Whenever we are hired to produce a video – whether it’s for marketing, training, or an event – we have a checklist of items that need to be asked so that our clients are happy with the results. This multipart series will cover those important items so that you don’t miss one of these essentials for your next shoot.
Event videos
Event videos are perhaps the most unpredictable type of videos that we do. Unpredictable in the sense that everything isn’t exactly scripted and we generally only have one chance to get that shot. For your use, the Video One video production crew put together a few tips for audio for event videography. So here are some things that you will want to consider:
Audio for event videography
When producing any video, the second most important factor next to what you see on screen is what you hear. Especially audio for event videography. And if the audio is bad, the entire video is probably not going to serve your purpose. So if you’re going to have a panel discussion, performance or any similar event where multiple sources of audio are required, our crew needs to find out who is supplying the audio.
Generally, if we’re filming an event at an established venue such as a performance hall, ballroom, etc., we can generally get a line out from the ‘board’, where all of the audio sources terminate. The board is generally operated by the venue’s employees and a feed is provided to us. They mix the audio, control levels and otherwise handle everything before giving us the feed.
However, if we supply all of the audio, and there are multiple audio sources, then our video production crew most likely need multiple mics, a sound mixer and a dedicated audio person to monitor the sound and levels.
For instance, our video production crew just recorded an event where there was tap dancing and pre-recorded music. We ran one cord from the pre-recorded music into one channel of our camera and set up a boom mic to record the tap dancing sound and put that into the other channel of our camera. Then in the editing session, we were able to bring up the audio from each channel as loud as we needed so that people heard what they were supposed to hear at a particular time.
Even if we’re getting an audio feed from the sound board at the venue, we need to make sure that we get a line feed and not a mic feed and find out what type of connection we’ll need. We generally we get an XLR connection. Though rare, it could be a quarter inch connection as well.
If there is a panel discussion, we need to make sure that there are PCM mics on the table or that everyone has a lavaliere mic that terminates to our mixer, which is then output to our camera(s).
Watch our events demo:
Have questions about audio at an event video production?
Contact us and our Chicago video production crew can clarify any questions you may have. Or click below to discuss a potential video production:
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