location recording and audio floor plans for radio documentaries

I've learnt a lot about making audio documentaries from my early years writing, directing and crewing for screen... (Actually, the breadth and depth of transferrable approaches is quite remarkable, I'll just jot down a few notes now and add to this post later.)

WORKING WITH 'THE FRAME'

Many filmmaking techniques and focus on this business of representing a three-dimensional subject or space in a two-dimensional medium (ie. not crossing 'the line' and 'in-depth movement' etc)

In radio we are not restricted by a frame - an objectified box on the other side of the room - we get to create a whole space and position our listeners somewhere within that.... though obviously we are usually limited by working with stereo or even just mono.

A few things to remember and try to exploit

• We hear distance in sound - we distinguish between foreground, middleground and background sounds - not just because of how dominant or loud they are in the mix - but because the timbre or tone colour of recording from various distances is different... seek to use the whole spectrum of the space
• We hear location in sound - atmospheric tracks impart a lot of information about where we are - the level of natural reverb on a voice indicates the size of a room or how much soft furnishing is in there... don't underestimate this information.
• We hear movement in sound- indeed, movement is one of the things that usually makes sound - we hear movement happening in front of the mic and movement of the mic or rather, the listener's ear, itself - (I'm referring to usable mic movement here, not to be confused with handling sounds)... again, think of how you use movement in your programs and the information it gives the listener in terms of sound imagery and 'showing rather than telling' (eg. the sound of someone opening a fridge door is instantly recognisable - making it one less thing you have to tell the listener in words) - also, mic movement directs the listeners 'focus of attention', so point the listener at the most important thing they should be hearing right now.

A really simple example of how I approach recording distance, location and movement in an observation program... take a basic action like 'leaving the house and getting into the car'.

Recording floor-plan....

• Stationary, External Wide from the door of the house - the subjects walks out of the house and into the distance, gets in the car.... sound gradually fades
• Tracking shot - the same action repeated but this time following the subject - keeping them close in the balance as focus of attention
• Stationary, Internal from inside the car - the same action repeated but now sounding like it is coming towards from a distance...
• Spot Sound close-ups - close recording of some of the key sounds - the key unlocking the car, the rev of the engine from outside... to use as colour and pivot sounds or 'cut aways' if I need them.

Recording these different aspects gives choices in the edit suite...

• If I'm exiting the scene and going someplace new - then I can let the protagonist's significant words hang in the mind of the listener while the subject drives off into the distance - then I can easily cut to a new scene with a different subject - or cut to new story scene with the subject already in the car
• if the action is purely transitional and the 'in the house' and 'in the car' location material is part of the same scene - I wouldn't let the action linger and would probably run with the tracking sound - or do a quick sound transition between the internal and external shots pivoting on the door opening.
• Alternatively, the action might be a good way to enter a new scene - starting with the quiet atmos of inside the car (not overly recognisable), the feint sound of closing the front door (we start to get ideas about where we are), the creuscendo of the approaching footsteps of our subject who becomes the focus of attention (the listener understands what is going on when they open the car door)...

RELATED

• post Sound recording interviews

• for related links and references about radio documentary production - go do my project_production delicious tag