Chapter 16

Question 1

Sound mixer

Answer 1

sound recordist; job is to get the best possible recording of all field production audio including dialogue, wild sound effects, wild dialogue, and location ambient sound

Question 2

Boom operator

Answer 2

holds boom pole/mic

Question 3

Cable wrangler

Answer 3

sets up equipment, holds a second boom when necessary, and wranlges the cable when the boom operator follows a moving shot

Question 4

Levels

Answer 4

refers to the loudness of a signal as it enters the audio recorder, which in turn determines the strength of the recorded audio signal

Question 5

Setting levels

Answer 5

allowing the sound recordist to control the strength of the signal

Question 6

Peak meter

Answer 6

tools found primarily on sound recorders used to monitor and set audio levels

Question 7

VU meter

Answer 7

tools found primarily on field mixers used to monitor and set audio levels

Question 8

Overmodulated/overloaded

Answer 8

the signal is too strong to be sampled accurately and the result is distorted sound

Question 9

Headroom

Answer 9

the range between -12 dB and 0dB gives us a buffer for any unforeseen and sudden audio spikes

Question 10

Riding levels/riding gain

Answer 10

to raise and lower recording levels during recording as the sounds increase and decrease

Question 11

Reference tone/lineup tone

Answer 11

a 1 kHz pure tone that is used as a reference for calibrating a chain of audio devices in the field

Question 12

Headtone

Answer 12

recording 30 seconds of reference tone at the head of your record media, so that audio transfers and level reference in postproduction can also be calibrated with the original audio recording

Question 13

Auto gain

Answer 13

give away the control for setting audio levels to the recorder which assumes that there is a single proper level for all sounds

• Easily fooled by transient sounds: sudden sharp sounds
• Use manual override if available

Question 14

Clipping

Answer 14

suppressing the loudness by cutting off the sounds before they peak

Question 15

Limiters

Answer 15

volume controls that only come into effect when an audio signal reaches overload

Question 16

Frequency filters

Answer 16

• automatically remove unwanted portions of the frequency range
• balance finding the right relationship btw the audio we want and the background sounds

Question 17

on-axis

Answer 17

directly within the mic’s optimal sensitivity range

Question 18

consistency

Answer 18

maintaining this balance, as well as audio levels from setup to setup

Question 19

speech bump

Answer 19

the microphone is especially sensitive to frequencies where the average human voice falls (midrange) and less sensitive to high and low frequencies

Question 20

shock mount

Answer 20

holds mic in place on a boom pole

Question 21

pistol grip

Answer 21

used in situations that are too tight for a boom pole

Question 22

continuity

Answer 22

you don’t want shifts in ambience from shot to shot