field_audio_recording v1.0.0

name: field_audio_recording description: Plan and execute clean location audio for video shoots: lav vs boom mic choice, recorder selection, lav placement, wind and noise handling, gain staging, and sync in post. Triggers on requests about field recording, location sound, dialogue recording, booming, lavalier mics, or audio-for-video workflows.

Purpose

Get usable dialogue out of a shoot, not just usable picture. The most common way a shoot fails is audio nobody can fix later. This skill covers the whole chain: choosing the mic, placing it, recording it on the right device, and syncing it in the edit.

Workflow

1. Choose the mic for the shot, not for the gear bag

• Boom (shotgun) first for dialogue, whenever the frame allows it. A well-placed boom beats a lavalier on sound quality: full-size diaphragm, natural room tone, no clothing rustle, consistent perspective with the camera. Outdoors, the shotgun's narrow pattern isolates dialogue from surrounding noise.
• Indoors, reach for a supercardioid or hypercardioid, not a long shotgun. Long shotgun interference tubes bring out early reflections and comb filtering in reflective rooms.
• Use lavs when the boom can't be there: wide shots where the frame won't let a boom stay out, moving talent, multi-person scenes with an unmanned boom, or ENG where talent moves through a crowd. Record the boom from a distance anyway when you can: it gives post an option and sells perspective.
• Match boom distance to camera perspective. Close camera POV gets a close boom; wide camera POV gets a pulled-back boom. Audio that doesn't match the frame feels wrong to viewers even when the levels are clean.
• For high-noise reporting environments (red carpets, trade shows), a handheld dynamic mic isolates speech best.

2. Place the lavalier right

• Default position: second shirt button down, roughly 10–20 cm (6–8 inches) below the chin. Point the capsule straight up toward the mouth. Keep a clear, unobstructed path to the mouth.
• Mount on the outermost layer of clothing. Layers under the mic create separation problems and rustle. Use the clip, tape, or pins so the mic doesn't move.
• Relieve cable tension with a small loop of cable taped just below the mic. A taut cable turns every tug into a boom.
• Don't hide the lav unless the shot demands it. Hiding under clothing muffles the sound and kills speech intelligibility (per DPA's Bo Brinck: "if you don't have to, don't hide the mic"). When you must hide: sternum or hairline placement, Rycote Overcovers or a tiny dead cat for rustle, medical tape to skin.
• Keep a spare lav in the kit. Sweat, makeup, and cable pulls kill them; a dead lav mid-shoot with no backup is a lost scene.

3. Pick and set the recorder

• Record WAV, 48 kHz, 24-bit as the baseline for video work. 48 kHz matches video standards; 16-bit is acceptable for simple runs, 24-bit gives safer headroom.
• Set dialogue peaks between -12 dB and -6 dB on the recorder's meters. Never let peaks touch 0 dBFS (digital clipping is unfixable). The quieter end of that range is safer with 24-bit.
• 32-bit float is clip insurance, not a license to ignore levels. Recorders like the Zoom F3/F6, Tascam DR-40XP, and Sound Devices MixPre II series record 32-bit float, so overloading becomes recoverable in post. Still monitor: a great waveform at bad gain on the capsule side still sounds bad.
• Monitor on headphones at all times, and record a backup. Two-mic setups (lav + boom) are cheap insurance; a dead battery or rustled lav shouldn't end the take. Start recording before the camera rolls and stop after it stops; leave a head and tail of room tone for post.
• Recorder classes, roughly: handhelds (Zoom H5/H6, Tascam DR-40X/DR-40XP) for one-person crews; compact 32-bit float boxes (Zoom F3) for minimal two-mic rigs; pro mixer-recorders (Sound Devices MixPre II series) for multi-mic location sound with internal timecode. See references/recorder-quick-reference.md for the comparison.

4. Kill wind and noise before they hit the diaphragm

• Foam windscreen: indoor/light breeze. Cheap, convenient, fine for slight air movement.
• Furry windjammer ("dead cat"): outdoors. Dense synthetic fur diffuses wind energy before it reaches the capsule and cuts the low-frequency rumble wind creates, without noticeably dulling the voice.
• Basket windshield + fur cover: serious wind. The basket acts as a pressure chamber that cancels low-frequency wind rumble especially well on directional mics. Do not stuff foam inside the basket: foam disrupts the pressure chamber and can make wind noise worse while dulling highs.
• Wind handling is a ladder, not a menu: no wind = bare or foam, breeze = foam or jammer, gusty = jammer, serious wind = basket + fur. Stepping down too far (bare mic in a breeze) is the most common field audio mistake.
• Scout for noise, not just picture. Listen on headphones at the location before the first take: air conditioners, refrigerators, traffic, fluorescent buzz. Turn off or move what you can; reposition the mic away from what you can't.

5. Give post a sync point every take

• Slate every take. A clapperboard (or a slate app like MovieSlate) gives a visible frame and an audible transient for sync. If you have no slate, a sharp hand clap on camera near the mic works: three evenly spaced claps beat one, since a single clap doesn't always read clearly.
• Always record in-camera scratch audio, even when it's the camera's bad internal mic. It's the waveform reference that makes auto-sync work.
• Sync methods, in order of preference:

1. Shared timecode: jam-sync the recorder, camera(s), and slate to the same code. Broadcast WAV files carry embedded timecode; editors merge on it.
2. Waveform auto-sync: DaVinci Resolve's built-in sync, Premiere's merge, or PluralEyes. All match the scratch track's waveform to the recorder's. Needs similar audio on both; works for multicam too.
3. Manual clap: line up the clap's transient spike on both tracks. Slow but bulletproof.

• Match frame rates and timecode types (drop-frame vs non-drop-frame) across camera and recorder before the shoot, or timecode sync drifts.

Output Contract

When someone asks for a field audio plan, deliver: (a) mic choice per shot type with reasons, (b) lav placement notes where relevant, (c) recorder settings (format, sample rate, bit depth, target levels), (d) wind protection per shooting condition, (e) sync method and slate procedure. Concrete settings, not vague encouragement.

Operating Rules

1. Every factual claim about gear specs, prices, or model comparisons must come from a current source: check the manufacturer's page before naming a spec. Do not quote specs from memory.
2. Never promise a number you can't back: wind protection, noise floor, and battery life claims all get verified or get cut.
3. Boom-first is the default recommendation for dialogue, but never scold a one-person crew for it: recommend lav + camera-mounted shotgun redundancy when there's no boom operator.
4. 32-bit float never excuses skipping a headphone check. Monitoring is the rule in every plan.
5. Scratch audio in camera is non-negotiable in every plan you write. It costs nothing and saves sync disasters.
6. Keep SKILL.md tight; gear tables and placement diagrams live in references/.