01
Why should you record room tone on location?
Because every room has its own background sound, and the editor needs a clean sample of it. Before or after the interview, ask everyone to stay still and silent and record about ten seconds of the empty room with the same microphones in the same positions. That recording lets the editor fill gaps between cuts with matching background sound instead of dead silence, which the ear notices immediately as a jump.
Room tone also gives noise-reduction tools a reference: they can learn the hum of an air conditioner or a refrigerator and remove it from the dialogue more cleanly than when they have to guess. Record a fresh sample whenever something in the room changes, such as a fan switched on or a window opened. On location, see the clinic example in Healthy Smile Miami, where Esteban recorded video and sound, and the Healthy Smile case study.
02
How should audio files be organised before they go to the editor?
Keep every audio file exactly as the recorder made it, in a folder per recorder or per microphone, and never rename them in a way that removes the original name; that name and its timestamp are how an editor syncs sound to picture. If the recorder writes a separate file per channel, send all of them, even the ones that seem silent.
Add a simple note: which microphone was on which person, which recorder matches which camera, and any take where something went wrong, such as a dropped signal or a loud noise. A clap at the start of each take, visible on camera and audible on every recorder, makes syncing fast and reliable. Send music and voice-over as separate files rather than mixed into the video, at the highest quality you have, so the editor can balance levels instead of working around them.
