Five On-Set Audio Mistakes That No Plugin Will Save

Audiences forgive a soft shot. They don't forgive bad sound. And unlike picture, audio problems rarely show up on the monitor: they show up in the edit, weeks later.

1. Recording too hot

Digital audio that hits 0 dBFS is clipped: the waveform is flattened and the distortion is baked in. Repair tools reduce it, but a clipped shout is never clean again. Leave headroom: dialogue peaking around −12 dBFS, and use a safety track recorded lower if your recorder has one. 32-bit float recorders remove most of this risk.

2. No room tone

Every edit between two takes is also a jump in background noise. Thirty seconds of everyone silent, in the same position, with the same equipment running, is what lets the editor smooth those cuts. Without it, someone ends up hunting for gaps between words to build a loop that never sounds quite right.

3. Lav rustle

A lavalier that rubs against clothing produces bursts of noise right in the middle of the words. You can reduce it, but it sits in the same frequencies as the voice. Fix it on set: secure the cable, tape the mic, change position, and listen on headphones before rolling.

4. Wind

Wind noise is low-frequency, irregular and loud. A high-pass filter helps with a light breeze; real wind wipes out the take. Use a proper windshield outdoors, even when it seems calm, and shelter the talent from the wind direction when you can.

5. Nothing to sync with

Separate sound with no slate, no timecode and no usable camera audio turns syncing into guesswork. Software syncs by waveform, so make sure the camera records a scratch track, and clap at the head of every take anyway. It costs a second and saves the assistant editor's morning.

The checklist

1. Headphones on the sound recordist, always.
2. Peaks around −12 dBFS, or 32-bit float.
3. Scratch audio on camera.
4. Slate or clap on every take.
5. Thirty seconds of room tone per location.
6. Windshields outside, no exceptions.