Some things to remember about audio
- Natural sound isn’t a bad thing! Sometimes those noises in your b-roll are important to add realism to your video. If that tractor is driving around the farm, it would be weird not to hear a bit of that noise in the video. You can always bring the volume down while editing!
- Use an external mic if you have one, it makes a huge difference. Here’s a good source to find some more mics that fit your production.
- Wear headphones so you know the sound is being recorded exactly as you want it to be. It sucks to go back later while editing and realize you can’t hear a word of your interview.
- Have your interviewee practice speaking before you start the interview so you know everything is recording correctly, this is a great time to ask them an icebreaker (What did you have for breakfast?).
- Check your levels (not all cameras have this ability, iPhones don’t) levels are when you adjust how loud the mics input is versus natural sound and other noises.
- If you’re going to include music, remember to bring the volume of the music down during interviews – this happens during editing. Here’s my favorite website for creative commons music (songs you can use without needing to ask or pay royalties to the creator) freemusicarchive.org. (Make sure you credit the song title and creator in the credits of your video!)