Sound is the half of a self-tape that actors underestimate. Viewers will put up with a slightly soft or dim picture without much complaint, but audio problems are tiring to listen through, and a casting director watching many tapes in a row will notice the one that echoes or hisses straight away. The fixes are mostly free, and nearly all of them happen before you press record.
Why self-tape sound matters so much
Casting has to hear every word clearly, at a comfortable level, without straining. They need to hear the quiet moments and the loud ones, and they need to hear you over your reader. Poor sound makes the acting harder to read, because so much of a performance lives in the voice: hesitation, breath, the drop in pitch when someone gives in.
The common problems are few, and they are worth naming. Echo, from a hard, empty room. Background noise, from fridges, traffic, fans and neighbors. Distance, from a microphone too far away. And balance, from a reader who is louder than you. Each one has a simple fix.
Choose and treat the room
The room is the biggest factor, more than the microphone. Sound bounces off hard surfaces (bare walls, tiled floors, glass, high ceilings) and comes back to the mic a fraction of a second late, which is the hollow, bathroom-ish quality that marks a home recording. Soft, irregular surfaces absorb it.
So tape in the softest room you can: a bedroom with carpet, curtains and a bed usually beats a stylish living room with wood floors. Then add more soft things just outside the frame. A rug under you and the camera. Blankets or a duvet draped over chairs or a clothes rack to the sides. Cushions and coats piled on surfaces. Even a few blankets make an audible difference. A closet full of clothes is famously good acoustically, if your frame allows you to stand in front of one.
Clap once, sharply, in the space and listen. If the clap rings on afterward, keep adding soft material. If it stops dead, you are in good shape.
Cut background noise
Before every session, go round and switch things off. Fridge, air conditioning, heating fans, dishwasher, washing machine, computer fans, anything humming. Close the windows. Put phones (other than the camera) on silent and out of the room. Ask the household for twenty minutes of quiet. Sticky notes on the fridge reminding you to turn it back on are a good habit.
Then record twenty seconds of silence and listen on headphones. You will hear things you never noticed: a distant road, a buzz from a light, a neighbor's television. Some you can fix by changing rooms or times; many cities are quieter late at night or early in the morning. The constant hums that are left can often be reduced in editing. Intermittent noises, like a dog barking or a car passing, cannot be cleaned out, so do that take again.
Which microphone to use
The phone's built-in mic. Perfectly usable when you are close to it, in a quiet, soft room. The problem is distance: at three feet it sounds fine, but if you back up to fit a wider frame or move around, it picks up more room and less of you. Make sure nothing covers the mic opening, which on many phones is at the bottom edge.
A lavalier (lapel) mic. A small mic clipped to your clothing a hand's width below your chin, with the cable or transmitter hidden under your top. Because it sits inches from your mouth, it captures much more of you and much less of the room and your reader. For most actors it is the single biggest audio upgrade, and wired models that plug directly into a phone are inexpensive. Tape it in place and check it does not rub against fabric, which makes a scratching sound.
A shotgun mic on the camera. A short directional microphone that mounts on the phone or camera and points at you. It hears what is in front of it more than what is beside or behind it, so it helps with room noise and, to a degree, with a reader standing beside the camera. It is still a few feet away, so it works best in a treated room.
A boom. A directional mic on a stand or pole, just above your head and out of frame, angled down at your mouth. This is how film sets do it and it sounds natural, but it needs a stand and some practice to keep out of shot.
Whatever you use, test it. Make sure the camera app is actually recording from the external mic you plugged in, and not the built-in one.
The reader-too-loud problem
This is the most common sound problem in self-tapes, and it happens for a simple reason. Your reader stands right beside the camera, so your eyeline is close to the lens. The microphone is in the camera. That makes the reader much closer to the mic than you are, so even at a normal speaking volume, they come out louder. On playback, the tape sounds like their audition.
Fix it at the source, in roughly this order:
- Ask the reader to read quietly. About half your volume, sometimes less. It will feel strangely soft in the room, and that is correct. They can still give real responses at a low level.
- Move the reader back slightly. Directly beside the lens and a step behind the camera keeps your eyeline in place while putting a little more distance between their mouth and the mic.
- Put the mic on you. A lavalier on you is inches from your mouth and a few feet from them, which reverses the problem.
- Point a directional mic at you. A shotgun or boom aimed at you picks up the reader less.
Listen to a test with your reader before the real takes. If they sound louder than you anywhere, adjust. More on reading quietly, and the rest of the reader's job, in how to read for someone's self-tape, and on keeping the reader close to the lens in where to look in a self-tape.
Set your levels
Level is how loud the recording is. Too low and you will have to boost it later, which brings up the room noise with it. Too high and your loudest moments distort into a harsh crackle that cannot be repaired.
Most phone camera apps set the level automatically, which is fine for a scene at a steady volume. If your scene goes from a whisper to a shout, test the loudest line first. If it distorts, move the mic slightly further from your mouth or, if your app or recorder has manual control, turn the input down. Audio people commonly aim for the loudest peaks to sit comfortably below the maximum, with headroom to spare; if you have a level meter, keep the loudest moments well out of the red.
Then perform at a level the scene calls for. Some actors project for the room out of stage habit; the mic is a few feet away and hears everything. Others drop too low in intimate scenes. A test recording tells you both.
Check, then fix what you can afterward
Always do a short test with your reader and listen back on headphones, not the phone speaker. You are listening for echo, hum, the reader's level against yours, clothing rustle on a lavalier, and any distortion on loud lines. It takes a minute and saves an evening.
After recording, some things can be improved. Steady background hiss and hum respond well to noise reduction tools, and uneven levels can be smoothed out. Overdo either, though, and the voice starts to sound watery and processed. Echo, sudden noises, distortion and an overloud reader are very hard to repair, which is why almost all of the work on this page happens before the take. For the rest of the setup, see how to make a self-tape.
More questions
Do I need an external microphone for a self-tape?
Not always. A phone's built-in mic sounds fine if you are within a few feet of it in a quiet, soft room. An external mic helps most when the room is echoey, you need to stand further back, or your reader keeps drowning you out. A wired lavalier is the usual first upgrade.
Why does my reader sound louder than me on my self-tape?
Because they are standing right beside the phone, closer to its microphone than you are. Ask them to read at about half your volume, have them stand slightly behind the camera, or put a lavalier on yourself so the mic is nearer to you than to them.
How do I reduce echo on a self-tape?
Add soft things to the room: rugs, blankets, cushions, curtains, a duvet over a chair just out of frame. Tape in a smaller furnished room, or near a closet full of clothes. Bare walls and hard floors are what make the hollow sound.
Can I fix bad self-tape audio in editing?
Partly. Steady background hiss and hum can be reduced with noise reduction, and levels can be evened out. Heavy echo, sudden noises, distortion from shouting too close, and a reader who drowns you out are very hard to repair. Fix them at the recording.
Should I wear headphones while recording a self-tape?
Not while acting, since they look odd and you need to hear your reader naturally. Use headphones to check a test recording before you start and to listen back afterward; small problems like hum and echo are much easier to hear on headphones than on a phone speaker.