar audio principles, using remote audio equipment and mixing for a wide variety of location productions. Then, go back and research the particular production setup you will be covering.

    There are 3 different types of productions discussed in this book.

    Film - A shooting style that usually involves multiple takes using a film or high-end video camera. In shooting films, episodic TV, and commercials a separate recording medium is used, ex. DAT or Digital recorder.

    Video – A shooting style where multiple takes may or may not be involved, but the audio signal is recorded onto the video camera.

    Multi-cam – Production events such as sports and variety shows involving many sources of audio. Usually mixed in a production truck or fly-pack; sound is recorded on analog or digital video recorders, or feed a live broadcast.

    This book is divided into an Introduction and 4 main parts. Each part is divided into multiple sections describing in more detail the subject being discussed. At the end of the book is Appendix A which provides miscellaneous tips, blank line sheets and more. Appendix B gives a listing of my major Production credits, and the book concludes with a common term Glossary.

    Part One – The Audio Engineer – describes the different positions in location audio engineering; from production mixers to audio assistants.

    Part Two – The Audio Tools – is a general description of the sound equipment needed to create your auditory masterpiece.

    Part Three – Location Audio Setups – describes actual real-life audio setups from various television and film productions.

    Part Four – Location Mixing – gives explanations and tips on how to achieve quality sound mixing while on location.

    Roll Sound! A Practical Guide for Location Audio features The Audio Link along with Guidelines, Expanded Equipment Views, Graphical Layout Diagrams and working Line Sheets. Randomly throughout this book, there are the following icons:

    [TIP]: Represents work experience tips on a related subject.

    {NOTE}: Represents general audio information.

    **RULE**: Represents advice to follow.

    WARNING!: Represents a must do advisory.

    Along with these notations there are bullet symbols to denote Specific Points, Guidelines, Shopping Lists and Checklists.

    ADDENDUM: As this book is being written, the use of digital technology is becoming the norm in productions. This book covers basic audio setups whether they are digital or analog, and until there becomes a major change in production, cables still need to be plugged in, correct microphone placement is a must, and just knowing a general knowledge of the audio engineering work environment is a plus before pursuing a legendary audio career.

    INTRODUCTION

    "As far as I am concerned, sound is a necessary evil."

    Mique Quenzer, Director QDD, my 1983 job interview

    In some ways, this is the beauty of working in the sound department. We are needed, yet we are separate from the rest of production. We are an integral part in production, but we solve our own problems, communicate with our own kind and thoroughly enjoy watching the rest of the production circus.

    First, let me introduce myself. I have been a freelance audio engineer for nearly 30 years. The information and setups in this book are based upon my work experience and real world knowledge I have gained in working over 2500 production days. My work experience bridges all aspects of sound engineering; from multi-channel, multi-track audio productions to over-the-shoulder, one-man-band field audio.

    The Beginning

    My neophyte days began as a part-time roadie for my rock & roll band friends. This graduated to an in-garage recording studio with carpet on the walls, a couple of microphones, an old trusty 4-track reel-to-reel recorder and a 4 foot tall spring reverb for effects. I learned basic audio techniques by taking a summer video production class, where they taught from how to wrap cables over and under, up to recording a simple jingle. I taught myself the art of overdubbing in that garage home studio where I created children’s story book tapes by recording character narrations, adding sound EFX and music. Remember, this was before the Digital Age, where everything was considerably more rudimentary.

    Through contacts, which are so important in this business, I moved to Hawaii to work as an audio grunt in a locally shot Television show. There, I learned how to solder connectors, work with audio consoles, did some basic video editing and was taught that there was more than one type of microphone to use on a production.

    After about a year, the show was cancelled and I found employment in a cassette duplication house. I talked my way into becoming the mastering engineer, where I learned the fine art of prepping studio masters for duplication by balancing the playback levels for the cassette master to be used in a high-speed cassette to cassette duplicator.

    As time went on, I began tweaking (equalizing) the studio masters, roll off a little 200 Hz, add a little thump and a little brightness and voila! The clients loved it! I was the new mastering guru and began to meet a lot of local musicians & managers, which opened up the contact doors to the music side of this business.

    In doing some freelance studio work at this time, I learned the multi-track studio recording environment by working with 2 inch, 24 track tape machines. I also learned how to design studios, which I later applied at the duplication house, where I built a no-budget but quality sounding mastering studio with false walls, false-ceilings and V-shaped acoustic bass traps.

    I started my location recording career by recording conferences for this duplication house, which provided on-site cassette duplication. The process of working in different and challenging environments opened my eyes to what path I wanted to pursue in this industry, location sound recording.

    By promoting my talents of location and music recording, I was hired to record my first on-location Live album, at a local bar called Sparky’s. The band was a Hawaiian trio that played a new type of music called Jawaiian, a mixture of Jamaican reggae and Hawaiian pop. The recording was quite simple: 3 vocals, ukulele, guitar and bass, add a couple of audience applause mics and off we go!

    I recorded the music on my ½ 8 track Teac 80-8 and did the mix-down on my Teac Model 10 mixing anchor. Now, I did have a nice pair of Tannoy 10 monitors, a digital reverb and of course my new mastering studio. It actually sounded pretty decent.

    Well… I did the mix-down on my own, handed it to the producer, who took it as I had mixed and released it. The album Satisfaction Guaranteed by Kapena, went to the top 10 of the local charts for 14 months, the band got nominated for a Hoku (Hawaiian music award, similar to the Grammy) and to this day I still hear the songs at the airport and in hotel lobbies (just shows that you don’t necessarily need the top equipment to make it work).

    While I was starting to make a name for myself in location recording, I was becoming bored with the duplication house and decided to quit. On that same day I ran into a fellow audio associate, who just quit his job because of health reasons at a film production house and told me I should apply. So I did, and I became their audio director even though I didn’t have much, if any, film audio experience.

    About this same time, through her employment, my wife made contact with a restaurant manager named Howie, who worked part time for NBC for the winter golf tournaments in Hawaii. She informed him that I was interested in

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