I’m really questioning how relative this actually is. The way I plan to do audio for my film doesn’t really have anything to do with getting around my zero-dollar budget, it revolves more around luck. I was really into audio recording before I realized my passion for film, so I happen to have so nice microphones and other audio equipment laying around. My sound rig consists of a condenser microphone attached to a fully extended mic stand that gives me the height and length I want. That is then fed into a my audio interface and laptop, both housed in a backpack being worn by my sound guy.
It’s not the most convenient or easiest way to do audio, but with a camera that has an external microphone input, my options for getting good quality sound were limited. This way allows me a lot of freedom as to what my audio will sound like, I can choose from several microphone presets or I can completely customize the way it will sound.
There are several drawbacks to this method as well. Since my laptop will be stored in the backpack, it is prone to overheating. I do have a laptop cooling pad, but that will just serve to drain the battery quicker, and that’s another problem: battery life.
After a while, the laptop’s battery will start to get low, so that definitely has to be monitored. If the battery were to die, I could lose all the audio I recorded, and since taking out the laptop every time we wanted to start or stop recording audio would be too difficult, that would just be one long continuous stream, and that is yet another problem, albeit not a very big one. Having one long audio stream just stands to make editing a little more annoying that it already is.
Overall, this isn’t the most efficient way to record audio, but with my limited supplies and even more limited budget, the customization and quality of audio make this my best option.
Now, sound in film is not just the audio picked up during a scene, it’s also the music being played over the scenes, and that can really set the mood and make a scene great.
The Gorilla Man soundtrack actually features a lot of indie folk music, which happens to be some of my favorite music. Even though Gorilla Man is a comedy, it’s got some serious scenes, and some ‘neutral’ scenes which don’t really convey seriousness or comedy, and it’s these scenes that are chock-full of really great indie tunes. I found several artists who were willing to let me use their music for free over at www.cllct.com, a community of artists who put their music up for free download. This site is great, and is full of wonderful artists who not only put out great music, but who are just really awesome people in general. With over 600 releases and a ton of different artists and bands, you can find anything from a cappella music to punk bands. I definitely recommend it as a place to find some great music for your projects, just be sure to ask permission first, even though 99% of the artists will gladly let you use their songs, and in my case were even honored to be used in my movie.
I hope some of this information has been helpful, and keep checking back for more articles and what not.
- Nick
