Found out the hard way that fake books can mess up your audio

I was on a shoot last month where we used those hollow plastic 'book' props for a library scene. The director kept asking why the dialogue sounded weird and echoey in the room. Turns out, a stack of those empty props was acting like a little echo chamber right under the actor's desk. We moved them out and the sound guy said it was like a 40% difference in clarity. I've seen this happen on two other low-budget sets now. Has anyone else run into props causing sound issues, and what did you swap them out for?

2 comments

2 Comments

hernandez.ben15h ago

Oh man, that's actually a super common trap. Those hollow props are basically little acoustic panels in reverse. We started using real books from a thrift store, or even just dense foam blocks cut to shape and painted.

olivere3013h ago

Little acoustic panels in reverse" is a great way to put it.