Since the beginning of the 21st century, there has been a veritable sea change in the creation and playback of audio for the cinema. Part of this transformation has revolved around access \u2014 nearly anyone now has access to professional quality sound recording and mixing tools on the production end. On the presentation end, nearly all venues provide super-high-fidelity surround sound audio and even ordinary people are equipping their home theater units with surround sound audio. What this means for the filmmaker is that the audience can hear everything vividly! Yay! Everyone can hear all the subtleties you included in your complex sound design, BUT it also means that any audio imperfections and deficiencies are also glaringly apparent. So, no matter what our budget or level of production, we all must produce highly polished audio to accompany our carefully composed and exposed images. The first, and most important, step to this end is to gather the best possible sound in the field during production. Unfortunately, sound is often a blind spot for many filmmakers, especially those just starting out. All too often with inexperienced filmmakers, a lot of time, money, and preparation goes into the production of the images, but they begin to think seriously about sound only after they hear and try to work with the terrible audio they got during production. The production sound team \u2014 those people who record sound in the field \u2014 are the unsung heroes of the film world. When they do their job perfectly, no one notices them; when the sound is bad, they are cursed. Good sound people are invaluable, and smart film-makers understand that getting good sound in production means a stronger sound design in postproduction, more creative options in editing, and saving time and money. This is why good sound people work a lot and why I\u2019ve devoted two chapters to the craft of sound recording in the field, it\u2019s that important. A filmmaker must respect sound as much as image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/cdn-staging.routledgelearning.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/assets\/sites\/26\/figure-15-3.jpg\")