Tips: Car Rig Advice at DVinfo.net

David Peterson · May 28th, 2018, 11:35 PM

I've done several videos very recently about doing car rigs:

Ideally I'd suggest you put a lav on each person, plus a Sanken CUB-01 (or similar) on the underside of the roof (or other good spots, for instance for people in the rear seats then the back of the headrests at the front is a good place. It all depends on the car itself, and the planned camera angles).
Then you have the question of how to record these mics?

If the car rig is in a studio, then you've got no problem with range whatsoever (for example this video was from a studio shoot of a car rigged up, and I could just permanently set myself up in the corner like this for the whole entire day:

).

However if the car is driving around on roads it becomes a little trickier. If you have space in the car (not the boot! A proper seat with a seatbelt) for you then this is ideal. But unfortunately space is often at a premium, and sound can once again be a low priority. Thus my usual approach would be to leave a recorder in the car, and then if there is a chase car you can send a wireless feed out of your record to you monitoring in the chase car to at least keep a rough idea of what is going on inside the car and have a chance at spotting any issues you may hear.

Oh, and if the car is not in a studio but driving out on the road then it is *VERY* important to have all the windows wound up! Not lowered down at all. Now of course others on the shoot might have a different view on this.... but you should at least try hard to negotiate for this point. As keeping the windows up will reduce both the ambient background noise and possible wind noise as well.

May 28th, 2018, 11:35 PM	#1
David Peterson Major Player Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Auckland, New Zealand Posts: 361	Tips: Car Rig Advice I've done several videos very recently about doing car rigs: vlog #30: sound for a car shoot - YouTube vlog #31: another day, another car rig! - YouTube vlog #37: another day, another car rig, for NZ's 48HOURS Film Festival - YouTube Ideally I'd suggest you put a lav on each person, plus a Sanken CUB-01 (or similar) on the underside of the roof (or other good spots, for instance for people in the rear seats then the back of the headrests at the front is a good place. It all depends on the car itself, and the planned camera angles). Then you have the question of how to record these mics? If the car rig is in a studio, then you've got no problem with range whatsoever (for example this video was from a studio shoot of a car rigged up, and I could just permanently set myself up in the corner like this for the whole entire day: YouTube (Short URL) ). However if the car is driving around on roads it becomes a little trickier. If you have space in the car (not the boot! A proper seat with a seatbelt) for you then this is ideal. But unfortunately space is often at a premium, and sound can once again be a low priority. Thus my usual approach would be to leave a recorder in the car, and then if there is a chase car you can send a wireless feed out of your record to you monitoring in the chase car to at least keep a rough idea of what is going on inside the car and have a chance at spotting any issues you may hear. Oh, and if the car is not in a studio but driving out on the road then it is VERY important to have all the windows wound up! Not lowered down at all. Now of course others on the shoot might have a different view on this.... but you should at least try hard to negotiate for this point. As keeping the windows up will reduce both the ambient background noise and possible wind noise as well. __________________ http://IronFilm.co.nz/Sound/ (Location Sound Recordist based in New Zealand) http://www.YouTube.com/c/SoundSpeeding