Mic like a PRO in the Wind: Tutorial

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0:00 Best Mic'ing Tips Overview
1:12 Getting the Mic in Place
3:16 Using Clothing As A Barrier
4:11 Mic'ing With Jackets
6:57 Today's Sponsor
8:25 Thiner Clothing Tutorial For Summer
11:27 Going Outside a Demonstration
13:24 Recap
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[@QuinnAden]

The amount of people who will skip this video to go watch another camera review with pixel peeping. THESE ARE THE ONES YOU SHOULD WATCH. This is pure gold. Thanks guys.

[@Videofilealways]

Right on!

[@FranciscoRamirezAraya]

Ok, how did you know I needed and was looking for this video? Cause this is too much for a coincidence

[@stephenbarden3840]

Well, where we live it's a very windy season of the year! 😄

[@RyanMonette]

The first lav, like in the rest of the demonstrations, is actually a DPA 4060 as well, and the concealer is from Bubblebee Industries called "The Lav Concealer" for DPA 4060 😉

[@marblekid]

STEPHEN !!!!! He did sound for my first film! Love that guy!

[@stephenbarden3840]

I did??? I mean....Yes! I did! (New phone, who dis?)

[@marblekid]

@@stephenbarden3840 haha Barden, it’s Kris Booth. Movie is At Home By Myself with you. Set the way back to 2009 ish. It’s good to see you even if it’s on line.

[@stephenbarden3840]

@@marblekid BOOTH! Right on! What a talent! *And* a wonderful human being! Holler at me sometime...my contact info is still the same. it would be great to catch up!

[@Itaketoomanypics]

I Always appreciate tips on this , it’s a constant battle

[@creativeyoutubertamil]

Bro your quality is great

[@stephenbarden3840]

Mark is a rockstar telling great stories...it's a treat to still be in his orbit.

[@youfollow_]

Audio is the Backbone of the stroy , i loved learning about audio from Mark Bone!

[@markbone]

🤘 thanks mate!

[@kel.casabo]

I'm currently studying sound and audio design&engineering and this couldn't have been more helpful and spot on right now! keep it up mark you are killing it

[@davidschwan]

thank you

[@arnaudrwasangabo]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge guys

[@arnaudrwasangabo]

Thank you very much mark, Honesty I'm pretty bad at filmmaking, and the little I know, I know it because of people like you, Thanks again for your kindness and courage to share what you know. Bless you man.

[@DanielMann]

Super helpful Mark, great practical tips and no nonsense. Had this issue on a shoot recently but unfortunately the sun was blasting into the wind so either the interviewee was squinting or wind noise. Ended up using a few people as a wind barrier which worked okay 😂

[@markbone]

We call those meat flags when there’s humans involved

[@christinacooperfilm]

Always love the tips! Thanks for adding that additional photo for the zipper. That was awesome!!

[@markbone]

Huge thank you to Stephen Barden for coming by my channel and offering up his knowledge and time. Check out this sound team: www.sounddogs.ca

[@stephenbarden3840]

Thanks for having me along for the ride, Mark! I'll happily try to answer any further questions that people might have here in the comments! Here's to good tracks!

[@joshwhitee]

​@@stephenbarden3840 haven't aged a bit have ya? Great to see a real audio pro still showing us the ways.

[@stephenbarden3840]

@@joshwhitee ❤️❤️❤️

[@stephenbarden3840]

@@joshwhitee Love seeing familiar names here! I trust you’re keeping well!?

[@joshwhitee]

missed this response but yes, holding down the film life in hamilton... just rewatched this video to do some testing on the rode wireless pro's and sanken cos 11's i just bought. thanks again for the tips @markbone@@stephenbarden3840

[@Skider]

really needed this, thanks!

[@adamouellette5971]

I have to say the audio advice you provided in module one has upped my lav placement game incredibly. I actually bought a bumblebee cover with some fuzzy covers after the AOD video and had really fantastic results. Previously my lav placements were not great.

[@markbone]

Great to hear you’re making improvements!

[@erikpreston2393]

Love all of this, can't wait to sign up for AOD in 5 days!! Also, love the admonition at 3:50 about shooting at 1.4 with autofocus... Have been burned by face detect AF and lesson learned!

[@rahul.rai.]

Absolute gold 👍

[@HDBnB1]

that arcteryx puffer though

[@giovannigajie3912]

awesome stuff

[@christhemarketingguy]

Thank you for the the great information.

[@markbone]

Thank all the audio persons of the world, including Stephen

[@lourencojr]

Wacthing from Mozambique. thank you for the contents... i wish we could have access to those mics here!

[@jaredcollins-photo]

I love videos like this. Sound has been an achilles heel of ours at times in the past. Would love to see a video how the pros handle a noisy atmosphere, say an open restaurant or a noisy city or something like that. Obviously would rather reschedule or change locations, but sometimes those variables aren't changeable and I'd like to know how you get the best sound possible even in crappy situations like that.

[@Liamjollymore]

Hey Jared, Im the random arms laving Mark in the video. Noisy locations are the toughest battles in Documentary sound. For something like a restaurant you have so many noise sources to worry about. First bring it up to your director or if your doing everything yourself start practicing your sweet talking and try and make friends with the owner. If you have the ability to control the music being played (if any is played in the store/restaurant), location of where the subjects/cast/interviewees are seated and possible cooperation from civilians that are also eating at neighbouring tables then that could solve a good amount of your problems. If the interview is happening while the subjects are eating/ drinking you can always try and set the table with possibly a soft table cloth or putting napkins under plates and glasses to reduce the sound of cutlery/ anything hard hitting the table over and over again. Shooting in noisy cities is another hair puller, but the easiest way to make your audio as best as it can possibly be is point the microphone away from the loudest noise making source (construction is the biggest bummer but most common problem) and if working with a sound person with a boom mic give them the opportunity to get as close as possible with that boom

[@stephenbarden3840]

Jared, I whole-heartedly second everything that Liam said in his response. I will emphasize getting CLOSE to your subject! I cut and mixed an award-winning travelogue show with two hosts and there were NO lavs. But we had all discussed the best approach to getting usable, broadcast quality and agreed that the best approach was to shoot all dialogue really tight to allow for framing that gave the mic the opportunity to get close to the speaker. The best part: There was no sound person or boom pole during production! The mic - a short shotgun - was camera-mounted and the director / DP just knew that he had to get tight if there was going to be speaking! (I know that has nothing to do with lavs or wind BUT, to your question, good usable dialogue *is* possible if the entire crew is working together ane everyone agrees on an aesthetic that allows for every craft to shine. (And if you think that the footage must have sucked if everything was shot so tight...there were MANY cinematography awards won for the show...it LOOKED great too!

[@jaredcollins-photo]

@@Liamjollymore ​ @Stephen Barden I will definitely write this down to keep and have on set the next time we are faced with a less than ideal situation. We had a client that wanted to shoot a video with 6 people on camera and the location was a pretty noisy restaurant.. Unfortunately, budget didnt allow for extra rentals and we did not have 6 lav mics, so we attempted to cover the dialogue portions with 3 Sennheiser 416.. As you can probably deduct from the little information I provided to you, the audio was a nightmare.. Because we had a wide shot that showed all 6 in frame, we were quite limited with how close we could get the shotgun mics, thus we picked up way too much ambient sound.

[@jaredcollins-photo]

​@@stephenbarden3840 I tried to tag you in the response to Liam, but I failed quite miserably. My question mostly stemmed from the painful memory of our worst completed piece of work (it was a video for a local real estate agent), but I described it in the comment to Liam. It was a nightmare and I just keep trying to think of things that we could have changed to have made it better. Thank you so much for echoing Liam's response, but also telling that there are other options (like the shotgun mic production you mentioned). That is awesome!!

[@Liamjollymore]

@@jaredcollins-photo Brutal, that a huge bummer. But to be honest it happens alot. As long as you bring up the problems and your best solutions to the client then thats all you can do. It hurts going through days like that.

[@markkut]

Great video! I watched through Module 1 on audio and thought it was great. I want that hat though!

[@ChestiiPrinAmerica]

Was testing the other day ways to attach the mic without having clothing noise. Bought a lot of accessories that you featured here. I did manage to stop clothing noise. What I did not manage is cable making noise. Clothing is touching cable when I move. Small loop will help. My question is for someone who uses more expensive lav mics? Will an expensive mic help reduce cable noise? Was using rode lav mics which is up to 100$. I am really curious, thank you.

[@stephenbarden3840]

Yes, *all* lavaliere cables will become microphonic (the condition where they pass along handling noise) regardless of how expensive they are. Higher quality (and usually "finer" or "thinner") cables are better but it still happens. You have already mentioned the classic strain-relief loop which is GREAT. Something that is overlooked is securing that loop so that, if the cable is tugged even below that loop, it doesn't tug on the capsule itself. So tape that loop down so that secured section of looped cable is pulled on and not the capsule. As long as wardrobe allows for it, keeping as much of the "slack" of the lav cable secured with tape as possible will also help. However, you have to be considerate of the movement of the subject...don't go so crazy with the taping that you're inhibiting comfortable movement OR so that you're just inviting that tape to constantly be pulled loose. It's a balancing act but you've raised a great point of making sure that the cable is dressed properly too! And that's important whether it's windy or not! Nice one!

[@hdframez]

The dead cat will always be the dead cat!

[@nerdynicknacksandgeekygear8682]

Had to shave a spot on my chest once for a commercial i was hired for.

[@tazyt3388]

Awesome tricks man funny how simple things can change the game I use an old piece of foam stuffed over the go pros held with duct tape hehe works a treat mate hope your well cheers

[@miburraonline]

a question for Stephen!!! do you have a cheap recommendation of lavs?, only in the event you don't have access to the expensive ones

[@stephenbarden3840]

My friend this is a loaded question! What is "cheap" to you? And are you just talking about the microphone capsule / cable / connector itself or are you referring to a wireless transmitter and receiver too? For this video we were wireless and using some fairly expensive Tx/Rx but, remember that you don't have to be wireless if you're doing sit-down interviews for example. A Sanken COS-11D (that I like a lot) is going to start around USD350.00 - USD400.00 with the cheapest termination (a 3.5mm connector). This is a good sounding mic and quite small. I have always thought that Rode does a pretty good job with their different lavs and they are more affordable. I think Deity is doing some good work with their lavs in a budget range as well. Another thing to consider: More expensive lavs are generally built more robustly and are *usually* repairable by a pro audio shop (i.e. if the connector gets pulled off and sometimes even if the capsule is separated from the cable). Cheaper mics should generally be considered disposable...you'll likely not be able to get one repaired. Lastly, a cheaper mic is *usually* larger so you will have less luck hiding it in an unobtrusive way. I likely didn't answer your question completely successfully but I would suggest looking at Rode or Deity for slightly cheaper "wires" (as we call them). Keep on asking questions if you want me to drill down a bit more! Thanks for watching and taking the time to write!

[@tamirbelo]

Great one! I did notice that Mark's sound outside sounded a little muffled. Is there a way to deal with that muffling? On set or maybe in post?

[@stephenbarden3840]

Here's what's cool...on the INT shots, you're actually hearing a combo of lavaliere AND a boom mic just above our heads. (Remember...always shoot with more than one mic if you can!) On the EXT we didn't run a boom so all you're hearing is Mark's wire. There is a definite brightness and clarity that is added from the boom. That's why we love to use a boom whenever we can. Yes, I would typically add filter out a small amount of low-mid frequencies (300Hz - 400Hz, depending on the nature of the voice) and boost a bit of brightness (5000Hz or 5kHz) if I was mixing this in post. (But the real way that I'd like to make it sound even better would be by running a boom too!) (Did I mention it's great to run a boom too?)

[@andrewstewart6689]

I call it a fluffy cat. Who doesn’t love a fluffy cat.

[@joas162]

The hardest part is finding the right tape 😅

[@Liamjollymore]

Snot tape is your best bet for helping rig the lavs to most things but a great back up is 3M transpore medical tape. Its easy to rip, a nice small roll and is hypoallergenic

[@joas162]

@@Liamjollymore Yeah it's the snot tape that I haven't been able to find over here. The medical tape is great for sure :)

[@joshwhitee]

STEVE!

[@UdoSchloegl]

Hoping that someone still reads comments here I would be interested in how you improve the sound. because when the lav is hidden behind clothing, it always sounds very muffled.

[@favaphoto]

LOVE THIS VIDEO!! Is the Snot Tape you linked what Liam was using? Also wondering if that comes in smaller rolls. Traveling with a 65' roll seems...aggressive hah

[@stephenbarden3840]

The "Joe's Sticky Stuff" that's linked in the description is a tin containing about 22'. Unless you are rigging lavs all day every day, that will last you a long time!

[@favaphoto]

@@stephenbarden3840 that's a big a roll! Is there a way to trim it down to travel with less? I tend to pack small audio bags and would love to just have a couple of little strips of this stuff. Thank you!

[@kittparker4161]

Ok, where did you get that vest? I need one. Super helpful video btw

[@SanctusInstitute]

How would you handle audio in a car on the highway? Is there a preference for mic type or placement? EQing the track in post to cut the car noise?

[@stephenbarden3840]

My third suggestion is going to be critical here: Use multiple mics if you possibly can. I would approach this by using lavalieres on anyone who will be speaking. In North America where the driver is in the left-hand side of the cabin of the car, I would place the lavaliere somewhere around their collar *on the right-hand side of their body*. This does two things: First, it avoids the seatbelt which will be over their left shoulders (Safety first! Buckle up!). Second, if there is someone in the passenger seat, the driver might occasionally turn their head in that direction...you want to have them turning their mouth *closer* to the mic rather than farther from it! The same, but opposite, rule would apply for someone in the passenger seat.

[@stephenbarden3840]

My third suggestion is going to be critical here: Use multiple mics if you possibly can. I would approach this by using lavalieres on anyone who will be speaking. In North America where the driver is in the left-hand side of the cabin of the car, I would place the lavaliere somewhere around their collar *on the right-hand side of their body*. This does two things: First, it avoids the seatbelt which will be over their left shoulders (Safety first! Buckle up!). Second, if there is someone in the passenger seat, the driver might occasionally turn their head in that direction...you want to have them turning their mouth *closer* to the mic rather than farther from it! The same, but opposite, rule would apply for someone in the passenger seat.

[@stephenbarden3840]

Next, as long as my camera angle allows for it, I would hide two more microphones (one on the driver's side, one on the passenger side) on the sun visor near the ceiling of the car. There are a number of types of mics that you could use here but a couple of more lavalieres hidden as "plant mics" will do nicely. If you can use a directional lav, pointed towards the mouth, that might be best but an omnidirectional capsule will work just fine as well. (Note that *most* commonly, lavalieres are omnidirectional. If you don't have enough channels or mics to do a total of two mics in this sun visor configuration, a single additional lavaliere on the rear-view mirror can be very useful. If your lav is dark-coloured, you can pretty much hide it in plain sight on the lower middle of the mirror frame. Placed carefully, it will look just like part of the mirror assembly.

[@stephenbarden3840]

In post, I always like to remind everyone: You're filming in a car, it looks like the inside of a car, it should sound like the inside of a car. It doesn't need to sound like you're recording in a library! In other words, a bit of car noise on the track is ok and adds to the realism of the scene. Rolling off some low frequencies ("bottom end") with an equalizer or high-pass filter around 80Hz or 90Hz or so will remove some of that low energy that can really eat up the headroom on your track. (Actually, that's a good tip in general...rolling off those low frequencies will ALWAYS help with production or location sound...inside a car or otherwise!)

[@SanctusInstitute]

@@stephenbarden3840 Many thanks

[@PaulYeghouchian]

mindddd blowwnnnn

[@leonardoicandelariojr9090]

Great video, I live in Florida and I am a wedding Officiant here in Florida we officiate out door weddings almost all year round we mainly wear a suit and tie to hot to wear a tshirt under the jacket however it can get really windy how would you recommend we wear the mic ?

[@frankhaller7315]

Great Video as always 👍 I think the thing your discussing about at 1:55 is a so called dead Wombat, dead cats are smaller as far as I know, considering the fact of political incorrectness of the usage of a term like this in reference to all living wombats roaming this planet 🌍

[@danabilhimer]

yes, yes, yessss! question: our wireless mic drops out a lot when filming inside factories and concrete structures. Is there anything we can do to avoid this? We often have a secondary mic (shotgun), but of course the audio is not as rich. We are using an affordable Comica CVM-WM100 Plus dual wireless mic. Thanks!!! R&D (@RDLA-US)

[@stephenbarden3840]

Hi Dana...yes, along with poorer quality on the build of the mic itself, notoriously short, line-of-sight only Tx/Rx is the first thing you'll notice with cheaper wireless lav kits. Concrete walls / structures are the worst for this. That was probably the best thing I noticed the first time I used a pro wireless rig (Lectrosonics)...I was in a hotel and able to receive signal a floor away from my subject - and at the opposite end of the floor.

[@danabilhimer]

@@stephenbarden3840 ahhh...not sure we are at that level yet. Lectrosonics seems quite pricey, but good information to stock away fro the future! Thank you for replying!!!

[@austinrobinson7]

So , Should you try to stick the mic to the back of the clothing or directly to skin "facing out" which is ideal?

[@stephenbarden3840]

Hey Austin! If you can do it, I would probably go to the skin first BUT the likelihood is that you won't be able to, especially in a docu setting...and even more so in a run-and-gun style of shoot. So I would go to clothing BUT - in either setup - make sure you've got something protecting the capsule from friction...an undercover with a furry at the very least, that's critical. Getting the mic under clothing will help to protect from the wind but friction on the capsule is still problematic if you're not prepared! I hope that helps!

[@austinrobinson7]

Yes thank you so much!

[@QZ_AU]

If the character is only wearing one layer like a t shirt in the summer, should we stick the lav on the shirt or on the skin? 2nd question: If I'm filming a presenter talking in a winter jacket, how should I lav it? I was filming an explainer video and there was jacket sound everywhere, can't really use a boom as it is really busy and it also attracts the authorities

[@Liamjollymore]

Hey QZ. question 1 - If the t shirt isnt skin tight then you are going to try and made the Lav and wire as tight to the body as possible so you wont be able to see the outline while the person move around. Your best bet will be try to the skin, depending on the person you can usually find the best spot on the sternum. Use a little peace of transpore medical tape and travel the wire underneath the breast to hide the wire as best as possible. Good luck T shirts are a good challenge. question 2 - Jackets are TOUGH and if laving is your only option then you have to start getting creative. If its one of those "zippy" jackets like Mark is demo'ing in the video then you can always try the zipper trick. but if its a jacket with alot of loose buttons that jingle around when the subject moves then you might have to spend a little time with the jacket snot taping down all the noise makers. acouple options - If the presenter is speaking in front of a stand and doesnt move you can always plant your transmitter on the stand and angle the lav towards the speaker. - A hat rig - Attaching the transmitter to the inside of a hat and PEAKING the mic out the tip of the front of hat OR behind the HELIX of your ear. ( had to look up what the top of your ear is called). Hope this helps

[@QZ_AU]

@@Liamjollymore Hi Liam, thanks for sharing the tips. I learned a few things!

[@revdancatt]

Now mic up people with big long bushy beards! I say this as a person with a big long bushy beard who wears t-shirts, and isn't 100% sure what to do.

[@Liamjollymore]

Tough question, as an Ex-long bearded person who loves a good tshirt I had found success in using the rycote soft furs and weirdly enough combing the beard away from the body helps

[@stephenbarden3840]

Dan...Fear The Beard...a small note that can *sometimes* help: If the subject is always going to be looking in one particular direction (if they are framed to be looking just off-camera rather than squared into the lens, or if they are sitting in one side of a vehicle, cheating the lav off their chest to one side can help. Mark has a video in AOD where they talk about hiding a lav around the collar of a t-shirt. It's a pretty easy hide with the right adhesive / rig and mic and - again if the person is going to be favouring looking in one direction - you can move the mic a little bit off to one side to (hopefully!) avoid full-on-beard-contact. But your mileage may vary on this depending on how "animated" your subject is when speaking. And, yes to Liam's suggestion of brushing the beard "out" away from the neck / chest can definitely help.

[@djfunkgut]

Dude looks like he lifts :)