As a still photographer, I spent most of my career pretty much ignoring audio. Sure, my partner and I invested in decent speakers for clients and talent to enjoy but beyond that, sound really didn’t enter the picture (no pun intended.)
Today, though, most of us need to understand enough about audio to capture decent sound ourselves, work efficiently with an audio tech on set or communicate effectively with someone who’s fixing our audio in post.
Though written primarily for those capturing live music performances, Live Audio Alchemy by Mark Edward Lewis (who I interviewed for this blog last month), contains a wealth of useful information for anyone working with live audio.
Structured as a list of troubleshooting recommendations, Live Audio Alchemy covers a wide range of practical tips and fixes like how to dampen sound in a room that’s too live, understanding the difference between overpowering low tones and not enough high ones, eliminating hums, and the role mic placement plays in capturing good audio.
To my surprise, the book also includes substantial sections on the psychology of managing yourself, your team, talent (especially divas) and clients that I found refreshingly insightful.
One of my favorites addresses fear of turning the knobs. Aimed at audio mixers who rely exclusively on faders, it’s perfect advice for photographers struggling to get comfortable with lighting, software, cold-calling or any other intimidating aspect of getting the job done:
“If you’re one of the people that are declaring that you’re afraid of the knobs, here’s what to do. Get clear about what you’re really afraid of: failure, there’s too much to learn, it’s overwhelming, what will people think, etc. I doubt it has anything to do with the knobs themselves unless as an infant you had a knob mobile that fell on you in your crib and poked your eye out. Once you figure out your fear, find a close friend. Tell them your fear about mixing. Then they are to repeat back to you exactly what you said as though it wastheir fear. Then coach them on 4 ways they could get over it, manage it, or otherwise conquer it…Here’s a silly example:
You have the fear “I can’t learn this.” You tell your friend to say to you “I can’t learn this.” Then you come up with 4 ways that they can fix that, “You learn everything, because you’re an “A” student,” “It’s really not that hard, since Sammy can do it,” “I’ve seen you conquer things 10 times as hard as this,” “think of this as the greatest opportunity for power you’ve ever had…and could win at…I know you will.” Then your friend says, “Oh, thank you for that coaching!” Then you say “No problem. Thank you.’”
After listening to Mark’s presentation during the MZed Sound Advice Tour, where I learned a ton about audio capture, post-production and his philosophy of excellence, I suppose I shouldn’t have been so surprised that his Audio Alchemy book would help you convert not just audio, but how you approach your work and relationships, into gold.