More videos are spoiled by bad sound than by bad footage. Admittedly if you chop someone’s head off off or have the camera pointing at the wrong subject then it will kind of spoil the overall look of your video, but audio is crucial.
I have watched videos both professional and amateur that are visually brilliant but are let down by bad sound. So here are a few tips to help you get better sound for your videos.
1. Use an external microphone. Most video cameras have built in mikes and usually they are omni-directional which means they will record all the sound that is around them. Now you do want some background sound but not when it drowns out your subject. The on camera mikes also pick up on noise you, as the camera operator make. This could be the sound of you handling the camera, sniffing, grunting and the obligatory ”yea, yea,” as you listen to you subject.
A mike you can pin onto you subject away from the camera will largely avoid this. You can buy them from Maplins or Amazon. A simple lavalier or lapel mike will improve you audio a lot.
Chances are some of you are looking at your camera and wondering where you would plug this shiny new microphone in. Well most video cameras below £200 are unlikely to have an microphone input socket. If you have one, then use it, but here is another tip if you haven’t.
2. Use a digital voice recorder.
A digital voice recorder, the kind you use for dictating letters, can also act as a good off camera mike. Plug a lapel mike into it, switch it on put in your subjects pocket. Film the interview and then bring the audio into you editing software and synchronize it with the camera’s audio and then mute or delete the camera audio track. It’s a but fiddly and many will be daunted at the prospect of editing but it is well worth it. 
Of course, those routes may not be open to you or you may want a simpler solution. So here are my top 6 tips for good sound using your cameras microphone.
1. Choose a reasonably quite place, preferably one that does not have a lot of through traffic. Nothing worse than people apologizing for interrupting you.
2. Choose a location that does not suffer from echo. Stairwells and large halls for instance. A quick way to judge how a room responds to sound is to clap you hands and see how the sound reverberates. Not very scientific but not a bad way to choose a location.
3. Stand as close to your subject as you can. I don’t mean under their nose exactly but the further away you are the worse your sound will be. Remember, you can zoom in with your camera but you cannot zoom in with your sound.
4. Make sure the area behind your subject is quiet. Remember this is where your microphone if pointing. You may me standing in a nice quite spot but your microphone may be pointing at a noisy road or an open window.
5. Try to ensure you keep handling noise to a bare minimum and try to cut out any extraneous sounds, “mmm’s” , “grunts” and “yea”s fall into this category.
6. Make sure the camera and thus the mike are pointing directly at your subject. It may be a very artistic shot to film from the side but it means you mike is not pointing at where the sound you want is coming from.
If you would like some more detail advice on audio and music in video then do visit the lovely Claire Batchelor’s blog lots of helpful tips in there
So there you go, how to get better audio from your camera. If you want further hints and tips then sign up to our bi-monthly Video Hints and Tips, email newletter (the clue is in the title) and happy filming
Gordon O’Neill
