This was my first time using the foley room and first time using the Zoom F4 field recorder, AKG C414 stereo condenser and Sennheiser 416 shotgun mics. My aim was to test out each mic, find out each mic’s strengths and weaknesses, and to work out the most optimal way of using each of them. I didn’t have any preconceived ideas before entering the room so I treated this as a practice session.

Reflection

I think my time spent in the foley room went relatively well considering it being the first time using the equipment. For the recordings I added a high pass filter on the Zoom F4 to filter out the rumble coming from adjacent rooms as suggested by Rory. I also added a limiter to make the sound more uniform. When it came to recording sounds I used the C414s for more atmospheric sounds and sounds often heard from a distance like footsteps. The shotgun mic was used for sounds I would imagine sounding closer to the fore like flipping through a folder or striking a metal bowl.

In past field recordings I’ve done I’ve struggled to remove noise and hiss from the recordings so a positive from this session is the recordings had low noise. On the other hand, there were a couple things I can learn from. Many of the recordings are very quiet as I kept the gain low for fear of introducing noise into the recording. Granted, this was because Rory told me that the zoom F4 has a noisy mixer but nonetheless next time I will turn the gain up slightly more. Furthermore, when using the contact mic on objects close up I feel I should place the mic further back then I did. When listening back to the recording of cassette tape being scrunched it felt like the sound was insanely close. I don’t think this is something I am looking for when recording sounds up close like this. I don’t think I will use any of the sounds I recorded in my audio paper but this has helped me come closer to achieving the recordings to the level I want in the future.