Boom Pole & Positioning

- RODE BOOM POLE BREAKDOWN -

The boom pole is known to not be so ergonomically friendly; the position you hold it in may be bad for your spine. It is always a good idea to hold the boom pole in a comfortable position as chances are you will be recording sound for a long time and you need to maintain the position of that you will be in for a long time too.

In terms of distance, the boom should be as close to the chest or face as possible. This is obviously affected by the shot type that is chosen in cinematography. Therefore, as stated before, ask if you are in frame; if you can go closer, then get closer; ultimately get as close as possible until the DOP says you cannot.

Holding your hands above your head with the boom pole is usually a much better choice than holding the boom pole below your chest; is more ergonomically friendly and will still capture the sound to an optimum. Additionally, if a behind the scenes crew comes in and begins filming you, holding your hands above your head is a more professional and enthusiastic posture as opposed to below your chest and you will not look like a foolish crew member in the behind the scenes.

The best place to point the microphone is at someones throat. It is a common misconception that all of the sound comes from the mouth, which it does but some of it comes from your chest too and therefore the boom should be as close to the throat as possible as this is the in between of both.

PISTOL GRIP (fig 1)

A practical grip used on film and digital cameras to reduce camera shake. 'it adds security when filming. It's also used on a boom pole with the cable running through the handle assembly to minimise any handling noise or clutter. Additional cable security is provided on either side of the rubber shock mount.

SOFTIE (fig 2)

A softie is used when recording audio outdoors. It does much to reduce wind noise, and prevent unwanted thumps and pops from being recorded by your microphone.

THE DEAD CAT WINDSHIELD (fig 3)

Designed for minimising any wind noise when recording in high wind conditions. Its artificial fur is specially designed so as to minimise wind noise while remaining acoustically transparent. Its compatible with the Rode WSVM windshield which provides additional protection for the microphone capsule against any wind noise or plosives.

The WSVM windshield (fig 4)

provides additional protection for the microphone capsule against any wind noise or plosives. It works well with the dead cat.

BLIMP (fig 5)

A fibreglass housing used to encase a noisy camera to make it suitable for sync sound filming. Blimped Camera or Self-Blimped Camera – The term is used not to mean a camera in a blimp, but a camera that is designed with internal soundproofing without the need for an external blimp.

CRADLE MOUNT (fig 6)

is for holding a boom pole when recording dialog with stationary talent in various environments. It can be used by audio and sound engineers for applications such as broadcast TV, film, voice-overs, interviews, and more.

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XLR Cable

A lead made up of cables - more durable and secure. The XLR connector is a style of electrical connector, primarily found on professional audio, video, and stage lighting equipment.

The connectors are circular in design and have between 3 and 7 pins. They are most commonly associated with balanced audio interconnection, including AES3 digital audio, but are also used for lighting control, low-voltage power supplies, and other applications.

It has the a tube which enables sound to enter the diaphragm of the microphone. However, air slit on the side accept additional sound.

When the cable its plugged into the recorder it does have some health an safety issues - film crew may trip over the cable. Therefore to avoid this issue you must wrap the cable around the pole a few times.

During the recording process some issues which may come about are seagulls or the ocean which will disrupt the background noise. There are several ways you can overcome this issue; one of them is to make sure you're pointing the microphone away from your unwanted background noise source so that way less of this will be picked up. One thing that may become an issue is if the sun creates a shadow that appear within the shot and this will annoy the Director of Photography and they will get frustrated. To solve this you should always check with the director of photography to make sure that the director of photography is okay with how the scene looks and if the boom pole has any interference.

Furthermore, when working around a camera its best to stand next to it to avoid interference within the shot. As the lens in a camera resembles the shape of a large cone you'll be out if the shot. There's nothing worse than capturing a beautiful shot and it being ruined by the sight of a softie in the corner of the frame. A way in which you could also avoid such a problem if to keep quality communication with the camera operator so they too can indicate to you wether you are interfering a shot or not.

The way in which you stand when holding the mic can also be of importance. At times a scene may go on for long periods of time so if held in a poor position it could cause damage to posture and spine in the long run. Safety first. Make sure you stand in a comfortable position preferably sideways on, many prefer to hold the pole above their heads . This will also make you appear more professional on the job.

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