Audio attention

I spent some considerable time in the audio suite recently trying to equalise recordings from various mics and noisy locations and ended up with a very acceptable result.  However, I notice that a number of documentaries on UK television lately seem to not be bothering with even the most basic processing of sound!  Often the voice-over is booming out but the interviews to camera are hardly audible.  Another trend is for the piece to begin well, only to be drowned out later by the music track.  What is going on?

One of the things I learned very early on in film and video is that you can sometimes get away with a shot that is slightly sub-standard, but never audio.  Let’s face it, in the heat of the action, focus and exposure can often be out, but so long as the image tells a story and the habit is not repeated throughout the film, you can get away with it.  Bad audio, though is totally unacceptable to an audience.  I expect this trend has evolved due to the increasing competition and tight budgets within the TV world – hopefully they’ll get over it and return to paying good rates to professional sound people to do a proper job.

James