This is the essence of what is to me one of the most unique writing styles I've ever read. Even when the narrator isn't specifically identified, it clearly belongs in that place telling that story.
You're recording an interview with one of the greatest writers of the last century and you can't even get the g**damn mic right? There is absolutely ZERO excuse for this sound quality! NONE WHATSOEVER!
I usually would say the same, that there is no excuse for bad sound… However I’ve done sound for all kinds of filming situations, I think there are many things at play here. It might be that Elmore didn’t want to wear a proper microphone so the stage manager may have scrambled at the last minute to get a mediocre microphone on a stand. The microphone was set up too far from Elmore so they had to turn the volume up high on it to hear his voice. Keep in mind that his microphone was intended for people in the audience to hear him well, it wasn’t set up for a high-quality, broadcast quality recording. The same can be said about the video on this, clearly they are not going to win any film festival award for this production, I don’t think that was the point. Si The mic’ing for the audience in a big lecture hall might be why you hear some echo & feedback. They also may have changed venues on very short notice which happens often especially at universities, film festivals, book festivals, and other events. It could be a very echoey room. It also may have just been a very cheap tape recorder or digital dictation audio source for this video you’re seeing. Try to keep in mind that the person doing audio for the event might be majoring in sports and minoring in theater arts. They have not been trained as a sound person and, hard to believe… That person in charge of the sound may have never heard of Elmore Leonard, therefore they don’t realize they are doing the microphone for a legend. They might do the sound for 15 or 20 lectures per week, so the sound person is just doing the basic job requested of them. I agree the sound is terrible but I’m thankful that this interview was recorded at all. We can’t always get the perfect master recording, it’s often times difficult to patch into the venue’s PA system to get a direct feed for recording the best audio possible. Those are just a few excuses, no excuses acceptable... But at least it’s worth considering all of the many challenges and curveballs that are thrown at sound tech people (both professional & amateur).
@@HunterMann I'm a sound and recording engineer. I've done everything from studio work to broadcast television of spoken word, live sports, in every conceivable venue to include industrial settings. I guess that's why I find the quality here so substandard. In hindsight, I would say it was lack of coordination with experienced audio/video techs. Understanding the equipment and the environment come from experience.
