Microphone Setup Question

[mrhogg]

Hey all,

So now that I've got the first episode of dotBoom up, I am attempting to ingest the various lessons learned during the filming. One of the most prominent lessons is that the built-in mic just doesn't cut it, what with the accoustics of a room, and it being omnidirectional. As such, I'm going to rejig the audio setup before filming episode 2. And I'm looking for suggestions.

I'd had the thought to get a shotgun mic, as I imagine that would be the easiest to implement (it is, after all, something you simply plug in), but I imagine also that it might not work so well, as it focuses on visible subjects, and the audio will all be coming from below frame.

The other option is to get a mixing board, and plug in a bunch of mics. I could get cheaper wired mics, but with three or four running concurrently, that might make for some tangles. Alternatively, wireless would solve that problem, but I wonder if the kind in my price range would give me quality enough to avoid any feedback.

Has anyone here had experience with this? I'm willing to spend the money to get a good setup, but I don't have a tremendous amount to spend. Any recommendations?

Thanks,
Brian

 

[renegade]

Hey there if you have money to go with wireless then go with these
I just finshed renting them for 2 weeks and There Great !!! If I had the money that is what I would get! there AMAZING!

Now if you don't have any money and just want to get the job done try these

I bought one and I loved it and I think it did the trick just fine and at 30 bucks its worth try for you
I hope thats help

 

[mrhogg]

Thanks for the links, renegade. What did you use them for? Was it a live thing, or for recording for video?

The Sony mic looks pretty killer, but I sadly don't have that much to spend on it. I'll be getting something in the middle of these two extremes, I imagine.

I'm wondering about interference; if I've got 3 or 4 of these in close proximity, will they gum each other up?

 

[renegade]

The sony mic won't gum up at all because you can load it to a certain FEQ.
what I was shooting with was the canon xl2 it has two channels for audio and was just what we needed since we only had 2 characters
I don't think your hd camera has that but I could be wrong

Now the other one I'm not sure since I only bought one, There are some on ebay that come with a base port for wiring more then 2

here is even a cheaper mic just to try

 

[mrhogg]

The Sony has only this hot-shoe, and it uses only Sony products, unfortunately. They've got a Bluetooth wireless thing, but it's expensive, and I haven't been able to find out if it supports multiple microphones or not.

Recording the audio track to my computer and then compositing it after would be more time-intensive than having it all put to tape, but it would be one long audio file, and significantly less intensive than looping every line of dialogue again. Argh.

Thanks for the additional links, Renegade.

Man, that's a super-cheap clip-on mic. I wonder if it's any good.

 

[Ventrilotwist]

I worked on the first season of a television show as the shotgun mic operator and want to remind you that it gets sound from whatever it is pointed at. It doesn't need to be mounted to the camera or anything. Mine was handheld and I pointed it at whomever was talking. Just a note. Good luck.

 

[mrhogg]

The shotgun mic that my Sony camera supports requires it to be connected, and there's no cord.

I wonder if a shotgun/boom mic would work, even if I was recording separately. Hmm.

 

[Ventrilotwist]

Oh I see. Sorry!

 

[mrhogg]

It's one of the unfortunate shortcoming of the the HDR-HC3, that it doesn't have any traditional microphone inputs.

 

[scarylarrywolf]

I got a soundboard a couple years ago for the same reason. I found it online for under $100, and it serves 4 mics. It worked well for me!