In Sir Mike Idioma’s first day of class, he made it clear that oftentimes, in the film and video production business, sound is taken for granted. The class begins with the question “How do you understand sound?” as each person receives sound differently. He stresses the importance of the basic ear properties so as to be able to know how to judge sound (if it is pleasant, dirty, sufficient, and so on) and adds that humans judge this on a basis of comparison. He briefly discusses sound and how it works. He later goes more in depth by explaining the sound pressure level, the movement of sound, echoes and colorations, the speed of sound, and how it is affected by your equipment. He moves on to explain the concepts of hearing threshold and hearing spectrum. Creatively, the sound of the film should help in the story telling and it should have a distinct “character” that the audience would recall. Lastly, he discusses the different playback environments and the importance of taking it into consideration when recording and mixing sound.

During our drills, we were separated into two groups and were tasked to shoot two stories (of our own composition) in two different settings: one indoors and the other outdoors. We were encouraged to be as creative with sound as possible with our scripts so that we can ask our teacher questions and tips when we want to achieve a certain scene that would affect sound recording and mixing. This exercise was made this way so that we could experience first-hand all the factors that affect live sound recording. Sir Mike, with the help of Andrew and Paul, guided us through the set up from mixer, recorder, boom microphones, and lapels. They also gave us helpful tips that would lessen delays in sound recording. As is expected, we did encounter several delays and issues in both shoots. The interior shoot took place in a very “live” room (meaning sound reverberates a lot inside), and the consistency of environmental sound was a problem. In the exterior shoot, we had problems with the crickets, dogs, cats, and cars. Nevertheless, they were both very fulfilling and we learned a lot of important lessons that can only be acquired through experience.

In our next session, we were to edit and mix the sound of our respective exercises. Sir Mike taught us the basics of Pro Tools and patiently answered our questions and guided us through editing. We were taught how to mix for multiple tracks. Sir Mike advised that a big part of creativity comes in at this post production, as this is where you will be able to manipulate the sound to define the environment and to convey the events more convincingly thus supporting the suspension of disbelief. One of the drills involved guns being shot and ricochets; this was one of the more tedious mixing jobs.

At the end of our session, most of the questions we had on the first day of our class were answered. The class had a gained a better appreciation for sound; and learned that live sound recording should never be taken for granted. It takes more than just some general know-how to be able to foresee the possible obstacles and know how to prevent them. Fortunately, we have a mentor who is a certified expert on the matter and gives due patience to his students.

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