Sound Notes

I have other stuff, of course, but
here's the main set-up on my
beautiful bedspread. 

Shooting in the topics has its challenges. Taping sound in the tropics is a challenge on steroids. While my sound buddies will scoff at my set-up, I did come prepared with a digital recorder, my two Audio Technica mics--one cardioid and one shotgun, a lavalier for interviews, quite a few XLR cables of different lengths, brackets to hold the mics while I shooting, and headphones. I brought cotton-paper ear covers to make them more comfortable in heat. Good idea since they also offered protection from the humidity.

Early on I had determined not to synch any sound to the images, I was going to tape ambient sound and mix it in post production. So, I set about taping the sounds of the city--the birds, monkeys, river sounds, all good. However, within the week, the poor recorder was shorting out; the batteries heating up the little thing until it was useless. I'm looking for a spot where I can unscrew it to see what's wrong; but, the manual indicates that the recorder will not work in high humidity environments.

Come on....this isn't a steam room, I thought. Well, it is. Ninety-six+ degrees with rain three times a day and 99% percent humidity qualifies. So, I'm retiring it for the moment and I'm off to the market to get a pound of rice where I'll immerse it to try and pull some of condensation out of it. Go ahead, sound geeks, scoff some more. But it's not working now, so how's a little rice gonna hurt?

Panicked because I didn't have any way to tape sound, I turned to the camcorder I threw in the suitcase at the last minute. I got it a scant four years ago to tape my KS video and happy home vids.

Rewind to a few weeks ago at B&H: Technology now allows a professional grade outfit for $20 more than what I paid for my pro-sumer item. So, if you're in the market, go for the video recorder because  you'll get superior sound recording capability. Even my little camcorder has various sound file formats which most SLRs don't. But if the machine says it can shoot video, it ought to. Sound is a critical part of motion media.

The only drag about the camcorder is

that both jacks are accessible only 

when the screen pops open.

The SONY with which I have been shooting all the visuals doesn't have a mic input (perhaps other digital SLRs might); the camcorder has a the jack for the mic, and a jack for the headphones too. Just tested it, it sounds great; I'm back in business.

Going forward, I'll be bringing desiccator bags.