Location recording of skateboard

Question

Hello there,

I am going to shoot a movie next week that few of the scene is someone riding a skateboard, there are too many options in my head how to approach this and I would really appreciate any advice.

I know that a lot can be done in the post-production stage but I’d really like to capture as much as possible on location to be able to use it in the post stage.

I will have for the shoot a Sennheiser MKH416, I will use it to follow the movement of the rider, I also want to rent a stereo microphone to capture the ambience of the location and maybe use it instead of the Sennheiser MKH416.

I am able to rent any of the following:

1. Sennheiser MKH418 (Stereo shotgun)
2. Sanken CSS5 (Stereo shotgun)

Any advice on how to approach this recording and which of the microphone I should rent would be much appreciated.

Thank,

Itamar

Answer 1

no one answered, but I think use a dynamic first. Your skateboarder is gonna want a few practise runs, so go with them when cameras not running and record up close with a 57. This will catch the loud grindy sounds up close.

Then you can do the boom recording with your rifle probably the senny, you'll catch a more delicate sound. And then you can composite a decent sound together, and be able to balance a wider neutral sound with some more intense grindy up close sound.

That's just me though :)

I guess it's just..the skateboard up close will kick up lots of sound. A condenser will just be very noisey, almost white noisey. I reckon dynamic for some edge, and your rifle for a more natural perspective.

Answer 2

Get the skateboarder to wear a wireless omni-directional lav in their trousers just above the ankle. You will pick up some great sounds, and all of them will be in sync.

Answer 3

Hi Itamar,

I don't think you need to over complicate this, but there are a few questions you need to ask yourself.

• Which recorder are you using? How many tracks does it record? Ideally you will use both mics, but you need a 4-track recorder.

• Can you also get boom poles, rycotes and stands for all of these?

• What shots is the DOP using, and how does this affect your recording? ie can you get a boom close to the action for each shot? Best to get in touch and find out if you can.

Generally though, unless there are any really wide shots you should be ok doing a basic boom job on this. Skateboarding is pretty loud, so don't worry too much.

If there are any long/wide shots you could experiment with the technique Iain describes, but also consider asking for a re-take for sound and get the boarder to repeat the move (if it's to too difficult) you can then present these to the sound editor to cut into place. Any extra recording you can provide are an added bonus, maybe try to get some long sections of just rolling - medium close to the wheels. I imagine these quieter sounds get a bit lost amongst the clatter of the impact type sounds which are quite sharp, so extra recordings might prove useful.

If you can use a 4-track use one mic for boom and another as a static ambiance mic. If not, just do a normal boom job and record ambiance as wild-track.

Good luck,

Mark

Answer 4

You might want to have a look at this article about Chuck Russom's recording sessions for his Skateboard HD library. It may also be worth getting in touch with Chuck to find out a bit more from the man himself.