Hafeez Z

Thanks all for the helpful pointers. I've decided I'll go out and get some sound blankets and light stands to rig them up, and try to work with the gear I already have. If that doesn't work out, then I'll have a stronger case to ask for more equipment 😉 Indeed Philip. I'd like to think the production industry as a whole is an open and welcoming community, but of course there will be exceptions to the norm, and we don't always get to choose who we work with. 🤷‍♂️

I'm trying my best, and it definitely helps to know that I've got people like you, Jeff and everyone else who's contributed meaningfully to this thread to point us newbs in the right direction when we need it. Also, pretty sure at this point I'm straying dangerously close to the "pain in the ass" side of that line you're talking about. 😈 Hey, if it needs to get done, it needs to get done, right? I'm not sure what you mean by "unethical". Am I stealing your clients? To me, asking questions on a forum implies that you acknowledge other people have had a different set of experiences than you do, and those experiences may help solve a problem that you couldn't otherwise solve on your own. As they say, two (or more) heads are better than one. Just because you see people like me posting and crowdsourcing for advice on this forum doesn't mean we don't contribute our advice in other forums as well. Not all of us are stingy with our knowledge. (In case this didn't occur to you Kisaha, I'm sure there was a point in your career where you had to ask for help from someone more experienced than you. How is this any different?)

I get what you're saying, and it's something I've been giving a bit of thought to since I've started working here. Personally I'm okay with framing the shot to provide some context to any noise that may be captured, but there are times when my bosses want none of that in the frame. It's those times that I have to get creative with my soundproofing options, unfortunately. I guess the problem may lie in the transmitter sensitivity being set at around -21dB (with receiver output unchanged at 0dB), which on hindsight is probably too low and why I'm getting higher noise levels when I normalise the audio in post. I know it's been awhile for you but correct me if I'm wrong: I should get much cleaner audio if i increase the transmitter sensitivity and get better mic placement (and treat the location, etc)? That's actually...pretty ingenious. I had thought the only reason that role would be helpful was if it was an interview with the interviewee speaking to an interviewer off camera. But to apply it to a talking heads type situation...brilliant! Thanks for that, David!

Thanks for all the replies everyone! Just got back from a weekend vacation so I haven't had time to reply back. Thanks for the pointers Philip! Yeah I figured as much 😕 Just to clarify, I'm all for getting me some sound blankets to help with better audio, but as I'm a one-man crew I have to consider the effort I have to expend setting up as I can't reliably depend on my other colleagues to help me out on every shoot. That, and procuring equipment where I'm working is honestly a nightmare, at best. I figured that it seemed more like a stopgap solution than addressing the core of the problem with a single all-encompassing one, but you're right. As a budget solution, treating the location should come first. Hey Mike, they're basically just explainer videos for our SaaS product shot on location in our office. Usually it's just a single subject but there are times when we will have 2 people in shot. The noisy background is definitely in conflict with the subject matter as clarity is of the utmost importance when delivering usage information. And you're right, I've realised it's much harder to control BG noise with a boom than a lav. I just thought it might have been the polar pattern of the mic that I used which is why I considered getting a hypercardioid instead. But yeah, I'll take your advice on that as well as shooting at alternative timings as well. Have you had experience with the G3/Zoom H5 combo? Do you recommend adding a pad on the H5, or even decreasing mic sensitivity on the G3 to help with the BG noise? Thanks for the heads up, ST! I'll definitely look them up if I need to 👌 Hard to believe but yeah. We're right smack in the central business district, and if location isn't a problem then conflicting hectic work schedules are. I'd do better if I had a 2nd person on board to take over a producer role but I have enough on my plate as it is, and beggars can't be choosers. 🤷‍♂️ I guess the only way out is to shoot on odd timings then.

Got floored by the amount of audio wisdom on this forum that I wondered why I didn't end up here sooner. Needless to say, here I am, signed up with a new account. I'm a one-man production crew working for a tech start-up and we're looking to record some in-house instructional videos and talking heads for our app. Ideally I'd like to get some professional sounding audio but it's a bit hard to achieve that with the environment I'm working with. Our two-storey office is located right next to a busy intersection, and we're very open-concept so there's rarely a quiet space or time in the office. Right now I'm working with a Sennheiser ew-100 ENG G3 set and a Zoom H5 recorder, which quite frankly doesn't seem to cut it. From reading through articles and forums like this one, I've gathered that to get clean-ish sounding audio while recording indoors, I'd need something like a super or hypercardioid. However, I've also found that the Zoom H5 doesn't actually have a true line level input and the preamps generate quite a noticeable level of noise, so even if I get a new mic I might not get the result I want with the H5. This led me to find out more about more pro-level mixers like the stuff from Sound Devices, which sounds like a great investment but then there are budget considerations to worry about, and it's hard to make the execs see the value in something when you're the only one who can see it. Granted, all this product envy has led me to discover more about the world of audio than I ever anticipated, but I'm wondering if I'm reading too hard into this. Assuming the learning curve is not an issue, do I really need all these devices to get cleaner audio? It's impossible to treat the office space as the walls and windows are far from soundproof, I'd really hate to be purchasing sound blankets and the like because the constant setup/teardown would be a constant nightmare for every shoot (we don't have a separate room for recording) and the open-office concept makes it a nightmare to record clean professional-sounding audio. I'm also considering sourcing for a good sound isolation pod that we can place in the office to counter the external noise, as this option would have a two-fold benefit of allowing me to use my existing equipment more effectively while being able to provide a space that other people can use too. I guess I just wanted to canvas for opinions from anyone here who might have encountered a similar situation in their line of work. Being based in Singapore, there aren't a lot of resources for audio guys that have just started out (IMO) and I'm honestly a beginner in audio myself. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!