Without a doubt, quality sound tracks separate the amateurs from the professionals. I can't tell you how many independent movies I've seen plagued with bad sound. Though expensive, high quality boom mikes are the basic standard for any production, I've had great success with lavaliere mikes. Those are the dinky mikes that talk show people have clipped to their collar. You can hang them from the ceiling or conceal them in a bush or in the middle of a table. They are cheap and they work great.

Going wireless is a great option, and for less than $500 bucks, Sennheiser makes a killer unit with about a hundred yard range called an EW112P-G2.

Regardless of what you use for sound, there are a few things you can do to help improve the overall sound track...

Tip #1 - Hold your boom mike as close as you can to the subject without getting it in the shot.

Tip #2 - Keep lavaliere mikes off the body and within three feet of the vocal subjects.

Tip #3 - It's good to record a couple of minutes of ambient sound (background noise) from each scene. This will be used later in post production.

Tip #4 - After your final take, it doesn't hurt to run through the scene with silent vocals. Boom your mike a few feet from the ambient sound effects; footsteps, door closing, etc.

Tip #5 - Record and monitor your sound carefully through a good quality set of headphones and a sound mixer if possible.

Tip #6 - For God’s sake, make sure that you’ve “trial recorded” ahead of time. Don’t wait to get out on the set to find out that something is wrong with the settings. Seems obvious, I know, but I’ve seen it happen more than once.