Workshop: Improving Audio
Improve your audio for podcast, film and video productions. This one-day workshop will teach you about recording, editing and filtering methods, as well as audio principles that can be applied across nearly all sound editing systems and recorders.
This workshop is ideal for self-shooters, those who are new to audio production and for those currently producing media content but who have not previously specialised in sound.
We will discuss how different methods can help when recording narration, interviews, natural ambiences and performance, as well as how general recording principles can be used when recording audio to PCs, Macs, video cameras, dictaphones or any other recording devices.
The workshop will involve listening to different types of recordings in order to:
- Highlight faults (to correct them or avoid their re-occurrence)
- Become familiar with the quality of audio that is likely to be captured using different types of equipment in different settings
- Demonstrate limitations of recording equipment in certain situations
- Hear the effects of applying different types of filters
- Assess the suitability of certain recordings for use in a production.
The editing and filtering principles that we’ll cover can be applied to many different software applications such as Final Cut, Adobe Premier, Sony Vegas etc. but will be demonstrated using Audacity – an open source, cross-platform software for recording and editing sounds.
During the workshop, you can practice using Audacity to correct / improve upon different types of problematic recordings and find out how to increase the overall consistency and clarity of edited audio. We will also be using Pro Tools for some of the demonstrations.
This workshop will cover the following topics:
- Common audio terminology
- Recording & listening: monitoring environment considerations when selecting a setting in which to record
- Simple recording signal paths
- Considering general principles of audio production and applying them to different recording hardware or software systems
- Microphone types, techniques, selection and placement for use in different settings (a selection of microphones will be available for comparison)
- General guidelines to improve audio clarity and consistency within a production
- General guidelines for ensuring suitably loud programme material
- Common technical standards discussed
- An introduction to some of the most frequently used audio production tools (found in nearly all editing systems). The tools that will be focused on specifically will include:
Dynamic processors (compressors, limiters etc.) and Equalization - Diagnosing common audio errors (with suggestions as to what may have caused them and how to work around them).
Participants are invited to bring their Mac or PC laptops to this workshop to take advantage of in its practical aspects. Please make sure that you have installed Audacity beforehand. Tips about installation will be distributed after booking.
About the trainer
Robin Green is a sound engineer with experience working at all stages of the post production and recording process. He specialises in audio editing, and has worked at several leading London sound studios for the past 15 years.
