Sound is an element that can immerse your viewer by giving them a sense of the surroundings within your story. While on location, production will often record Natural Sound, called NAT Sound for short. This audio is the naturally occurring ambient sound that is present around the area when recording footage. NAT sound may come from people talking, nearby movement, or sounds from the location’s environment.

Your camera’s microphone will record a lot of the natural sound of a location when shooting footage. However, it is beneficial to take the time to focus solely on the sound and record several minutes of NAT Sound at each new location, preferably with a separate audio recording device and high-end microphone. This will give you extra sound to work with during the edit.