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We (I work at a premium car manufacturer, in development) always use black or grey Tesa Gaffer tape, the type that's almost fabric-like, rather than plasticy, with lots of fibers in both directions.
It doesn't tear off the paint, holds very well (I tested it up to 280 km/h, taping mics to the underside of cars etc) and leaves little to no residue.
If it ...
8
Don't be too tied to car model or type. You can use several cars if similar. Go for drama not consistency. Work backwards sometimes. Don't always search through effects to match the shot, listen to a lot of engines, skids, bys, dirt, tires and pull out ones you like to put in the scene. Let the car effects play and you will often find serendipitous crazy ...
5
Here's a nice trick: Take an engine start away and reverse it, makes for a nice aggressive in and idle. Works wonders for O/S cars too.
Sharp fades in and out of each engine "movement" help so there's no buildup, and try seeing out recordings that are onboard ext (usually with CH1 as engine block, CH2 as tailpipe). I know Soundstorm has these for many of ...
4
There's all kinds of ways to tackle this problem and on top of that, there's a bunch of factors in terms of how the scene is being shot and what kind of car. Here's my 2 cents...
-If you've got some a lav mics, plant them in the visors above each front seat or on the dashboard, if it's a two person scene.
-If you have a boom operator with a shotgun mic and ...
2
Maybe keep one layer going the whole time while alter the other layers?
2
Layers, layers, and more layers - to sort of paraphrase the sagely advise above. Make changes in layers that synch with the camrea shot changes.
Don't forget to check out the 'related' threads, I've read some great stuff about car chases here in the past.
2
If you add a couple of microphones under the hood and in the trunk as well as have a microphone near the interior camera position as a reference for the sound, you can filter and mix the engine channels and trunk channels until it sounds similar to the near-camera mic.
If needed, put a mic in the wheel well or under the car for tire noise (put it in foam and ...
2
Recording car audio can be very tough. You have a few factors to think about. For one when it comes to race cars and performance bikes you are talking about high SPLs. Road spec (at least in the US) is somewhere around 108 Db I think. Although some race classes have adopted sound regulations many have not so you could be looking at levels well above that. ...
2
To answer your first quesiton, very dense and thick foam (properly attached too to prevent vibration transference - as in, not just "set and forget" flopped ont top of the car) should do the trick. That's effectively what the Rycote rain covers are in a general sense - thick and dense over-sized foam to help absorb the rain drop sounds from transferring to ...
2
try listening to some films with great car sequences. Ronin comes to mind (good flick, great cars). The Bourne movies do a great job with sound all around as well. See how they solved some of your problems. Also, i recommend listening to them with headphones to help pick up some of the detail work.
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What microphone and what working distance are you using? The ultimate goal is maximizing the "Signal to Noise Ratio" (SNR) There are TWO ways of doing that, and typicaly you can use a combination of BOTH methods:
MINIMIZE the external NOISE. That means blocking noise from coming into your recording space. The ONLY thing that blocks noise is MASS. Not foam, ...
1
I know sometimes you will have to use the audio recorded from within a car's interior, though getting great sounding results will be tough regardless of the mics used and setup approach that you choose.
Also, by trying to record cleaner audio from the inside of the car, you may begin to impose on the actor's ability to do their best job acting (even if ...
1
My favorite way of doing this is to sit in the opposite side behind the one being filmed, using an as short a boom I can get it, with either a Sennheiser MKH-40 or Oktava 012 (which capsule also depends), depending on the voice and car, facing a best sweet-spot I can find and staying there.
Of course that means you have to follow the movements of both the ...
1
Hi,
Seems like a reasonable way to do it. Some questions:
Why don't you wire the actors themselves? To get 'better' acoustics?
Do you really need to go wireless? I'd rather go wired if the car is stationary. If you do need to go wireless, make sure the transmitters are outside the car.
I would put an extra 'plant' cardiod microphone in between the actors. ...
1
An option would be suction cups, the ones with levers to create the vacuum. I have found them in large box home stores such as Home Depot and also in hardware stores such as Northern Tools or Harbor Freight.
If you elect to use a suction cup, be sure the paint is clean. Spray a bit of water on the surface to give the suction cup a bit more grip.
I have ...
1
Boom library did everyday cars out in the desert on a super quiet test track. They do good work.
http://www.boomlibrary.com/boomlibrary/products/cars
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Moving the mic vs. holding it steady also changes the perceived speed/intensity of the car by. If you pan with the car you get a longer and less extreme by; holding the mic steady gives you more of a zip by, especially at higher speeds. For really extreme zip bys you can even move the mic in the opposite direction right when the car passes you.
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The old lavs in the sun visors rig works a treat. I've also gotten great results rigging them to the head rests (if characters turn to talk to people in the back seats) and around the side windows (if characters are talking to people outside the car).
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Rigging Microphones in Cars
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Hey Ask Steve Smith, he might know!
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[youtube]rhFPoxo-N_g[/youtube]
Re-Sounding by Varun Nair: Recording a car!
Hope this helps.
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I have very limited experience recording cars specifically, but when you do get access to great cars and a dynamo setup i would NOT just go with one stereo recorder. That sounds like a recipe for missed opportunities imho.
I would bring (borrow/rent/ share the recording gig With other recordist)at least a six channel recorder plus a backup.
I'd prob go with ...
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