The Sound is More Important Than The Picture?

One of our recent grooms (a New York wedding and event videographer himself) recently asked me how we do our audio. In fact, when I speak to professional videographers associations, it is one of the top questions I am asked. Well, I let my audio engineer, Tamer Tewfik, answer this question directly and I thought you might want to read his response. . .

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Hi Michael,

I'm happy to be available to you to talk about the logistics about improving audio for your productions. I have spoken to many videographers about this since I started working with Dave. Basically, the biggest question I get from videographers is how to get DVideography quality audio on their own. It always makes me chuckle inside because I suppose they believe it's a secret and that the only reason I am at a DVideography shoot is because Dave just doesn't want to be bothered with audio. False. My answer is always, if anyone could do it alone, there would be no need for professional audio engineers. I'm sure there's a way to improve your audio - down and dirty style - but I'd need more information to see where you are with your audio now.

Keep in mind that I met Dave after 15 years of experience freelancing mostly for broadcast television and film so my experience comes from those realms. The result is a high standard of audio equipment I need to be able to work in that market. The equipment I know best and use is of the utmost quality that can only be purchased from specialty audio places and, as you may have already realized, the equipment is pricey. For example the SoundDevices 744T that records 4 track for Dave is about $4000 and the 4 channel field mixer we use (SoundDevices 442) to send the audio to the 744 is about $3000. So your talking about $7K before you even talk microphones. We use 2-4 Broadcast quality Lectrosonic wireless, standard for broadcast television, which cost about $3K each and Sennheiser Evolution wireless to send wireless to cameras. The camera mix is also just for reference as the 744T records everything as separate feeds so the editor can have full editorial control over the final mix. So, in all, we are bringing almost $20K in equipment to a wedding. This equipment is essential since it determines what sound goes onto tape. The better the wireless, the quieter the noise floor, the stronger the wireless signal and all around control over the audio "environment", if you will.

If I sat you down to tell you all the components involved, it would become obvious to you why Dave's audio is exceptional. I don't have much advice as to how you can improve the audio alone without an audio engineer as even I get nervous about not monitoring the audio feeds when I play cameraman and audio engineer at the same time. When I have to leave the mixer, I still wear a broadcast quality IFB in my ear so I can monitor the mixer while I shoot, but it's still not ideal. Even with the best equipment in the world, you really need a second set of ears to monitor and babysit the audio. One will never have TRUE quality audio without an audio engineer. Good audio depends on mic placement, knowledge of how to use the equipment, ect. There are so many components that quality audio depends on.

Now, that being said, there are some prosumer recorders out there that can at least help you improve your audio (down and dirty style) but I'd need to talk to you personally. To assess your situation, I'd need to know what you're doing now and what you're looking to do. In other words, I'd need to know what your doing to assess how much you can improve doing it on your own. Feel free to call me anytime at the contact information below.

Best,
Tamer

Photo by JordanOplinger.com