HELP! Filming and sound question

[muppetmomma]

Hi! I am a grad student in the puppetry program at UConn and am filming a puppet movie at a hospital in haiti---the conditions are quite rural, and I am not sure if the puppeteers will be under desks, etc. but I am trying to figure out the best way to capture their voices--there will be two performers.

I went to guitar center and learned that i just don't have a budget for the full mic/amp/mixer set-up. The man there suggested a digital voice recorder that I could drop into FinalCut and add to the footage. Any other suggestions? Are there any cheaper options that could attach to my sony handycam?

Thanks for any help!

Sabrina

 

[MGov]

Does the Sony Handycam have a place to plug in an external mic? If it does, you can rent wireless mics, get RCA to eighth inch adapters (assuming that the external mic plug is eighth inch) and run the external pack into the Handycam.

I don't know if that would work without testing it. But that's about the best you are going to get with a Handycam.

 

[Jinx]

An eighth-inch plug is only part of the equation. The connector can be the right size, but what's coming through the wire can be very wrong!

If you use a wireless setup you'll need one per performer for good and even sound. So thus you'd need a mixer to send to signal to the camera's input, assuming that it can handle a line-level signal which is very different from a mic-level signal. Most consumer-grade cameras have a mic input, but without attenuation you'll get distorted sound. The cameras I use (Canon GL2s) have an attenuation function built in that can be switched on and off.

The digital voice recorder(s) are really a great way to go. A lot of professional videographers use these on weddings. Usually they'll mic up the groom with an omni-directional mic to pick up the bride and officiant as well. This is probably going to be the best option to explore.

A problem you can conceivably have is "sync drift" in FCP. You'd probably only notice this in a really long take, but sound that is in sync at the beginning of the clip can drift out by the end of the clip. There are workarounds for this, but they can be tedious.

I personally use an Edirol R4 recorder and a Sennheiser ME66 shotgun mic. I have done continuous shots for 45 minutes and longer with no sync drift at all.

May I recommend another forum for the information you seek? The folks here at muppet central know puppetry, but for expert video/audio advice check out DV Info Net. Specifically the "All things audio" forum.

When I find people there with puppetry questions, guess where I send them? That's right! Right here!

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Sabrina, if you need a versatile solution and wireless mics and a mixer aren't feasible I would strongly recommend the Rode VideoMic Shotgun Mic. It's a portable, rugged condenser microphone that records studio quality audio in stereo. It retails for about $120 (you can usually find a better price online). I use it all the time in a variety of situations and for the price you won't find a better general purpose, professional grade microphone.