Self-Tape Sound

Bad audio ends a tape earlier than bad picture does, because a reader can skim past a soft image but cannot skim past dialogue they have to strain for. Two things fix most home audio: get the microphone closer to you, and get the reflections out of the room. Soft furnishings, a bed, curtains and clothes all absorb echo; bare walls and hard floors create it.

• Record in the softest room you have, not the biggest.
• Close the windows and switch off the fridge-adjacent noise you have stopped hearing.
• Play back the first ten seconds with headphones before you shoot the whole scene.