Recording clear dialogue for a beginner video

Clear dialogue comes from three things: a microphone placed close to the speaker, wind and room noise kept out of the recording, and an audio level that stays below the point of distortion. Many beginner videos sound distant and echoey for one reason. The camera's built-in microphone often sits three feet or more from the person talking, so it captures the whole room as much as the voice. Moving a microphone closer does more for a video than any change to the lens or picture settings.

The good news is that the fixes are inexpensive and quick to apply. A small clip-on microphone, a foam windscreen and a few minutes of testing will improve most first recordings. The sections below follow the order you would use on a real shoot, from placement to the final check before you start.

Place the microphone close to the speaker

A lavalier microphone, the small clip-on type, usually works best on the chest, a short distance below the chin. A common starting point is about 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) from the mouth. Clip it to clothing an inch or two below the neckline, run the cable under the fabric so it does not rub or rattle, and keep it away from jewelry or buttons that can knock against it.

A shotgun microphone, mounted on the camera or on a boom pole, works differently because it is directional. It picks up sound mainly from the direction it points, so aim it at the speaker's mouth from just above or just out of frame, and keep it as close as the framing allows. Stepping back a little from the speaker can make the voice sound thinner, while moving the microphone closer usually makes it fuller and cleaner.

Distance has to stay steady during the take. A speaker who turns away, leans back or walks around will drift in and out of level. Ask them to stay in one spot, or choose a framing that gives you room to move the microphone with them.

Cut wind and room noise

Wind is the most common problem on outdoor shoots, and even a light breeze can rumble across a microphone. A foam windscreen fits over most small microphones and reduces the air that reaches the capsule. For outdoor work, a furry outer cover adds more protection. If the location allows it, position the subject so the wind comes from behind them rather than across the microphone.

Indoors, the common enemies are hum and echo. Refrigerators, air conditioners, ceiling fans and computers can all add a steady background sound that is hard to remove later, so switch off what you can before recording and close windows to traffic. Hard floors, glass and bare walls bounce sound back into the microphone, which makes a voice sound thin and distant. A room with rugs, curtains, cushions or a closet full of clothes has much less echo. Seating the speaker closer to a soft wall instead of in the middle of an empty room can also help.

Headphones are the best detector for these problems. Wear closed-back headphones connected to the recording device, and listen during the take for hums, buzzes and rustles that the camera screen cannot show you.

Set a level that leaves room to spare

Audio levels are shown in decibels relative to full scale, written dBFS. On most meters, 0 dBFS is the ceiling. A sound that reaches 0 is clipped, meaning the peaks are cut off, and clipped audio is distorted in a way that cannot be repaired in editing. It is safer to record a little quieter than to risk clipping.

For speech, a practical target is for the loudest words to peak around -12 dBFS, with -6 dBFS as an upper guide. Set this with the actual speaker: ask them to deliver their most energetic line at normal volume while you watch the meter, then leave some headroom for laughter, a raised voice or an emphatic word. Once the level is set for a scene, avoid changing it between takes, because small shifts make the voice jump in the edit.

If the level is too low, do not rely on boosting it later. Turning up the gain in editing raises the background noise along with the voice, which can make a quiet recording hiss.

Check a test take before the real shoot

Record a test of 20 to 30 seconds with the same speaker, the same microphone position and the same room settings you plan to use for the scene. Play it back with headphones and listen for three things: whether the voice is clear, whether there is noise underneath it, and whether the level stays steady. A short test is cheap compared with re-recording a full scene after a buzz appears in the edit.

Check the equipment as well. Make sure the transmitter battery is charged, the microphone is unmuted and the recorder is set to the same sample rate as the camera's audio and the edit project (48 kHz is standard for video). Clip-on transmitters often have a mute switch, and many unusable takes come from one that was left on mute.

If the test sounds wrong, change one thing at a time: move the microphone, add the windscreen, or move the speaker away from a hard wall, then record another short test. When the sound is clean, keep the same settings for the rest of the scene so the sound matches from take to take.

Some cameras and external recorders can also capture a second track at a lower level alongside the main one. Where your gear offers it, turn that backup on for important dialogue. A quieter track is far less likely to clip when a speaker suddenly raises their voice, so it can rescue a take that the main track has distorted. Confirm the backup is armed during the test take, because a backup that was never switched on offers no protection.