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Soundperson Speaks: Adriano Bravo by Doniphan Blair
Oakland sound person Adriano Bravo feeling great on the Great Wall. photo courtesy A. Bravo
(NOTE: Search "Part Two" for continuation from print)
Considering we took a top-down perspective on sound last month, with the likes of maestro Walter Murch and the experts at Dolby, it seemed only fair to check in with an “average sound man,” as it were, working in the trenches or out in the field, literally, as the case may be, hearing, recording, and (sometimes) knowing all. Adriano Bravo is one such sound person. Oakland-based, he cut his teeth doing docs in Palestine and Oakland (self-produced, “Tell It Like It Is” about local blues belter Lady Margaret), but has since travelled everywhere and for everyone, from rock docs about the band Journey in the Philippines to projects for the History Channel and National Geographic.
The son of a Colombian diplomat, Bravo was born and raised in New York, where he attended the UN School. He has an easy, affable manner, well suited to the often intimate interaction of wiring folks for sound and recording them perfectly. Recent projects include a PBS American Masters show on Joan Baez, a urology conference at the Moscone Center San Francisco, and “a thing with Paul McCarthy.”
“You do a range of things,” Bravo told me. “It’s not all working with Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Spielberg.” He’s also been crazy, crazy busy – suggesting the recession is over in doc land – but knows he shouldn’t complain. “Even if it is a urology conference,” he grins.
Bravo used to live in West Oakland (downstairs from this author, in fact), but he moved with his wife Britt to Piedmont five years ago. Given the plethora of recorders, recording methods and new tech these days, I started there.
CineSource: You have many recording and mixing devices, don’t you?
Adriano Bravo: Yes, I do: the portable Zoom [from Japan], Marantz [Germany], and Zaxcom [US]. My favorite is the Sound Devices [US]. It has a five channel mixer and does WAV files, same as AIFF uncompressed audio, as well MP3.
While making the ‘History of Beer’ (this is the hops part), Bravo decided he liked beer after all. photo courtesy A. Bravo
And which do you recommend?
Any mixer or recorder made by Sound Devices. I have three of their mixers and one recorder and they are all solid and top quality. For certain jobs that require smaller equipment, I also have several pocket-size recorders that can be easily mounted on small dSLR cameras or hidden on location. The most popular in this category are the Zoom H4n, the Marantz PMD 660 or 661, and the Zaxcom ZFR100.
And which wireless mics?
Lectrosonics 411 series is the industry standard, and for a good reason. For lower budget production looking to buy, I think a gently-used 200 series Lectrosonics is a great choice.
How about shooting with the ever-popular RED?
The RED is a tremendous tool but should be treated like an old school film camera where you use a clap stick or a time code slate. There were many problems with the software, especially as it relates to audio. The old software couldn’t handle sound well, but now it is up to 20 revisions and many of the issues have been resolved.
Though you can now record to camera and trust it, everyone still records double system. Nobody wants to take a chance, and redundancy is always a good thing. There are many ways to synch the audio. Try to make it easy on the editor by sending a reference track to the camera and using some kind of slate or clapper.
Ditto the new Canon and Nikon dSLRs?
Yes, the list of complaints about this new category of camera is long. On the audio side, the issues are simple: they have a built-in mic that is useful only as a reference guide. It is terrible you can’t monitor audio. But if you record audio separately and do a simple clap at the beginning, it is easy to manually sync later. You can use the software plug-in, PluralEyes, which will automatically sync up multiple video tracks as long as they have a corresponding audio track. It uses the waveform from the built-in microphone and matches it to the waveform of the externally recorded ‘good quality’ audio.
It is a great tool, you can go on a subway and shoot like a tourist. The small recorders I mentioned are optimal for camera mounting directly on to the hotshoe of the dSLRs. There are people sending wireless to the camera with a little two-channel mixer but you’re much better off getting a separate recorder.
For that I recommend the Zoom. They have two models I would recommend, the H2 and H4. The H4n has built-in mics that are really good in an XY pattern for stereo. It also has XLR and phantom power and you can put in a mini-jack. The Zoom can record four tracks at the same time – a whole band with the built-ins, with separate mics for the singer and the bass [harder frequencies to record] – for only $330! A 16-gig card can record 10 hours plus of MP3 and it’s small enough to fit in your pocket. I find the Zoom is very versatile.
Are there any sound recording styles popular now, like very close miking that catches every breath? Even with telephoto shots?
Producers and directors expect everyone who has dialogue to be heard perfectly, even if they are far away. In film, when it is in the distance, it can be a whisper, but on TV and in docs, they expect loud. As location-sound mixers and recordists, it is our job to give the editor the best sound possible. One can always change or fine tune perceived loudness during the final mix, but initially – get the cleanest audio possible! As far as catching every breath? I don’t know if you want all that, but there are mics that can get close – even a sporting mic that goes inside the mouth, when it’s too noisy outside.
The standard nowadays is to boom and lavalier?
For a reality shows, everyone wears a wireless. When I did “Top Chef,” we had 16 people wired – that is the norm. We had five people talking at once, so we knocked out everyone else, and mixed them.
The best-sounding mics are the boom mics: they are bigger and sound really natural. But in many shots, it is hard to get a boom in, so you use a wireless, whether someone is wearing it, or it’s hidden in flower pot or whatever.
On a location shoot, you often don’t know what is called for. If the script says sit-down interview, I know more or less, but you can never be sure. You bring an arsenal of tools and hopefully you have what you need.
In a room, how do you break up the boominess?
Prep the room as much as possible and then worry about choices of mic and technique. Cover all surfaces that are not on camera – if possible. A rug or piece of carpet can make a huge difference. Sound blankets on stands really help and can be moved around easily. A piece of duvetyne can be clipped or taped to a wall. Closing doors, window, and air vents can cut boominess as well. Close miking also helps a lot, though you are at the mercy of camera needs.
Bravo Booming on ‘Journey Back,’ a doc about the band Journey’s long, strange trip to replace Steve Perry after he dropped out 10 years ago. The path led through a clip on YouTube to Arnell Pineda, the young man in the middle, whom they found in Manila, singing in Karioke bars. photo courtesy A. Bravo
Constant noises, hums and buzzes, such as made by air conditioners, vents, even bad wiring, can definitely be easily ‘fixed in post,’ as they say. Noises that are hard to fix: clothing rustle on lavaliers, wind noise, clocks, jewelry clanking on wrists, sirens, background music and on and on.
Any experienced soundperson can reassure a nervous producer when a noise is something you can live with and when it’s time to say, ‘cut!’ In general, even though every shoot is struggling to remain on schedule, it is almost always better, faster and cheaper to do something over while on the set, then assume it can be ‘fixed in post.’
You see any innovation coming in sound? Will docs ever go to 3D or five or now seven point sound?
I am never asked to come into the field with five mics and get surround sound. They can fake it in the studio with a stereo mic left and right. I don’t think there will be 3D documentaries.
Part Two (Continuation of article from paper version)
Do you want to see a sit-down interview in 3D? Eventually, it will happen, when it will be the norm. Panasonic just announced an affordable handheld 16,000 dollar camera and someone will make a cool skateboard movie or something with it, but I can’t imagine them doing an interview. And for sound, it wouldn’t make a difference:... there’s no 3D sound.
There is no innovation on the horizon, miks a re mno or stereo but most I use is mone. they keep getting mroesenstaive and more durable but no game changer. Out in the field you don’t want a $3000 Noland mic on stick and wave it around someone’s head. For TV and docs, the samee old miks from 15 years ago are still being used. If anything has changed it is not the mic but the recorder – little machines that have up to 16 tracks that you can wear around your shoulder, or a while mixing studio on a little cart – that is the real revolution.
Any compression formulas you recommend?
I just do compression for scratch or translation tracks. In fact, sound files are even more expanded these days because storage space is so large. It doesn’t even make sense to compress the audio 44.1.
Are there any books or other resources on sound recordingyou recommend?
I’m a big fan of online community’s aggregation of knowledge, from other folks doing the same thing. There are countless user groups for sound, video dSLR videography etc.
If you have a question about how to record something or how to use a particular piece of gear, chances are you are not alone and someone else has already posted a how-to guide for the exact same thing. This is especially true for newer developments such as using the RED camera, dSLR audio and video questions. Though there are many good books on the subject, I find that the constantly updated user groups are more vibrant and keep pace with new technology. http://Www.trewaudio.com/ramps/ is popular for location sound for Docs, TV and Film, for example