Sound For TV

When we watch TV we can take for granted the impact sound has on pictures. When a persons mouth moves as they talk we expect to hear their voice. When a car crashes we expect to hear the squeal of tyres and the crunch of metal. Sound can add emotion, drama-or tension.
A Professional Sound Recordist brought in his equipment(Shotgun mike and boom) and shared some of his techniques for location recording.
In the afternoon for a practical exercise we made our way 2 locations.
The first of these was on a busy road.
Our task was to record an interview with 2 subjects capturing the best sound possible without getting the boom in shot or too much noise from passing traffic. Not the easiest of tasks!
The second location was on the pedestrian high street-again recording an interview. The problem with this location was the crowds. With such a sensitive mike people conversations could be picked up very easily. As the weather made a turn for the worst we had to take cover but the sound of the rain hammering down onto the pavement made for an interesting recording subject!