It’s not as hard as it sounds – honest.

It really isn’t all that expensive, either. Especially when you take into consideration you can take all of your files with you wherever you go, and you can access them (in color) when you need them without ever getting up from your chair.

I’m talking about creating a paperless office. Yes, I’m sure that’s blasphemy to some, but the truth is, it is one of the easiest ways to organize your office, keep your files accessible to you wherever you travel and practically eliminate the clutter associated with a communicator’s workplace.

I’m going to try and be as simplistic and nontechnical as I can be and talk in generalities rather than specifics here, but two essential items are needed to start the process: a computer and a scanner. I’m going to assume you have the first item, and I’m going to tell you about the second and some ways you can use it.

Most of us are probably already utilizing some sort of paperless office now – if we are using digital cameras and keeping digital photos on file on our computers. Your written notes from interviews, legal documents, copies of your published stories from newspapers and magazines and materials you plan to reference at some point for another column or article can all be scanned into your computer and called up for future reference whenever you need them.

There are many different models of scanners, but I suggest you purchase one with an automatic document feeder (ADF) which allows you to scan multipage documents without having to scan them a page at a time. Most manufacturers have several models with ADFs and in a variety of price ranges, usually beginning around $300. However, I have purchased several scanners for my employer off eBay and paid as little as $50 and as much as $250 (those prices include shipping charges) for scanners with retail prices of $800. Not a one of them has failed us and we saved hundreds of dollars over paying retail – something to think about.

You will want a scanner that can scan at 300 dpi. Look for a scanner that allows you to scan your photo transparencies (slides and negatives). If you are getting ready to purchase a new printer, most manufacturers have models that print, scan, copy and fax or some combination of those four actions.

Scanners aren’t necessarily large – as in large footprint. They typically are about 12 inches wide by 18 inches long and 4 to 6 inches high. They also come with the software you’ll need to operate them, and they’re easy to configure so that what you scan is saved to a specific folder on your computer. That way, you can find what you scan easily and efficiently. Obviously, you can create subfolders so that you separate various kinds of photos from documents and so forth.

Now, if you think no one else is doing this, call your CPA or accounting firm. (You do use one, don’t you? If not, why not?) Because of the mounds of paper created in an accounting office, most CPAs and accounting firms have gone or are in the process of going paperless. They had/have no choice. Filing cabinets take up too much space and eventually, the office runs out of room.

While this may not be the case with most of us, we can still get the paper off our desks and into our computers where it is easily found and easily accessed.

You can get as detailed as you like, but there is one cardinal rule to remember: Back up what you scan to your computer. Saving what you scan onto a CD daily is great; weekly is fine, too. Monthly, even quarterly works, but whatever you do, back it up.

This is a rudimentary look at taking your office from stacks of paper everywhere to a simple system that allows you to scan everything into your computer. I have lots more information about specific scanners and software programs and will be happy to answer additional questions. Just drop me an e-mail and I’ll shoot you some more information. I’ll just dig it out of the files I have scanned into my computer.

Tony Dolle is director of communications at Ducks Unlimited. His e-mail address is dolle@tds.net.

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The Art of Capturing and Using Natural Audio, Part 1 

By Dan Bertalan

 Outdoor television programs, video productions, radio programs and many interactive Web sites would be as dead as last year’s salmon run without quality, supportive natural audio. Yet despite its vital role in almost every aspect of higher-end outdoor media production today, it remains one of the most overlooked and abused aspects of making outdoor media come alive. And having a quality library of natural sounds can sometimes separate both you and your productions from the competition.

What’s nat sound?

Natural audio (nat audio) is the combination of the natural sounds that occur in an outdoor environment. It can include ambient wind noise as moving air contacts leaves, tree branches and a variety of surfaces. Nat audio commonly also contains bird sounds, insect background and intermittent animal sounds such as bugling elk or chattering squirrels. It can also include other sounds in nature such as rushing or lapping water, thunder, rain or even sleet.

Although some might consider all outside sounds as part of the “natural audio” world, the true sounds of nature are more often than not contaminated with a host of human-related sounds that degrade its essence and production value of the audio. Unless you’re recording in the wilds of the Yukon or the heart of Africa, nat audio is often degraded by passing airplanes, distant traffic, barking dogs, chain saws, gunshots, all-terrain vehicles, watercraft, construction pounding, marching bands, yelling kids, you name it.

More often than not, natural audio is captured serendipitously as part of some grander enterprise such as videotaping a television show or video production. And because it’s “background” audio to another prominent event involving people, it’s also “contaminated” with camera operator sounds and talent sounds. Yes, some of those sounds are not only unavoidable but crucial to the overall production. However, knowing how to minimize contamination from all sources and how to maximize the capturing of uncontaminated audio is the art of capturing nat audio that can boost the quality of a production and make it seamless.

Tools of the trade

Many of today’s digital cameras and recorders come with built-in mics that are designed to capture audio – at birthday parties with screaming kids. Most built-in mics are attached to the housing of the camera and are extremely vulnerable to also recording camera motor noise and camera operator-generated noise, especially if left up to the “audio brain” of the camera. True, some higher-end cameras have quality, cushioned mics designed to mitigate camera noise, but again they are at the mercy of the camera’s audio settings. To overcome some of the challenges with gear, follow these simple cures:

·    Use a quality shotgun mic instead of the built-in mic. If your shotgun mic has various settings, use the “normal” and not the “tele” or high setting. You’ll capture too much white noise and fuzzy ambience. If your camera already has a quality shotgun style mic that is somewhat segregated from the camera body, that’s fine. Just be sure you set it for the softer tones of capturing nat sound.

·    Use headphones. Most audio glitches can be attributed to not wearing headphones and assuming everything is fine with the audio that’s being recorded. Using headphones and watching your audio meter (if your camera has one or more) will allow you to adjust the manual setting on the audio to capture just the right amount of natural audio without introducing white noise. Leaving the setting on “auto” will make the camera boost the audio setting because it wants to hear something in the –20db range. Most nat audio is below that range so the camera will automatically boost the setting so high it will introduce white noise to pick up camera noise. Yes, you’ll get nat sound all right, but it will be awash with camera hum and white hiss.

·    Most shotgun mics come with a foam covering intended to muffle slight wind noise. However, the exposed foam is susceptible to moderate to gusty wind, rain drops, sleet and touching brush or grass. Good wind muffs abound or you can simply use a fuzzy foot sock to slip over the mic.

OK, so now you’ve got the right gear, how do you use it effectively?

Set the stage for quiet

Even though some camera setups take advantage of one channel of audio devoted to the wireless audio mic of the talent’s voice while the shotgun mic is dedicated to capture ambient sound, a separate, clean nat sound track is crucial in editing to make all the production cuts appear seamless using background audio. And that requires purposefully planning and capturing nat audio without distractions or contamination.

It’s unrealistic to hear a frog croaking during a bass fishing segment then tell the host or talent, “Quiet on the set, I hear a frog.” True, the frog croaking at the right times could boost the richness of the audio track but the frog really needs his own, “uncontaminated” time. Like any quality endeavor, plan ahead to capture quality natural audio. In most places, this means recording when and where human-generated noise contamination is at a minimum. Weekdays, dawn, dusk and remote all fit into the possible mix. This may mean getting up early and staying up late, but you’ll soon find your quality library of nat sounds growing by leaps and bounds. And for loons, whippoorwills, lions, owls and such, you may even try the middle of the night, or at least within the first hours of darkness.

Once you’re set up in a location with some cool nat audio occurring, minimize any camera noise by taking the shotgun mic off the camera (if the cord permits) and secure it (Velcro quickstrips) pointed in the direction of the best sounds. I use a cord that lets me secure the mic about 2 feet in front of the camera on a sapling or tree branch. Using this technique you shouldn’t get any camera noise. Setting on a flat rock or near flat water will allow those surfaces to reflect the sounds into the mic.

Now set the camera down or on a tripod to minimize any cord movement. Start recording and step back a few paces (as long as your headphones cord permits) and sit or stand perfectly still. I’ve heard lots of would-be attempts to capture cool nat audio ruined by someone trying to “quietly” handhold the camera while they swatted bugs or sniffled their nose.

Finally, let tape roll for two to three minutes per capture. Tape’s cheap stuff compared to the rare sounds of fighting elk or roaring lions. You might even make a shoot list for audio capture based on the type of production you’re doing. Here’s a simple “daily” list of possible sounds to capture for an African production:

·    Predawn ambience – crickets, cicada, lion roars, hyenas.

·    Dawn ambience – soft crickets, soft doves, sand grouse chatter.

·    Morning bird ambience – doves, oxpeckers, louder sand grouse chatter.

·    Daytime bird ambience – various mixes.

·    Wind ambience – slight breeze, moderate breeze, wind trees, wind grass, wind scrub.

·    Specific sounds – Cape buffalo grunting, elephants trumpeting, hippos bellowing, fish eagles screaming, monkeys chattering, wildebeest grunting.

·    Water-related sounds – river-water rushing sounds, close and medium range. Next to water, on riverbank.

·    Reverse the above list from midday to dusk and after.

·    Unlike most “natural” audio, native voices or songs – such as a Maasai tribal dance could also be a valuable asset to add to the list.

 So what’s the big deal with messing with all this nat audio? I had a client recently give me some HD tapes of two very intense Cape buffalo hunts that he wanted produced within an action feature production. I was shocked to find out after I took the job that three hours of the crucial buffalo hunting tapes had no audio whatsoever. Fortunately, the client was savvy about production and discovered the camera operator’s error on location and attempted to have the talent reenact some of the action. Then my challenge was to seamlessly assemble two, 6-minute real live-action hunting sequences using mostly footage with no audio. The end result was a finished production with 17 hunts where even pros couldn’t pick out which ones were missing the field audio. A few editing tricks and quality nat audio saved the day on that job and salvaged what some producers may have tossed on the editing room floor.

 Up next: Part 2 – Cleaning nat audio, then making it sing in production without stealing the show.

In the past year alone, Dan Bertalan of greatoutdoorsmultimedia.com has used his nat audio skills to help capture a Silver Telly Award in outdoor production, honorable mention at the International Wildlife Film Festival and third place in OWAA’s Big Game Hunting TV/Video competition.