Reddit reviews The Location Sound Bible: How to Record Professional Dialog for Film and TV

I'm going to disagree with a few people here. Getting an education to get a job in audio engineering is most definitely a bad idea in my opinion. Is this education worthless? No...but it's usually not worth what they're asking.

Audio engineering is a hard career to be successful in. I should know, as I've been doing it for quite some time. I've finally gotten to the point where as a free-lancer I can afford a car and house note, which is good. But there were plenty of sacrifices along the way. None of which I regret, of course. But I wouldn't have wanted to tack on extra debt going to school to get a job in a field that does not require a degree.

In all my time doing this, probably around 15 years professionally, nobody has ever asked me how to prove I know how to do this stuff. My resume speaks for itself. I've worked in studios in LA, Hawaii, Az, and now I'm a production sound mixer in Louisiana. I run sound for bands in venues around my city when I'm not on a movie. I own a recording studio for music and for foley and ADR for films. Currently, I'm on a shoot in Florida where I've been for 3 weeks. I got to shoot foley with one of the worlds greatest foley artists (Ellen Heuer). it's a great life!

My advise is do what most of my peers did. Get an internship at a studio. Or if your interested in movie work, assist a sound editor or a production sound mixer. Offer to be a sound utility for free. Or approach a local sound venue and offer to assist the live sound guy, wrapping cables and plugging in mics. Or call a local sound company that does festivals and other events, and offer to clean the snake at the end of the night.

Even if you do decide to get an education, the school will always be there, waiting for you if that's the route you decide to go. But a healthy amount of time in this field not paying for that education will both help you do better in school if you decide to go, and help guide you into a program that's right for both you and the specific set of skills you want to garnish. Or, you might find you don't need it.

The point is that yeah, just "looking things up on the internet" is not a good way to educate yourself. It's a good supplemental thing to do, to be curious and read. But hands on experience is much more valuable than any education I've ever come across in this field, and worlds ahead of just reading a book.

Now, not going to school isn't an excuse to not work. You simply have to take responsibility for your own education. Read books, talk to people who are doing the things you want to do. Learn from them. Help them, and make yourself invaluable to them. Make them wonder how they every got along without you there.

There are far too many opportunities to learn from within the industry than on the outside of it in a classroom or technical college. My career has been quite all over the map, ranging from music production to movie work. Here is a list of books that are about those various fields that I recommend.

The Daily Adventures of Mixerman - A great look at a recording session, and honestly one of the funniest books I've ever read.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Daily-Adventures-Mixerman/dp/0879309458

Zen and the Art of Mixing - mixerman

http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Mixing-Mixerman-ebook/dp/B004CYE7OU/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397229955&sr=1-1&keywords=zen+and+the+art+of+mixing

Zen and the art of Producing - Mixerman

http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Producing-Mixerman/dp/1458402886/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397229992&sr=1-1&keywords=zen+and+the+art+of+producing

Behind the Glass vol 1 and 2 - Howard Massey - Great interviews with producers and engineers. DEF check this one out. one of the best books i've ever read about recording.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Behind%20the%20glass

The Recording Engineer's Handbook - Bobby Owniski - General information about gear, mic placement techniques, fundmentals of sound, etc...

http://www.amazon.com/Recording-Engineers-Handbook-Bobby-Owsinski/dp/1285442016/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397230109&sr=1-1&keywords=recording+engineering+handbook

The Sound Reinforcment Handbook - Live sound techniques

http://www.amazon.com/Sound-Reinforcement-Handbook-Gary-Davis/dp/0881889008/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397230178&sr=1-1&keywords=Yamaha+Live+sound+manual

The Location Sound Bible - Ric Viers - Great entry into sound for TV, Film, ENG, and EPP. Pretty much covers the bases of recording on location

http://www.amazon.com/Location-Sound-Bible-Record-Professional/dp/1615931201/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397230229&sr=1-1&keywords=Location+Sound+bible

That should get you started. Whatever route you choose, good luck!

Start here:

https://www.amazon.com/Location-Sound-Bible-Record-Professional/dp/1615931201

As for budget, for gear? Sky is the limit.

The Location Sound Bible.

I think you're good on equipment. Now you just need a few accessories. Pick up a shockmount or two (Rycote). Handling noise can kill an otherwise perfectly usable recording. Boom pole, mic stand, blimp. Rycote blimps are good, but expensive. The new Rode blimp comes with Rycote suspension units, and it's much cheaper.

In that case, read the Production Sound Bible. It's a really decent resource for learning location sound. Go shadow a sound person on a shoot. Don't train someone how to do something if you don't know how to do it yourself. Fact is, being a filmmaker means knowing cinematography and sound. The more you know and respect the sound of your films, the more successful you will be as a director, producer, or even AD.

/u/Iandeloney - enjoyed looking at your website - terrific work. I agree that aperture, shutter speed/angle and ISO are very important building blocks for video - but there are a few other topics you will want to master to make your filmmaking better.

Here are the books I would recommend to get started:

• Mascelli's [5 C's of Cinematography] (https://www.amazon.com/Five-Cs-Cinematography-Picture-Techniques/dp/187950541X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=battleforthew-20) for the basic grammar of filmmaking (this is the book they made us read at film school 40 years ago - it still holds up)
  
  
• Stockman's [How to Shoot Video that Doesn't Suck] (https://www.amazon.com/Shoot-Video-That-Doesnt-Suck/dp/0761163239//ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=battleforthew-20) for the basics of storytelling
  
  
• Viers' [The Location Sound Bible] (https://www.amazon.com/Location-Sound-Bible-Record-Professional/dp/1615931201//ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=battleforthew-20) - just what it says - the basics of recording clean sound on location (which is just as important as the picture)
  
  Hope this is helpful, good luck with adding video to your repertoire and Happy New Year to you and yours!

No books on sounds. I'd recommend most people in filmmaking read this book so you have a basic understanding of sound and what it takes to be able to get good sound:

The Location Sound Bible: How to Record Professional Dialog for Film and TV

https://www.amazon.com/Location-Sound-Bible-Record-Professional/dp/1615931201

Links for the lazy;

• The Location Sound Bible: How to Record Professional Dialog for Film and TV
  
• The Sound Effects Bible: How to Create and Record Hollywood Style Sound Effects

Glad I could help!

I'm glad you asked about books. Advice from the internet (including mine :)) has its limits. Here is what I recommend [Referral Links]:

• The first book I recommend for beginners is: "[How to Shoot Video That Doesn't Suck] (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0051NHJFU/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B0051NHJFU&linkCode=as2&tag=hybrcamerevo-21)". Here is the trailer for the book: http://youtu.be/jF0z9k93Y9Q
  
  
• Since you're most interested in dance video and not cinematic storytelling, the next book I recommend is "[Making Video Dance: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Dance for the Screen] (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0415379504/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0415379504&linkCode=as2&tag=hybrcamerevo-21)"
  
  
• If you have time, and really want to get into cinematography, your school library will probably have the standard texts, such as Mascelli's "[Five C's of Cinematography] (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/187950541X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=187950541X&linkCode=as2&tag=hybrcamerevo-21)" and Ascher's "[Filmmaker's Handbook] (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0452297281/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0452297281&linkCode=as2&tag=hybrcamerevo-21)"
  
  
• You should also read up on sound - the sound primer I recommend is "[The Location Sound Bible] (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1615931201/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1615931201&linkCode=as2&tag=hybrcamerevo-21)"
  
  Again, hope this is helpful and best of luck!
  
  Bill

This book would be nice to have.

Yay!

I would highly recommend getting the sound as best you can on location and try to avoid and ADR. While there are some actors who are great at ADR a lot of the time it turns out to be a pain in the ass.
Getting the production sound right not only saves you a ton of time in post but it preserves the performance of the actors.
Now the easiest way to get good production sound is hiring a production sound mixer. Given that this is your first film I'm guessing that's not in the budget so at the absolute most basic you'll want to look at a shotgun mic, boom pole, and a mixer or recorder depending on if you're running single or duel system.
Single system is running the sound directly into the camera duel is recording the audio separately and syncing the sound to picture in post.
We use a lot of different types of mics in production sound for different settings but if you can only have one you'll want to look for a shotgun mic. These are directional mics that help limit the BG noise.
That mic goes on the end of a boom pole and then you want to get it as close to the actors as you can without being in frame like so.
There's a lot more to production sound but the biggest thing I can say for someone in your position is pay attention to how your locations sound when scouting. All the specialty mics in the world aren't going to save your dialog if you're shooting in a noisy environment.
Instead of me just throwing a bunch of scattered info at you I would suggest doing more research into sound for picture. There are a ton great resources online these days that should be able to get you started.
Here's an article that should give you a good overview of movie sound without getting too specific
For production sound check out JW Sound and read everything along with The Location Sound Bible.
It's not everything you'll ever need to know but it's a great start.
SoundWorks Collection is also a great site with videos diving into the sound of various films.
Like I said there are a ton of resources out there and Google is your friend with that but if it's your first film and really you'll just learn as you go.
tldr; get good sound on set.

https://www.amazon.com/Location-Sound-Bible-Record-Professional/dp/1615931201/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?adgrpid=55240551519&hvadid=274750187689&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9031148&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=3927373311879752157&hvtargid=kwd-301681682621&keywords=location+sound+bible&qid=1555682498&s=gateway&sr=8-1

This is not preplanned or anything, but here are some things off the top of my head.

1. Know your gear inside and out. Knowing how to use your tools is more important than just having the right ones. ReadTheFuckingManual on everything you own, and then read it again. I keep all the manuals for my gear on my phone in PDFs just in case because there is inevitably that feature you haven't used in a while that you feel like a moron for not remembering how to use.
   
   
2. Practice boom and lav technique a fuck ton, as that's a huge percentage of your job. Boom technique is not as simple as it sounds or looks. You have to be ready to cover a scene with a lot of variables. What if an actor doesn't hit their mark, or the cam op/DP ends up shooting that particular take differently? You have to be ready to stay out of frame/watch shadows and reflections while still getting the take. Sometimes actors skip/change/improv lines on takes. How do you handle that? You need to train your arm/shoulder muscles and be very light on your feet. Just Sunday I had my full bag setup while booming an exterior night shot with the camera on a Ronin (gimbal). There was a light the actress walked right under going into the shot that gave terrible shadows, and right after she passed it a second actress came into frame with a line. I had to hustle and drop in a boom 15' to 18' extended to catch her line without getting in the light, making audible noise with my feet, shaking the mic, or getting in frame. This kind of stuff is just what a boom op is supposed to be able to do.
   
   
3. Be professional. Don't get pissed when camera department walks all over sound. It's the job. Figure out the best way to get your sound and make them aware of the compromises they're making. Otherwise, don't get bent out of shape. You also should be extremely well mannered when laving talent. I'm not a formal guy, but when laving people I say please and thank you for everything. You're invading their personal space, it's important to be completely professional at this point.
   
   Laving takes a lot of practice to know what works and what doesn't. When I first started I was pretty terrified of it and had all kinds of trouble with clothing noise. I've gotten enough experience to have a much better grasp of it. I can usually just look at a wardrobe and my first instinct on how to lav it works 90% of the time. You still need to be ready to check and tweak lav setups and be ready to use a lot of different methods.
   
   There is so much more, I would have to write a book on it. In fact, somebody already has.
   
   http://www.amazon.com/The-Location-Sound-Bible-Professional/dp/1615931201
   
   

The best way to learn is to shadow someone on set, but of that's not possible, take a look at The Location Sound Bible

Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Location-Sound-Bible-Record-Professional/dp/1615931201/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397230229&sr=1-1&keywords=Location+Sound+bibleThat

• UK: amazon.co.uk
  
• Spain: amazon.es
  
• France: amazon.fr
  
• Germany: amazon.de
  
• Japan: amazon.co.jp
  
• Canada: amazon.ca
  
• Italy: amazon.it
  
• China: amazon.cn
  
  
  This bot is currently in testing so let me know what you think by voting (or commenting).