A question about mics

[Kevin the Frog]

Yeah, bands will use a Shure SM58 for vocals and SM57 for instruments.
The guys at Guitar Center will tell you Sennheiser mics are a little better, but I'm wondering if they get a bigger commission, ha. For a "regular" vocal mic around $100 you can't beat a SM58.

 

[Whispers]

The best thing about Headset Mics compared to Lavaliers is that no matter what direction you move your head in is that the mic will stay the same distance away from your mouth. If you turn head away from wherever the mic is clipped then the change in volume will be noticeable unless you speak louder.

However in some cases you don't want the mic to always be to close to your mouth so its really a matter of preference.

 

[Jinx]

The Shure SM58 is indeed a "gold standard" for vocal miking. I own 4 of them myself, but would not use them for puppetry as a general rule. For a "close-miked" sound they're great, but for dialog they're going to have too much "presence" and as such can come off as sounding artificial. If you back off from them you have to boost the gain considerably and then you can be asking for feedback.

As for thinking a salesman gets more comission for a Sennheiser, well that may be. But in this case he would be recommending one because it's the better mike for the situation.

It's unfair to compare them on price because you can get a good "lav" mike for about $100 too, but remember that you (usually) need to buy a transmitter and receiver as well if you're going wireless.

 

[staceyrebecca]

This is really great advice, guys. Keep it coming. I know the director at the Great AZ Puppet Theater swears by lav mics up and down, also said something about Shure. Telex I think is the one she really wants me to get (if only I had $750 to blow per mic, right?)

 

[CoOKiE]

are all these mics expensive? I'm also looking into mics. I want to do a puppet video, and my test video went bad as far as audio. But, with many performers, its not that i can have 1 mic set in a spot for everyone to be heard.

for a cheap price, with a home video camera... how can i set up mutliple mics?

 

[staceyrebecca]

http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...kw=microphone&kw=microphone&parentPage=search

That one is $21.00, but it's corded & you'd need a mixer of sorts.

The mics I looked at were all at least $150 each.

 

[Jinx]

There'a a lot of truth to the old adage "you get what you pay for". You may be able to get some mics for cheap, but don't expect pristine sound. Remember too that the microphone is only the first step in the audio chain.

For good-quality audio you need to consider everything from the mic to pre amps to mixers to.... well it just goes on and on.

Stacyrebecca is right that if you are using multiple mics you'll need a mixer that is capable not only of dealing with the mics, but also has the right kind of output to be compatible with your camera. And does your camera have the right kind of inputs? Many will receive a mic input but not a line input.

I have 3 very nice pro-sumer cameras, but I usually capture my audio separately on a digital recorder (Edirol R4) that also acts as a 4 channel mixer and then sync up the audio in my editing program.

It's hard to find a budget solution, but if you do your homework you can usually find a way to at least improve your current set up. Perhaps using a small recorder such as a Zoom H2 (about $200) would at least provde a big improvement to your existing situation.

To do it right, simply costs a lot of money. I have spent about $1200 on software, $4500 on cameras, $1700 on lights, $2000 on audio and $4000 on tripods, crane, steadicam etc. And I still need to spend another few grand to get the full audio complement that I need.

Of course when you get all that gear, then you have to learn how to use it all! It just never ends!

 

[CoOKiE]

sounds like alot of fun.

I'm a stage actor. So, i've worked with different kinds of mics, and know of expensive mics. I just don't know how i can get it all recorded into one camera. I know how i can get 1 mic on a camera... just not multiple mics.

Thanks for the help

 

[Kevin the Frog]

That's a nice list of gear Jinx! Do you have a link to any of your videos? Would love to check them out, thanks.

 

[mercnrufus]

Cookie, I dont know how many mics your project calls for, but if you need to keep it on the cheap, you might consider something like:

Radio Shack Audio-Technica ATR35s Omnidirectional Condenser Lavalier Mic $29.99 each (includes mic, clip, 20' cable)

Behringer EURORACK UBB1002 mixer: $99.99 (look at places like musiciansfrienddotcom etc)

Telex makes great stuff if your budget allows.