Location sound is one of the most critical aspects to your video production. The recordings you take back from the shooting location into post are as critical as the cast, the onscreen performances, the set and the lighting. Why? Because if your location recordings sound bad then the rest of your production doesn't matter until the issue is resolved. As the person responsible for your digital video production keep this simple and important rule in mind:
- Intelligible, non-distracting audio is the only way to communicate your carefully crafted story to your audience.
Bringing back clean audio from the shoot requires a little ingenuity, a little patience, and a lot of planning to do well. As a digital video producer it may not be your responsibility to record your audio well, but it is your responsibility to make sure that someone on the shoot is. By taking responsibility for the entire production, not just the pictures and on-screen performances, you will be giving your project the respect and professionalism that it deserves.
Entire careers have been devoted solely to the art and science of capturing good audio out in the world, and a number of books have been written about this subject as well. As a first option, you should usually have someone involved in your production who is dedicated solely to the audio. This person will be listening to every recording as it occurs, and can make a number of subtle adjustments on the fly. The times you can skip a dedicated sound person are generally when the shoot is just a single person on camera without tons of movement. If you plan on doing the audio yourself, I would recommend reading the excellent book Location Audio Simplified by S. Dean Miles, as well as Producing Great Sound for Digital Video by Jay Rose as a primer and reference.
