Careers In Sound - Sound Recordist

Sound Recordist

A sound recordist is usually the person responsible for all aspects of sound in small crews, such as documentary and current affairs. They will usually carry a bag containing a location mixer, radio mics, external recording device such as DAT or hard disc recorder, toothpicks, batteries, several pieces of fruit, and a small notepad for drawing pictures of other crew member during particularly boring takes. Sound recordists usually work on their own as befits a smaller crew and so have responsibility/control over most aspects of the sound acquisition. The primary role of the sound recordist is to record appropriate sound for picture and the final film, to a high standard and free from unwanted noise. This might sound relatively straightforward, but in reality this means battling the madness of location managers and directors who want to film in the outside lane of the M25 or the centre of a V8 engine, or inconsiderate airlines that insist on continually flying over your shoot causing the rest of the crew to stare impatiently at you until you say ‘i think it’s ok now’ before the next one arrives precisely 1min 33 secs later. This is why all television filmed in London is restricted to takes of no more than 90 secs. Ahem.

One of the UK's...practitioners of sound recording. And a fine director.

This is my primary role in Sound. When working as a sound recordist i spend an awful lot of time turning off peoples fridges and computers to remove hum, bribing workmen to halt their drilling for 10 mins, and generally asking people to stop making the noise they are often required to make as part of their jobs, in order for me to film a man talking at a camera. That may be simplifying it somewhat, but controlling unwanted background sounds is often the most challenging aspect of the job.

In the age of video i often end up recording directly to tape, which requires a connection to the camera. This can be 2 x xlr cables, a hirose cable or a wireless link depending on your finances, but the former often involve being dragged around by a camera operator, and getting glared at when you don’t move fast enough, and the latter involves panicking madly when you realise no sound is actually being sent to the camera as MI6 are supressing all radio waves in your area (see filming near the MI6 building…). Sometimes however it is necessary to record on an external source such as DAT or a hard disc recorder, for example when shooting on film. This requires the sound recordist to ensure that the sound and picture are able to be easily synced by the editor in post production. This is achieved either through use of a sync clap, or timecode. If timecode IS the format of choice then the sound recordist usually sets this up, as jam-syncing timecode between two or more devices is often beyond/beneath the understanding of camera ops who are far too busy measuring photons with their clever little light meters

— Posted by Matt in Careers in Sound, Work | No Comments