Recording fireworks

[bennychico11]

I've got a gig coming up to record a bunch of individual consumer fireworks for a national firework company (we're recording both video and audio). The client didn't like how the audio turned out last time from the previous video company (I think they just used the camera mic)


Right now I've got a Sennheiser 416, Sennheiser 816, stereo pair of small condensers, Tube mic, SM57, and a large diaphram condenser to work with. Of course, I'd be willing to rent a mic if need be (I'd love to get a Neumann KU-100 binaural head, but we'll see about that).

At first thought I was wanting to capture the sound of lift off and explosion with the shotguns...and then ambience with a stereo mic setup. However, the location we're shooting at might hinder my ability to do so. I'd like to bring my DAW so I can multitrack, but if we're not near a power source I may have to rely on the portable stereo mixer and recording to camera (two channels).

Anyone have any experience with recording fireworks? I'm just hoping for a nice, QUIET, wind-free night outside.

[Richard Monroe]

Just buy a decant automotive 12v power supply with a power invertor. Keep it away from the mics because they have fans. They're about $80. That'll give you all the power your DAW wants.-Richie

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=96157

[bennychico11]

Thanks for that...i'll keep that in mind.
Any ideas on mic technique?

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Hey Benny!

I've never tried recording fireworks *audio*, so this is all just speculating out loud on my part, but maybe it'll jog a few ideas or conversations...

OHs are probably out of the question .

First I'd do what I could to isolate the direct sound and reduce reflected/delayed sounds (with one possible exception, coming up) via the use of cardioid or hyper-cardioid mics to get the direct sound, positioning the recording location to minimize reflections from local structures, and possibly even a little baffling to block such reflections, if need be. Of course that stuff could also be addressed with level automation in post, but the "cleaner' the tracking in that regard, the less work for you back in the suite

A possible exception to that is the idea that a lot of low frequency can come from the reflections, often more than you get from the arial itself, so if you're multi-tracking you might even position a nice LF mic (e.g. EV RE20 or even a Sennheiser e602) to *purposely* grab the reflection and then time-align it in post (just a theory on my part, I have no idea if that'll actually work that well or not.)

As far as the direct, I'd probably be tempted to layer mics to maximize frequency response if I'm not using the reflection trick above. Perhaps start with a typical AT or Rode shotgun or hypercardioid video mic just to help ensure a solid core signal, and then augment that with a more bass-responsive mic as mentioned above, but grabbing the direct impulse and not a first reflection. I'd imagine that the better and tighter the bass impulse, the more impressive and realistic the firework will seem on playback. Mix to taste.

As far as the HF "sizzle", especially for those arials with the secondary hissing sparklers, I guess that depends a lot of the quality of HF out of your shotgun. Perhaps that could be augmented with a nice SDC if you really wanted to chase that stuff, and mix to taste. If you only have two tracks to work with, I'd probably be more concerned with using the second channel to get the LF boom rather than the sizzle detail, which maybe could be augmented with post EQ instead.

I don't think I'd record stereo; I'd probably grab the best I could mono and layer mono, and if need be, maybe add just a taste of stereo reverb if the mono just sounds too dry, but I'd wait until I got to that point to make my decision.

YMMV, etc.; this is all untested theory on my part. But if tasked with this job, that would probably be my starting plan. Of course, if there is *any* opportunity to test on another display before your client shoot comes up, I'd grab that just as an opportunity to experiment and practice.

G.

[bennychico11]

thanks Glen. I'll add that to my thoughts.
Hopefully we'll be having a pre-production discussion with the client here this week and I can get a better handle on what exactly they're wanting, where we will be shooting, etc.

[noisewreck]

I would think capturing their sound from far away and getting all the ambience would be the best way to go. That's how most of us hear them anyway. Just my $0.02

[bennychico11]

Originally Posted by noisewreck

I would think capturing their sound from far away and getting all the ambience would be the best way to go. That's how most of us hear them anyway. Just my $0.02

well, again these are probably going to be consumer fireworks...not the big ones you see at the state fair on 4th of July. Ones you can stand five feet from and watch them blow up.

[Micter]

I would say a stereo XY pair of SDC's to start and see if you need some more bottom end. If so add another mic a la RE20 or SM7. My gut feeling is a pair of SDC's will do it.

[TimOBrien]

Easier: Cheat.

Get some sampled fireworks sounds (lots on the web).
Boost the bass if you have to...to get the big rumbles.

Then sweeten the audio wherever you need to by adding your canned booms.

(this is the kind of creative cheating they use in video/movie post-production.... you dont think the Terminator or Batman movie explosions sound that way on the set do you???)

[bennychico11]

Originally Posted by TimOBrien

Easier: Cheat.

Get some sampled fireworks sounds (lots on the web).
Boost the bass if you have to...to get the big rumbles.

Then sweeten the audio wherever you need to by adding your canned booms.

(this is the kind of creative cheating they use in video/movie post-production.... you dont think the Terminator or Batman movie explosions sound that way on the set do you???)

hahah, wish I could and is normally something I would do for something like a movie, but again...these are for a big national company. I think they will be using it for selling to vendors. They'll know how their fireworks are supposed to sound My guess is it's for their latest line of fireworks coming out. They're wanting to show exactly how those fireworks are going to sound so that the actual purchased product is like how they heard it on the DVD.

[Bobby Darko]

buy yourself a zoom h2, great little field recorder that will come in use on many occasions, always take a mic stand with you...