Audio — Field Card

1. Set gain at the source.Mic-side gain or pad first — fix loud where it enters, not downstream.
2. Rec Level to peak −12 on the loudest thing they'll say.Have them count off at real volume, not polite volume.
3. Then leave it.Riding levels mid-take makes edits impossible. Headroom is the plan.

Halving mic distance is worth more than any post plugin — get the capsule close before touching a dial. The MI shoe is digital: no cable, no preamp hiss, one less failure point.

• Fur on everything. Foam beats nothing, a deadcat beats foam, a blimp beats weather. The GoPro capsules get foam too.
• Low-cut at 80–120 Hz. Rumble you filter at capture never has to be fixed at all.
• Block it physically — your body, a pack, a boulder. Mic on the leeward side of you.
• Lav under one thin layer, taped in a broadcast loop, kills both wind and rustle.
• If you can hear it in the cans, it's already ruined. Wind distortion doesn't clean up — reframe, reblock, or wait.

• Run CH3/4 at −12 to −20 dB below CH1/2 with a 4-channel MI-shoe mic or XLR adapter. When the subject laughs into a clip, the quiet copy saves the take.
• It's free insurance — costs nothing to record, saves reshoots you can't do on a mountain.
• No 4ch rig? Set base levels more conservative and let post lift — noise floor is recoverable, clipping is not.
• CHECK 4CH MONITORING ON PLAYBACK — CONFIRM ALL FOUR ARE ALIVE ONCE PER SHOOT

• 30–60 s of tone at every location. Stand still, arm up, say "room tone," shut up. It patches every edit seam later.
• Hunt wild sound on purpose: footsteps on this trail, the stove, zips, water, wind through these trees. That's the channel's sound library compounding.
• Slow-mo has no sound — S&Q records none — so bank the real-time audio of the same action to lay underneath.
• Sound tells the audience where they are before the picture does. Treat ambience as a shot on the list, not an accident.

• Headphones on the first take of every setup, spot-checks after. Meters catch levels; only ears catch hum, handling, rustle, and the airplane.
• Watch meters, not vibes. Loud environments make you record hot; trust −12.
• Deliver −14 LUFS integrated, −1 dBTP true peak — the YouTube norm. Louder just gets turned down for you.
• Music bed sits 15–20 dB under dialogue, ambience below that. Duck with automation, not a compressor squashing everything.