Clean Sound and Simple Light for Interviews on Location

Start with your ears, not the camera

Most people arrive on location and reach for the camera first. Sound deserves the first few minutes instead. Before you unpack anything, stand where the interview will happen and simply listen. Is there a fridge humming in the next room, traffic building on the main road, a ventilation unit cycling on and off, a school playground close by? Viewers forgive a slightly soft picture far sooner than they forgive speech they have to strain to follow.

In our Audio and Lighting for Location sessions we ask people to close their eyes for thirty seconds at the chosen spot and write down every sound they can name. The list is usually longer than they expect. Then we decide which sounds can be removed, which can be moved away from, and which simply have to be lived with. That short habit saves more reshoots than any piece of equipment.

• Listen for thirty seconds before setting up anything
• Switch off fridges, fans and music where you are allowed to
• Note sounds that will change, such as buses or bells

Choosing a position and a microphone

Distance is the biggest factor in how clean a voice sounds. A microphone close to the speaker's mouth picks up speech strongly and the room only faintly. A microphone far away does the opposite, and no later fix will bring the voice back from a room full of echo. For a seated interview, a lavalier clipped to the chest or a handheld held just below the chin both work well, provided the speaker stays within a hand's width of it.

A shotgun on a boom is excellent when the guest should look free and uncluttered, but it needs an operator who can hold it steady, just out of frame and pointed at the mouth. Whichever you choose, pick a spot with soft furnishings behind you. Bare walls, glass and tiled floors bounce sound around and make even a good microphone sound hollow.

• Keep the microphone about a hand's width from the mouth
• Pick rooms with curtains, sofas or bookshelves
• Avoid corridors, kitchens and glass-walled offices

Check levels and wear headphones throughout

Setting a level is not a one-off task. Ask your guest to say what they had for breakfast, in their normal speaking voice, and watch the meter while you listen on headphones. You want the loudest words to peak comfortably below the top of the scale, leaving room for the moment they laugh or lean in. Peaking too high produces distortion that cannot be repaired, while a very low level brings up hiss once it is raised later.

Keep the headphones on for the whole interview, not only during the test. Radio microphones can pick up interference halfway through, a cable can brush against a jacket, and a guest can turn their head and drift off the microphone. These problems are invisible on the monitor and obvious in the ears. Record ten seconds of room tone at the end as well, since editors use it to smooth over joins.

• Test with natural speech, not a loud count to ten
• Leave headroom for laughter and emphasis
• Record ten seconds of silence in the same room

A simple lighting set-up that works almost anywhere

You do not need a van full of lamps. One good light, placed well, will beat three badly placed ones. Begin by finding a window and seating the guest so the daylight falls across the face from the side, rather than shining from behind them. A window behind the subject turns them into a silhouette and forces the camera to choose between a dark face and a blown-out background.

If the daylight is patchy or fades through the afternoon, bring in a single soft portable light on the opposite side of the camera from the window, set low in brightness to fill the shadows gently. Place it slightly above eye level and angled down. Keep the light a little further away than feels natural, because distance makes the edge of the shadow softer and the skin tone more forgiving.

• Use a window as your main light and place it to the side
• Avoid sitting a guest directly in front of a window
• Add one soft fill light on the shadow side only

Standups: wind, sun and where the reporter stands

A standup outdoors asks the same questions at speed. Turn the reporter so the sun lights their face, or if the sun is harsh and high, move them into open shade and expose for their skin rather than the sky. In bright conditions a small reflector held by a colleague lifts the shadows under the eyes and brow without any power at all.

Wind is the enemy of audio outdoors. Fit a proper furry windshield over the microphone, not just the foam cover, and position the reporter so their body shields the microphone from the strongest gusts where possible. If you are using a handheld microphone, keep it clear of the face but close enough to stay level. Listen for popping and rumble before you start recording, and check the background for passing sirens or building noise.

• Light the face from the sun side, or move into even shade
• Fit a furry windshield, not only a foam cover
• Use a reflector to soften shadows under the eyes

A short checklist before you press record

Once you have a routine, the whole set-up takes about fifteen minutes. Walk the space and listen, choose the position, fix the microphone, set the level with headphones, then place your light and check the picture. Only then bring the guest into the chair. Having everything ready means you can give them your full attention, and a relaxed guest is also a clearer, more natural one on tape.

Run through the same order every time, even on a quiet job with a familiar crew, so that nothing is skipped when the schedule is tight. At the end, play back a few seconds of the recording on headphones before anyone packs up. That single check catches dead batteries, muted channels and stray hum while there is still time to fix them on the spot.