Sound recording is an essential skill for every modern musician, producer or beatmaker.  It’s a key part of nearly all styles of music production. With such a fundamental process, there are many different perspectives and approaches. But at the core, recording is about making your work permanent so that others can experience your vision as an artist. 

What is sound recording?

Sound recording means capturing sounds from the environment and preserving them on a storage medium. In the past, analog media like magnetic tape was used to store the electrical representation of the sound waves. Today, most recording is captured on a hard drive using digital equipment like a DAW or portable recorder.Recording sound is one of the main activities in music production. It’s the method used to capture musician’s performances so they can be arranged into compositions and refined into commercial recordings.

How does sound recording work? 

All the sound you hear around you is just vibration that creates differences in air pressure. Those differences propagate through the air in a wave. Your ears detect the pressure changes and your brain makes sense of the signals to create your experience of sound. When you record a sound you make a representation of those waves  by converting the changes in air pressure into changes in an electrical signal. The pattern of changes is then saved in a storage medium like a length of magnetic tape or a digital file. When it’s time to listen back, the electrical signal gets converted back into changes in air pressure by a speaker.

Recording equipment that can be borrowed at school — Sound Kit (CW)
Though the built-in mics on handheld recorders can be high quality, they’re unlikely to be appropriate for this kind of project, especially as they can be susceptible to handling noise. Picking one with XLR inputs will allow you to connect external mics, giving you far greater control over the sounds you capture.

After class, I conducted a deeper search on the theoretical knowledge in class, so that I could better understand and be familiar with it.  

Table of Contents 
Audio Recording Systems: PROJECT SELECTION YOU NEED CCONSIDERATION

·Single System Audio 
In a single system, audio is captured directly into the camera, and records simultaneously with the image. For a double or dual system, sound is captured independently of the camera and onto a digital audio recorder. The benefit of a single system is that it does not require audio to be synched up in post-production.This is advantageous in news and documentary formats that often require a quick turnaround of material. 

·Double System Audio  
Double system is ideal if your camera lacks higher-grade audio inputs. But more importantly, a double system delivers stronger audio quality. 
One of the ways it achieves this is through a higher sampling rate. Double systems also deliver greater bit depth. This term refers to how many different values of amplitude each sound sample possesses. The higher the bit depth, the more accurate a system can record and reproduce the subtle fluctuations in a waveform. This contributes to the richness and complexity of the sound recording.   
Perhaps the most apparent benefit of the double system, is that audio does not have to be tethered to the camera. If you have a project that relies heavily on dolly and steadycam shots, you don’t want to risk tripping on excess cables or equipment. This way, you can concentrate on the image, knowing that the sound design will not be jeopardized. 

Unwanted Noise Types: ADDITIONAL NOISE YOU WANT TO AVOID

·Controllable Noise 
Controllable noise is interference that can be managed. The biggest offenders of this type of noise are refrigerators, mobile phones and personal electronics. Make sure all phones and appliances are switched off. 

·Uncontrollable Noise  
Uncontrollable noise originates from forces outside of one’s control. This might be a passing car or airplane, or music emanating from a nearby building. 

Microphone Types: THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF MICS YOU CAN USE

·Shotgun Microphone  
This mic has become the industry standard for recording film and video sound. It can pick up audio without capturing excess environmental noise. Often, the shotgun microphone is mounted to a boom pole where it can be held above or below an actor to capture dialog. 

·Dynamic Microphone  
Although a dynamic mic lacks the directional capacity as a shotgun microphone, it is excellent for recording in loud spaces. These mics don’t require external power and lack an internal amplifier. Because of this, they tend to be used during broadcasts or performances. 

·Lavalier Microphone  
The lavalier microphone, or lav, is an omnidirectional microphone that clips onto the costume of an actor. These tend to be used if an actor is moving around often. However, placement of the mic is key. Because the lavalier microphone lacks the frequency balance of other devices, it can add an unwanted nasal quality to the dialog. 
Also, the lavalier microphone operates through a wireless system. This of course offers a greater degree of movement, but eats through battery life rather quickly. There’s also the risk of radio interference ruining a take. 

Additional Sound Gear: OTHER EQUIPMENT YOU WILL NEED

·Preamps  
Avoiding noise interference is vastly important in sound recording. This is where a preamplifier, or preamp, comes in handy. A preamp is an electronic amplifier that boosts a weak electrical signal into a stronger one. This inevitably makes the signal noise-tolerant and ready for processing into a sound mixer. Now, most preamps have a switch where a user can toggle between line and microphone signal options. 
Keep at least an 18 decibel (dB) difference between ambient noise and your desired signal. Following this simple rule, will ensure you achieve a strong, clean signal when using a preamp. 

·Audio Cables  
Audio cables come in two varieties: balanced and unbalanced. As with all of this sound recording equipment, it’s about determining what is going to benefit your movie the most. 
An unbalanced audio cable is the simplest, most cost-effective of cables. These devices possess either a mini jack, phono tip sleeve or an rca connector. Most carry a mono audio signal, but there are stereo varieties. 
For longer distances, the balanced audio cable is the ideal solution. Using either an XLR connection or a tip ring sleeve (TRS), these cables possess three wires instead of two. As with the unbalanced cable, there exists a shielding mesh ground wire and a hot wire. But instead of sending audio down a single wire, it is now being transferred down two wires. Because of this, the balanced audio cable can take a lot of strain on set without sacrificing audio quality. 

·Test Gear 
In preparing for a production, the sound team should gather and test their gear. This process includes testing batteries and making sure hard drives or tapes contain enough storage space. Also, it’s important to make sure that there’s no controllable ambient sound that could cause interference.   

Sound Tips & Techniques: HELPFUL TACTICS TO TAKE WITH ON ON SET

·Recording Duties 
At the start of each take, the first AD will say, “Roll sound.” The sound technician will then press the record button on their digital audio recorder. Moments later, the sound technician will call back with, “Speed,” or “Rolling sound.” The AD will then repeat this process with the camera and the take will proceed until the director yells “Cut.” 
This process will repeat throughout the shoot. After each take, the sound team will complete a sound report sheet. The document tells the editor what is recorded on each tape, track or hard drive. 

·Recording Distance  
Microphone distance can make or break a sound recording. Whether you’re using a shotgun or a dynamic microphone, make sure the device is no further than three feet (1 meter) away from the subject. 

·Combat Reverb  
Shooting locations can be unpredictable, especially when it comes to sound recording. One of the most common, and unfortunate side-effects of an indoor location is bouncy sound. 
Every member of the sound team, from the sound mixer to the recorder, needs to possess a professional pair of headphones. When setting up a location, listen carefully to the space. Then, make a careful determination of whether additional items are required to reduce echo. 

I know from my experience today:

Eeven with the simplest of setups, audio recording for film is no easy task — especially when the whole picture has to be shot in a day.

Recording sound for a budget film — even a short one — in one day is a challenge and, with the best will in the world, not everything will go to plan. The success of the project depends on everyone turning up, and when many of those involved are there as a reciprocal favour or for relatively little money, there is only so much a director can do to control the situation. Recording the sound inevitably fits in around the filming, and the filming goes hand in hand with lighting. If there are difficulties with either of those processes, there is a good chance that the opportunities to capture all the necessary sound options will diminish. All one can do is be determined and argue the importance of sound with the director whenever necessary, and take every possible opportunity to record.

Using expensive equipment is not always necessary, but some projects might demand timecode synchronisation or the lavalier miking of a number of performers, in which case a professional field recorder will probably be required. And certainly anyone intending to make a career out of sound recording will need to invest in gear that is more robust and can withstand all weather conditions. For projects like the one described above, however, a lot can be achieved with a small budget.