Introduction to sound, believe it or not, but it is proven that we tend to believe our ears much more than we believe our eyes. Something important to remember is that sound is 50% of filmmaking. Just like the world of digital cameras, digital sound has made an astonishing leap in the last decade. Today, it is much easier to record clean and successful sound for relatively cheap. Suddenly coding mixing and boom operating is a form of art in itself, and the best professionals out there have invested many years and lots of cash to gain gear and experience. In recent years however, a few tools have been developed for beginners like yourself, so that you can safely record proper usable audio for your small budget productions.

Let's start with zoom h4 n, which is a small portable stereo recording device that gives us the ability of multi channel recording and supports XLR inputs for the use of a shotgun microphone and other wireless systems. Recently rode produced a rather cheap and pretty good wireless Lavalier kit for DSLR filmmakers and small budget productions. When you use a wireless system, you're able to record sound while being physically farther away from the subject with the camera. This could be useful for aesthetic reason, or for communicating a secret kind of feeling to your audience. Wireless sound systems give us the ability of freedom and mobility especially in documentary style situation. The easiest sound solution is to record an onboard microphone like the Rode video mic Pro.

Now, in this case, we are in the clear for anything that is three or four feet away from our camera. When recording sound, you must carefully monitor so anytime you are shooting, and there is sound recording involved, headphones are a must so you can get a clear reference of what you're recording. skipping out on this detail could really result in a disaster. Now remember this a poor quality image is bearable, but it is stilted and unpleasant sound is far less tolerable. In the next lecture we'll move on to talking about how to actually set up your shooting day in the most successful way.