1. Outdoor recording
As part of this unit, my teacher set out a task for my class mates and I to record outdoors
so we could see how background noise can affect recordings and how outdoor sounds can
sometime help when recording natural sounds for radio dramas.
I took out with me a H2 Zoom and made sure before I hit record I had all the equipment out
and ready. When recording I noticed the microphone had to be stationary to achieve the
best results. I also wore headphones so I was aware of what noises were surrounding me.
I remained still during this recording as I knew any interference would disturb the
recording. When you first hear the recording you can notice that are car close by driving
past. It comes out quite clear and the car was only two meters away at this point.
You may also notice that you can hear airplanes frequently fly past, this was because the
microphone was positioned in Henley which happened to fall over the path in which planed
from Heathrow airport take off and fly over. You can also hear the college students walking
from a far from rotherfield to deanfield. Although you cannot hear their conversation clearly
it is fairly obvious that they’re students, we can hear their shoes scuff as they hit the floor
and the mumbling of the conversation. Halfway through this sequence you can also hear a
car ignition starting, this made a lot of noise as the microphone captured the woman's
shoes walking to the car, the car door opening and shutting and finally the keys starting
the car.
Background noise and wind noise did fault this recording, however this has now made me
realise how important it is to get these recordings right. In the media industry soap operas
are almost always filming outside having conversation to conversation with people. Wind
noise would really ruin the script so the crew that work for the production team would
invest into a microphone that would capture the sound by distancing the background noise.
This is usually known as ‘dog on stick’. It is a high tech microphone that captures sound to
point where it can reach, it is used a lot in films etc.
When listening back to my outdoor recording on Cubase I realize how much louder the
wind noise is when using professional headphones. I was totally unaware at the time that
the wind noise was as bad as it really was but I would be able to edit or fade out any
extremely overpowering noises via Cubase, reason or audacity if needed to.
Overall my outdoor recording was a success as I learnt several key factors about recording
outside.