{"id":5863,"date":"2012-04-17T12:37:11","date_gmt":"2012-04-17T16:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?p=5863"},"modified":"2012-04-17T12:44:12","modified_gmt":"2012-04-17T16:44:12","slug":"on-location-audio-buzz-hum-tricks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/on-location-audio-buzz-hum-tricks\/","title":{"rendered":"On-Location Audio \u2013 3 Tricks Every Filmmaker &#038; Sound Person Should Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 id=\"reducing-background-buzz-and-hum-when-recording-location-sound-can-be-a-challenge-follow-these-3-simple-tips-to-get-cleaner-location-sound-on-your-next-shoot\">Reducing background buzz and hum when recording location sound can be a challenge!\u00a0 Follow these 3 simple tips to get cleaner location sound on your next shoot.<\/h2>\n<p>Want to drive yourself crazy? Try removing <strong>audio buzz or hum <\/strong>during video editing.\u00a0 Isolating <strong>bad audio frequencies<\/strong> without distorting dialogue, or intentional on-camera sound, can be a frustrating challenge.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s always best to get the cleanest <strong>on-location sound<\/strong>.\u00a0 You\u2019ll save yourself time in post-production and will likely have a better sounding product then if you were to attempt a post-production fix.<\/p>\n<p>3 common sources for <strong>on-location background buzz and hum<\/strong> are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Systems<\/li>\n<li>Lighting<\/li>\n<li>Refrigerators<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The following<strong> on-location sound tips <\/strong>will address each of these problem sources and how to minimize their effect on your audio.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"play-weatherman\">Play Weatherman<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5891\" style=\"margin: 5px; float: right;\" title=\"On Location Audio Air Conditioner Hum\" src=\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/ac.jpg\" alt=\"On Location Audio Air Conditioner Hum\" width=\"113\" height=\"158\" \/>A\/C units may be the #1 culprit for picking up <strong>bad background audio<\/strong>.\u00a0 They rumble, hum and can really muddy up an audio track.\u00a0 To top it off, they\u2019re erratic\u2026turning on and off at random intervals (leading to irksome <strong>shot inconsistencies<\/strong>).\u00a0 The only way to insure that you don\u2019t get A\/C hum is to kill the system while you\u2019re shooting.\u00a0 BUT, nobody likes burning up under hot production lighting\u2026<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #865300;\"><strong>TRICK:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span> As soon as you arrive on set (figure, you\u2019re going to arrive about an hour or more early to setup lighting, shots, etc.) radically adjust the heater or A\/C unit.\u00a0 Let the unit overcompensate.\u00a0 If it\u2019s hot out, turn the air conditioner on blast.\u00a0 Freeze the room.\u00a0 In cold weather do the opposite.\u00a0 Then, when you\u2019re ready to start rolling, turn off the unit.\u00a0 This trick will buy some time where the talent and crew aren&#8217;t miserably uncomfortable on set.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"blankets-a-step-stool\">Blankets &amp; A Step Stool<\/h3>\n<p>So what about the times when you can\u2019t control the A\/C unit? \u00a0Big office buildings are notorious for this&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5886\" style=\"margin: 5px; float: right;\" title=\"Sound Blankets Location Audio Tip\" src=\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/blankets.jpg\" alt=\"Sound Blankets Location Audio Tip\" width=\"113\" height=\"94\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #865300;\"><strong>TRICK: \u00a0<\/strong><\/span>You can soften the <strong>A\/C unit hum<\/strong> by covering up vents with blankets.\u00a0 Professional sound blankets are ideal, but if you\u2019re on a budget or in a pinch, even your standard blanket or comforter could be a satisfactory replacement.\u00a0 The step stool allows you to access high or hard to reach vents.<\/p>\n<p>If you have <strong>buzzy ballasts<\/strong> from location lighting, obviously the first line of attack is to turn them off.\u00a0 Lighting that stays on all the time (such as emergency lighting) may require you to physically remove the bulb while shooting.\u00a0 The step stool also aids with this.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"freeze-the-keys\">Freeze the Keys<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5882\" style=\"margin: 5px; float: right;\" title=\"Audio Refrigerator Hum Keys\" src=\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/keys31.jpg\" alt=\"Audio Refrigerator Hum Keys\" width=\"113\" height=\"81\" \/>Refrigerators can\u2019t be easily moved out of a location, so it\u2019s best just to <strong>turn the power off<\/strong> while rolling on-set.\u00a0 With the door shut, a refrigerator can stay cool for a while\u2026but you don\u2019t want to forget to turn it back on!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #865300;\"><strong>TRICK:<\/strong><\/span> Remember to power it back on before leaving the set by\u00a0<strong>placing your keys in the refrigerator when you unplug it<\/strong> (tip from <a title=\"Mac Pro Video Audio Recording Tips\" href=\"http:\/\/www.macprovideo.com\/hub\/audio-recording-2\/tips-recoding-sound-location\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">MacProVideo.com<\/a>).\u00a0 There\u2019s no quicker way to get banned from a location than to let a refrigerator full of food spoil!<\/p>\n<p>For on-location audio success, follow these tips for <strong>reducing background buzz and hum noise<\/strong> before the cameras ever start rolling!<\/p>\n<p>Do you have tips for getting cleaner location audio?<br \/>\n<em>We want to hear from you in the comments!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"zemanta-pixie\" style=\"margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"zemanta-pixie-img\" style=\"border: none; float: right;\" src=\"https:\/\/img.zemanta.com\/pixy.gif?x-id=74b349ce-9f33-40a1-babe-94e31373de6a\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Background hum and buzz are common problems when acquiring on-location audio. Learn three tricks for getting cleaner sound on your video shoots!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[583],"tags":[686,690,689,688,691,687,113,43,47,434],"class_list":["post-class-post-5863","post-class-post","post-class-type-post","post-class-status-publish","post-class-format-standard","post-class-hentry","post-class-category-video-production-2","post-class-tag-audio-frequency","post-class-tag-audio-problems","post-class-tag-buzz","post-class-tag-hum","post-class-tag-on-location-audio","post-class-tag-refrigerator","post-class-tag-sound","post-class-tag-tips","post-class-tag-tricks","post-class-tag-troubleshooting"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v18.5 (Yoast SEO v21.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>On-Location Audio \u2013 3 Tricks Every Filmmaker &amp; Sound Person Should Know  - The Beat: A Blog by PremiumBeat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Background hum and buzz are common problems when acquiring on-location audio. 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