my audio levels

mrpink89 said:

My Audio levels so far when booming for my actors range from -20 to -12 and sometimes go to -6.

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That's great, right where you should be.

mrpink89 said:

What are you able to do with audio in post? can you turn it up more? I know that would create more noise but couldn't you remove the noise?

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Yes, it can be turned up, but one of the "secrets" is keeping everything else lower in volume.

mrpink89 said:

Are you able to turn down audio? given that it isn't distorted?

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Of course you can turn it down.

As alcove said, -20dB to -12dB is generally a very good level.

mrpink89 said:

What are you able to do with audio in post? can you turn it up more? I know that would create more noise but couldn't you remove the noise?

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Why would that create more noise?

G

Not sure just thought the higher the level the higher the noise, so peaking at those levels is good? ahh i am very relieved my old audio was so low

Leaving aside the issues of the self-noise of the equipment itself and proper gain-staging, it all comes down to the skill of the boom-op. The more closely and accurately the mic is aimed at the talent the less background noise will be present in the production dialog.

Audio post plays a big role as well. Ideally all of the audio surrounding the dialog is removed and replaced with room-tone. If room-tone is not recorded on-set this job becomes infinitely more difficult. Then, of course, noise reduction needs to be done on the dialog as well.

Sound-for-picture is a completely integrated craft - prepro, production, dialog edit, Foley, sound effects, score/music and the mix. And the sound for picture craft needs to be completely integrated with the rest of the filmmaking process.

I own a very poopy mic, so when i don't have a nice rented ntg3 and have to use my crap - my audio guy keeps very low gain to reduce the hiss. I tell him to get as close as possible, which reduces my camera positions to a bunch of close ups, or over the shoulder.

My advice - if you have a crappy microphone - avoid increasing gain on your recorder (or preamp, whatever you have) and try to get as close as possible to the actor, even if it means you have to change your shot around it.

Sound-for-picture is a completely integrated craft - prepro, production, dialog edit, Foley, sound effects, score/music and the mix. And the sound for picture craft needs to be completely integrated with the rest of the filmmaking process.

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+1000. Know what your audio is when you re in pre production. Will the set have echo-y room? Do you need to treat the room?
How many of the shots are outside near the city? If you're by a major city - add an hour for airport traffic?

But all of that comes with experience. Good luck, try to get as best of audio as possible, acknowledge your mistakes and avoid it next time

Good luck!!

dlevanchuk said:

I own a very poopy mic, so when i don't have a nice rented ntg3 and have to use my crap - my audio guy keeps very low gain to reduce the hiss.

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Where the mic pre-amp gain is set doesn't affect the amount of hiss, except in two instances: 1. The levels are extremely low, in which case the self noise of the recorder might come into play or 2. The gain setting of the pre-amp is very high, in which case the pre-amp itself will produce more noise (or other unwanted distortion).

You seem to be thinking in terms of the actual level of the hiss itself rather than in terms of the difference between the signal you want (in this case dialogue) and the noise you don't want (set noise, mic hiss, etc.). With the gain up quite high, let's say your dialogue levels average -12dB and the noise/hiss averages -24dB. If it were possible to duplicate the exact same recording conditions again but with the gain set lower so that the dialogue averaged say -20dB, then the noise/hiss would average -32dB. The noise is now 8dB lower but so is the dialogue! The relationship between the noise (unwanted) and the signal (the dialogue) has not changed, so when it comes time for audio post there is in effect no difference between the two because the signal to noise ratio (SNR) is the same in both recordings (12dB). The solution to this is to change the signal to noise ratio entering the mic, as you have said; get the mic closer to the signal source so you record more signal and less noise and/or to get a mic which produces less self noise. With the exception of two caveats given above, the gain setting will not make a difference to your noise levels.

G

AudioPostExpert hit it right on the head. Well put.

In a studio environment you need to take care with how close you have the mic to the sound source because the EQ curves will vary based on that distance (ie, the closer you get the more low freq you'll pick up). I suspect that is a concern for live boom mic too... just something to think about if the 'fix' is to just move the mic closer.