Here's a great list of tips that covers the basics of recording and editing audio. 

Originally published at http://appleby3.wordpress.com/2009/10/02/top-ten-tips-audio/

Luke’s top ten tips for recording and editing audio

WELCOME to another edition of Luke’s top ten tips – this time I’m focusing on recording audio for journalistic purposes, and the best tricks for editing and using the stuff.

If your chosen field is that of a TV reporter, radio reporter, filming enthusiast, citizen reporter or a just general all-round multimedia journo for web and what-have-you, you will quickly identify the need to collect good quality audio for broadcast. There are a few pitfalls for young players, so I’m going to give you a few tips on what to do, and what not to do.

1.) The wind is your worst enemy.

Collecting audio or interviewing people in the wind is one of the most commonly-made mistakes of the novice reporter. Unless you have a directional microphone and some pretty serious wind-muffling equipment (such as one of those big, furry things known within industry as the ‘dead cat’). If you can avoid it at all, DO NOT interview or try to collect audio in the wind. You may get only one shot at the interview, and if you get back to the office and listen and its full of wind, there’s not a lot you can do. Some noise can be edited out, but wind noise is persistent and almost impossible to remove. Take a subject somewhere sheltered for a couple of minutes to get your quotes, schedule a meeting indoors, ask them for a number to call when they get back to their office, or, at the very worst and as a last resort, try taking along something to cover the microphone such as a piece of cheese-cloth to wrap around the microphone, or some sort of stiff plastic to shield the microphone while you record the audio. I would recommend a large ice-cream container lid, which would give enough calm air to position the microphone and gather half-decent audio. This should be a last resort only.

2.) Good equipment makes all the difference.

A decent microphone might set you back a couple of hundred NZD, but the results are oh-so-worth it. If you plan on doing a lot of interviews in the field, I would recommend a good directional or ’shotgun’ microphone, such as the Rode NTG-2, with a wind-shield. No, I am not affiliated, that’s just what I use. For general recording, a nice omni-directional mic is fine, and will pick up ambient noise such as traffic, waves, birds etc. The thing to note about these more-professional types of mics is that they require a 48V or ‘phantom’ power supply to work effectively. But, these particular mics also run pretty well when you pop in a NiMH battery. The connector is an XLR type, as opposed to the most common that you probably see on every other microphone, the 3.5mm or the 1/4 inch jack. You can purchase adapters from any sound or music shop pretty cheaply. Now yes, this type of equipment is for the professional, and similar, less expensive gear will also do a pretty decent job. The bottom line is – if you spend a little bit of time and money on your equipment you will likely yield better results in the end.

3.) Ask open-ended questions, and encourage one-sentence answers.

If you are producing an audio bulletin, the last thing you want is a bunch of yes/no answers, which are difficult to cut in to audio, as they require a lot of voice over from the reporter to explain, and sound rather stupid. Example: Reporter: “The minister agreed with the statement that the money should have been spent elsewhere”, Minister: “Yes, I agree with that.” It is understandable that many times you won’t have the luxury of asking the subject to talk in complete sentences, but most media-savvy people (such as ministers) will instinctively talk in statement-like sentences, because they know that is what the reporter wants. Some people, though, do not know this, and may also be shy and wary of media attention. If you start getting yes/no answers, either you are asking the wrong questions, or subject doesn’t really want to talk, or they are just generally bad talent for interviewing. Considering finding another source, modifying your line of questioning, or at the worst, asking them to repeat something in a complete sentence.

4.) Don’t be afraid to ask someone to repeat or try something again.

If someone you are interviewing makes a mistake, mumbles their words, mis-pronounces something, coughs, sneezes or otherwise makes a mistake during their grab, it is wise to ask them to repeat that part of the statement, so you can later cut out the mistake. Don’t be afraid, because if you hesitate, you may lose the moment, and it’s difficult to go back once they continue into the next part of their topic. Jump on them when the make a mistake, and ask them to take a moment, relax, and start from the beginning of the last sentence. Re-assure them that you need to do this in order for them to sound better on tape. They will almost always understand where you are coming from. Make them feel like they are part of the process, and that you are not just pointing a microphone at a blabbering mouth. Include them – until you leave, that is.

5.) Make sure your equipment is set up correctly. 

Nothing is more frustrating than getting back to the office and realising that the last hour you spent sitting through that speech was all in vain because either the recorder wasn’t switched on, was too far from the subject, was covered or muffled by something, was right night to the guy getting over a cold and sniffing every five seconds or had the recording level set too high and peaked out with every syllable more than a whisper. It is important to experiment with your recording gear and get used to the settings and levels required for each occasion. ALWAYS take headphones along, and if possible, record a few seconds of normal conversation, then listen to it back through the headphones. If you hear distortion or pops and clicks, make the adjustments to the levels and repeat. Other things to watch out for include the battery-life (take spares, and watch it like a hawk), people tapping on a desk which the recording is sitting on, or otherwise making noise other than their speech (politely ask them to put down the pen, stop kicking/thumping the table, or drumming their fingers nervously).

6.) Perfect your hand-held microphone interviewing technique.

While interviewing someone with a hand-held microphone, you are granted a certain amount of power to control the conversation. The number one rule of reporting with a hand-held microphone is DO NOT LET SOMEONE ELSE TAKE IT OR HOLD IT! This take all the power out of your hands, and you may find it difficult to get it back before the source has had a good rant and played TV reporter for a while. This is likely to be expensive equipment also, which you should only trust yourself with, not some random at a protest march. Hold on tight, do not let go, and tell them in no uncertain terms, “I’ll hold the mic, thanks”. Keep the microphone a comfortable distance from both yourself and the subject, and keep the distances uniform, for example, two feet exactly from the microphone to their mouth, and yours. Swivel the microphone back and forth with a gentle flick of the wrist. This also serves as a pointer to the subject that it is your turn to talk. If they go off on a tangent about something, swivel the mic away from them, back to you, and watch as they almost instantly shut up, then you ask your next (directed) question. Also, avoid clicking or tapping on the microphone, especially with jewellery such as rings. A very light tap with a ring will resonate through the mic and come out loud on tape. Hold the mic steady, with a firm grip, and don’t shuffle it around in your hand, or brush it against anything.

7.) Use decent headphones while editing or playing the audio back.

Your audio will sound completely different when heard through earbuds compared with full-frequency headphones. You will always want to use the latter, so as to hear the full spectrum of sound, from bassy tones to treble clicks and also light background noise. Always assume that the audio will be heard in full, with all of these elements present. Listening back to audio on a dictaphone will replay only a small range of the complete recording, and will sound completely different through headphones. Invest in a nice set of Sennheiser headphones (again, not affiliated, but I like them), and you will hear every minute in full quality.

8.) Get to know your audio editing software.

There are many audio editing programs out there, but within them all are often common features and effects which you should be familiar with to edit effectively. You should get to know how to use the following: Fade in/out – at the start and end of grabs to gently fade the sound in and out. Normalise – increases the volume of a piece of sound to the point where it is as loud as possible, without clipping (distorting). Equaliser – used to increase/decrease certain portions of the sound spectrum within a piece of sound, such as when too much bass is present, or the recording is tinny (too much treble). This takes some practice, and good headphones are essential. A good piece of free audio software (freeware) is Audacity, it basically has all the functions you will need, is completely free, and (I think) can be used from a USB stick. Perfect.

9.) Listen up and take some ambient sound.

Background noise can be a curse, but also a blessing. To add colour a life to your interview, you should listen out for good audio in your surroundings, such as the sound of a protest chant, the ocean waves lapping at the shore, traffic noise, and take a good chunk of that with you when you head back to the editing booth. If your interview is likely to be perhaps two or three minutes long, have a seat with your recorder in hand, and record five minutes of ambient noise, which can later be edited in (at a low level) underneath the audio of your interview. Sounds nice, huh? Much better than the normal, stale silence behind most interviews, although that’s fine if you want to go with a more serious, no-nonsense tone.

10.) Produce audio for a format which is suitable to the medium.

Different sound formats have differing quality, sizes and compatibility. Investigate which formats are best suited for delivered to your intended audience, for example, if you wish to produce a podcast (or syndicated audio) for a web audience, a good choice will be the MP3 format, which is compact in size, decent quality and playable on many of todays portable devices and almost any computer. If you are producing audio for a film production, or radio bulletin, you will want to stick with a full-quality, lossless (saving it doesn’t make it sound worse) format like WAV. Although this format will produce a significantly larger file, if size is a constraint you don’t need to account for, then go for full quality if possible. WAV is also playable by most computers and many portable devices, and is the general standard for radio broadcast.