Audio for Single Camera Operation

12 Mics: practical listening exercise (a): mic quality

Listening to mics

So far, we haven't considered the ‘listening’ aspect of the job. On location, the most practical method is to use headphones (the ubiquitous ‘cans’ – you'll find more information on them in Section 19, Single person operation: use of headphones). This is the part of the job which, for the best results, you can only gain through experience – listening constantly to your mics. That is the only way you can actually tell that you're obtaining the correct sound.

Practical exercises

But how can you gain this experience? Well, first and foremost, as suggested in the introduction, you will have already been listening to radio and television programmes, as well as countless CDs ...