External Camera Mic'

[sah1510]

Hey there,

 

This is sort of a continuation of a previous topic...

 

http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?showtopic=24025

 

... to sum it up, it was decided that an external microphone would be best for audio recording.

 

So now I am here asking, in your opinions, are best for recording a musical in terms of quality, cost etc. Ideally, my budget would be about £100-£200 for one (We will probably get 2) microphone.

 

 

 

Thanks in advance...

 

Scott

[Bobbsy]

Well, what you don't say is where you plan to place the microphones (near the cameras or do you want something near the stage) or (since it's a two camera shoot) whether you plan to feed both mics to both cameras or have one each.

 

So, subject to change if you chip in extra info is my recommendation that, in your price range, the best shotgun I've found for video recording use is the Rode NTG2. Before my retirement, I used to carry one in my kit as a backup to my much more expensive Sennheiser 416 and was amazed when, back in post, the often couldn't tell when I switched mics. The NTG2 has the advantage of being "dual powered" (i.e. it can work from an internal battery) so you don't need to worry about a phantom source from a domestic camcorder.

 

Certainly if you do a lot of video shooting, I suspect the Rode will become a useful addition to your kit bag.

 

...but come back to us with more information on your plans and I may change the recommendation!

 

Bob

[MarkPAman]

If you want a stereo mic then this one from Rode is good although slightly over your budget. Comes IIRC with leads for 2xXLR or minijack.

 

Well under your budget though, Sony do this one which is surprisingly good. Minijack only though.

[sah1510]

Thanks guys!

 

In reply to Bobbsy, we are now only considering one microphone near/mounted on the camera. We will have a setup of 2 cameras with one on the balcony at the back of the hall and one at the front of the hall, near the stage. Preferably the camera at the back would have the microphone fed into the camera.

 

Hope this helps!

 

 

Thanks again!

[Bobbsy]

In that case, my recommendation of the NTG2 holds good. I've used it in similar setups to what you describe and the sound is as good as you're going to get from such a position.

 

From the back of the auditorium I wouldn't worry about stereo miking.

 

IF you can arrange this, a trick I've used when limited like this is to get a feed from a post fade aux on the sound desk and feed it into one channel of the camcorder with your mic on the other. Get the sound guy to give you only vocal mics (RF and any float mics he may be using and, if your camcorder only takes mic in, have him back the level way off. When you edit, use mainly the mic on/by the camera, but when it helps mix in just a bit of the board output to clean up the vocals a bit. Done carefully, the effect you'll get is vocals with a bit of reverb on them (i.e. from the camera mic). Obviously you have to use this carefully (or not at all in some cases) but the extra audio option in editing can be useful.

 

Bob

[sah1510]

Thankyou very mutch for contributing!

 

 

Scott