Sound Effects have to come from somewhere. So in order to capture the finest and most usable sounds, you have to have great equipment and knowledge of how you do it! Needless to say, experience is also a key factor in acquiring sound effects.

This page is devoted to these facts. Happy reading!

Field Recording tips and tricks:

Recording Jets:

Jet bys are as loud as anything you're likely to encounter when recording sfx. The "pass bys" themselves will be extremely short in duration, about one second, with very long approaches and aways. To get an idea of how loud they'll be, scream as loud as you can into your mic from a distance of a foot or so.

I'd recommend bringing some dynamic mics and plenty (at least 25dB per channel) of electrical padding. Be sure the pads are before the pre-amp. Don't worry about recording a "stereo" by. You, or anybody else who uses the recording, will wind up panning it anyway in the mix. Two channels is fine, but don't think you have to position the mics so that the jet approaches on the left and departs on the right. That's fine if it happens, but don't think you've failed if it doesn't.

Many of the jet bys will sound distorted even before you record them. Nothing you can do about that. The moment of the actual "by" will be at least thirty decibels louder than the points in time two seconds before and after the "by." Sometimes it can be useful to ride gain, or even use a limiter. Jet bys tend to sound better recorded on a good analog machine, partly because the tape saturation acts as a limiter.

Bring hearing protection. And keep your mouth closed as the jet goes by. Even if you're wearing earplugs, you can get hearing damage from sound entering your mouth and going to your ear through the nasal cavity. 

Though if you do have some dynamic mics. Bring them along too. Try them for some of the stuff and play back samples while you're waiting for the plane to turn around. Even if you miss a by or two doing this it's better than having everything come out unusable. My experience with dynamics is that they can handle the really loud part well but they're not sensitive enough to get all the great detail on the ins and outs. I'd rather ride the gain up and down on the peak of the by but be careful not to make it too obvious. This takes some practice. Don't use the limiter on your DAT machine.

You'll have to play with positioning, You'd be amazed how far from something that loud you can be and still get a great recording. A lot of people think you have to be right on top of jet or at the exit of a gun barrel to get good results. It's not the case. I have found with airplane recordings that, off to one side will give you good results and it's easier to pan then one flying directly over your head. Don't think camera angles, what looks cool may not sound as good. Just close your eyes and listen through your headphones and don't be afraid to move to another spot, if you don't like what you hear.

If you are making a big day out of it take someone else along to man a second rig that way at least one of you is likely to get some usable stuff.

Or if you have some budget, get a few rigs and fill them with batteries and 2 hour DAT tapes and let them roll with different mics and positions. Then you can listen critically when you get back and decide what worked best for next time. Make sure you voice slate the set ups before you walk away. Tape stock is cheap, trial and error is a great teacher.

Resources:

Location Recording Equipment:

Location recording cases and accessories: Porta Brace
Sanken CSS-5 Stereo (Wide/Normal) Mono Switchable Shotgun Microphone
Audio Technica 835-ST Stereo Shotgun Microphone
Boom poles: K-Tek Boom Poles
Sound Devices Location Recorders
Microphone mounts and wind screens: Rycote Microphone Windshields
DAT/MD/CDR Recorders: HHB Communications USA
Location Sound - Pro Audio Equipment
Coffey Sound - Pro Audio Equipment
Trew Audio - Audio Equipment for Film
Full Compass - Pro-Audio Dealer
Sound Speed Movie Database: The site for production sound.