You don’t need fancy gear to get pro-level sound—just a few smart, budget-friendly tricks and a bit of creativity, and you’re all set to show off your cinematic project, proving that raw skill can beat expensive gear.
8
You Don’t Need Fancy Gear
You don’t need the most professional setup to create a visual or auditory masterpiece, just having a couple of essentials in your kit is enough. Having expensive tools can make things a lot easier, but it doesn’t always guarantee success.
Artistic expression through cinematic means can be elevated not only by beautiful visuals but by high-quality audio as well. Get the latter wrong and it could cost you. It’s a delicate balance to work on, especially if your purpose is to capture audience attention, whether that’s for your subscribers on your YouTube channel or podcast. Many content creators are also shooting for the same audience you’re targeting, so creating consistent, high-quality content that captures their attention is your vehicle for success.
7
Clean Sound in Recording
In the film industry, there’s a saying: Great sound quality can save bad footage, but great footage will never save bad sound. It shows the importance of putting emphasis on sound quality in your film. Making sure that high-quality audio is captured during recording to avoid issues in post-production is essential. This way, you won’t compromise the overall film quality and avoid spending too much time on unnecessary video editing.
One way to capture clean audio is to reduce echoes through soundproofing, which is especially useful if you’re making a voice-over film indoors. You use blankets or foam panels on walls to dampen or absorb sounds. If you’re shooting outdoors, it can be hard to plan ahead if noise pollution is unavoidable. However, it can vary from location to location, and you may need to plan around it to get to a place where sound pollution is at its lowest, while lighting is still good. Remote locations are usually quieter, but if there’s a city nearby, rush hour traffic can affect audio quality, especially if you’re trying to minimize post-production editing. There are also a lot of affordable noise-isolating lape mics on the market to choose from.
6
Picking Your Microphone: Built-in or External?
To capture good audio, you’ll need a microphone. There are many types of microphones you can pick from, depending on your needs, with each having differences in terms of overall audio quality, design, and functionality. Microphones are already built-in into smartphones and cameras and are often the cheapest route you can go. You can even use your smartphone as a mic on Windows.
External microphones are detached from the main body of a recording device that needs to be connected either through a cable or wirelessly, which are considered the standard type of microphone you typically see when capturing music or podcasts.
Several types of external microphones are available for you to pick from. One of those is shotgun microphones, which minimize background noise and isolates dialogue. It’s ideal for film styles like outdoor scenes, interviews, and film shoots. The lapel type is another microphone that can be clipped either on shirts or somewhere it can be held onto. It’s great for films, vlogs, interviews, and scenes with a moving subject. Who wouldn’t recognize the microphones people hold that are typically used in broadcasting and live events? They are commonly used in recordings for their direct sound capture and durability. Getting a basic understanding of microphone polar patterns can also help you decide on one.
5
You Need to Position the Microphone Correctly
Placement of the microphone can either mean great audio quality or redoing the whole session. You certainly don’t want the latter. The most important rule is to get the microphone as close to the subject as possible, but you also don’t want it to be too close. If you place it too far away, the microphone can pick up room echoes, reverberations, and ambient noises if the microphone is placed too far away.
4
An Easy DIY Boom Pole for Better Sound
If you’re worried that the microphone may ruin the scene, you can use a DIY boom pole instead, just by attaching a microphone clip to a pole with some foam surrounding it. This will offer you more flexibility in movement while maintaining professional audio capture, without having to spend a ton of money. For indoor or outdoor scenes, the best position for your boom pole is overhead, as it will give you a natural-sounding dialogue. But if your scene includes a high ceiling, then an underhead is perfect. If you’re looking for an audio mixer, choose one with plenty of microphone inputs.
3
Record the Audio Separately
You don’t need expensive equipment to record or capture high-quality audio. This can be done with the use of your smartphone or any affordable audio recorder. There are a ton of useful apps available. These apps use advanced technology for audio processing that further enhances your recording, including noise reduction, compression, and dynamic equalizer.
Once you’re done with recording the audio, you can then begin syncing in post-production. Start by creating a clear sync point, either by using a clapperboard or clapping your hands at the very start of the session. This will serve as your cue when you’re on your editing software by locating both video and audio tracks. You can then align the visual to the audio cue that you made using a clapperboard or your hands by matching the waveform spike. Audacity is free and open-source, but there are also tons of audio editing alternatives.
2
Adding Music and Sound Effects to Enhance Overall Quality
If you’re a content creator, elevating the overall quality of your video with sound effects and music can hook your viewers. The secret to a high viewing rate in any video is to capture the emotions of your viewers. One way to do that is through music.
Music has this effect on humans, by having the ability to manipulate your current emotional state. Depending on your video, you can choose your background music and sound effects accordingly. It’s almost a make-or-break situation.
You can begin by picking which music and sound effects align with the mood and to effectively communicate the message of your content. There’s a ton of free software and apps out there you can use to add sound effects, including DaVinci Resolve, Freesound, and YouTube Audio Library.
1
Recommended Budget-Friendly Gear
With budget-friendly gear, you can still capture decent quality audio, especially with plenty of practice. If you’d like to step away from your smartphone microphone, there are still budget-friendly options for you to try.
For microphones, you can try the Audio-Technica AT2020, which is priced around $100. It’s a condenser-type microphone that offers a natural and clear sound, ideal for instruments and vocals. If you need an excellent handy recorder, try the Sony PCM-A10 costing under $250. This field recorder will provide you with high-resolution and low-noise audio capture. To listen to your audio quality during post-production, grab yourself Audio-Technica ATH-M20x headphones with high-quality audio feedback, making sure you won’t miss a track. For a free or cheaper option, you can use a voice recording app on your phone.
From now on, you don’t have to worry about capturing high-quality audio even when you’re on a budget. With a little imagination and commitment, you’ll eventually create a masterpiece you’ll be proud of. Don’t be afraid to experiment with new methods and practice until you’re happy.
So go ahead and start capturing amazing shots with your budget-friendly gear. Polish those in post-production and then publish them online for the whole to see.
