THL Toolbox > Audio-Video > Creation Of Audio-video > Audio Recording for Video and Film

Audio Recording for Video and Film

Contributor(s): Bradley Aaron

When recording video it is crucial to capture audio in the clearest way possible. Often the built-in microphone on a camcorder is not sufficient to capture high-quality audio from the scene. The use of an external microphone is highly recommended for all high-quality video recording. There are a number of ways to capture audio using non-built-in devices, these include:

1. An external microphone connected directly to the video camera. This can take the form of a boom microphone or a 'shotgun' microphone attached to the hotshoe mount of the camera.
2. An external microphone connected to an independent audio recorder
3. Built-in microphones on independent audio recorder

No matter what device you use to do audio recordings, you should use these settings:

Using a Zoom H4n Digital Recorder

1. Record in MONO unless there is a good reason to do Stereo (use stereo for performances with more than one performer and MONO for interviews and songs sung only by one person)
2. USE WAV Format Only

Bitrate:

For sound that will never accompany Video: 24 bits at 44.1 kHz (24/44.1kHz)

For sound to accompany Video: 24 bits at 48 kHz (24/48kHz)

Provided for unrestricted use by the Tibetan and Himalayan Library