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Be sure to use effective windscreens on microphones, especially when outdoors.Ī quick listen with headphones often reveals acoustical sound sources, like wind noise, that are not otherwise obvious.
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Wind noise can wreak havoc on microphone preamplifiers and produce artifacts that may be impossible to remove. Minimizing wind noise is also extremely important. Most of the time this is easier said than done. Similarly, if traffic noise is audible, moving to a new location is the ideal solution. For example, if there is a nearby air-conditioning unit, turning it off is far easier than trying to remove the sound in post-production. When possible, it is best to eliminate acoustical noise sources before recording. Lavaliers can often be placed closer to the mouth than boom-mounted microphones, improving the speech-to-noise ratio. That incredibly short subject-to-microphone distance can overcome loud stage volumes.įor this same reason, lavalier microphones are often used to capture production dialog in high-noise environments. Think about a live performance where a singer is holding the microphone directly at/on their mouth. The single most effective way to improve the speech-to-noise ratio is by reducing the subject-to-microphone distance. Reduce Subject-to-Microphone Distance, Increase Microphone to Noise Distance Let’s explore a few common techniques below. There are several ways to increase the speech-to-noise ratio, each with their own benefits and compromises. Increasing the speech-to-noise ratio is beneficial not only for recording, but also for on-set communication channels or IFB feeds.
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The balance between background noise and speech is referred to as the speech-to-noise ratio. When there is too much background sound, speech can become difficult to understand.
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Mixing and recording production dialog is a balance of capturing clear, direct speech with just enough indirect, environmental background sound for context.
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