external microphones

Pal wrote on 10/19/2004, 7:43 AM
Hi, does anybody have any experience with external microphones for the camcorder? My kids have a school musical coming up shortly and I thought having a microphone up close getting the sound directly instead of through the schools P.A. system would be a big improvement. Any thoughts on what to look for, or look out for, wireless microphones, it all would be greatly appreciated!

Mark

Comments

ChristerTX wrote on 10/19/2004, 1:29 PM
I have been using a wireless lapel mike on a person that was speaking on a stage when I was filming and that worked fine.

If you want to put a mike on a stage to capture a musical I doubt that you would be able to capture the sound evenly. I would think that as people move around it would be hard to pick it up properly. Also, they might have some music only trough the PA and you would miss that.

You would probably be better off using a good quality microphone out in the audience to capture the PA sound if you don't want to use the built in microphone in the camera.

Let me know how it worked out.

Former user wrote on 10/20/2004, 10:27 AM
Is it possible to get someone to record a CD or Minidisk feeding directly off of the PA board? Then you can resync and get better sound.

Dave T2
shmulb wrote on 10/20/2004, 12:38 PM
Check out this thread - http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=24d0f5214961a175e7c3d8628a4d7b1f&threadid=33231
It probably has more detail than you need but should give you some drection.
I personaly used an external stereo shotgun mike mounted on the camera to record my sons chior concert and the results were acceptable for home viewing. Be aware though that not all shotgun mics are stereo.
Beelzebob wrote on 10/20/2004, 9:48 PM
I've never used them, but serious rock concert 'tapers' use tiny omni mics like Core Sound sells (core-sound.com). They are stereo and can clip to either side of a pair of glasses. Not real expensive as mics go, about $200. Obviously there is a better way to do audio, but most of us don't usually have the budget or cooperation of the production.


Bob

Beelzebob wrote on 10/20/2004, 9:55 PM
Just thought I'd add my one experience with a PA. I found backing my camera up and aiming my shotgun mic at the PA gave me better sound than sitting close to the perfomer and having a strange mix of the PA and his own voice. Definitely bring headphones to monitor. I know this is pretty basic to many of you, but I figure a lot of people lurking the MS forum are low budget techno rubes like myself. : )


Bob
Pal wrote on 10/24/2004, 11:51 PM
Thanks guys! I still don't know what I'm going to do. It's certainly not as cut and dry as I hoped. I'm leaning towards just buying a high quality mike that can stand alone or mount on the camera. It's cheaper than a wireless and apparently higher quality, assuming you can get close enough. For something like a musical on a stage I'm afraid that a shotgun mike will be too directional when they're spread out like that. What I'm toying with trying is using two cameras. Mine, with the new mike as close as I can get and use it for all close-ups. Then put my borrowed camcorder back further and have it just locked on the whole stage. Then in editing I'll combine the two to hopefully make smooth transitions to the close-ups instead of some of my inevitable quick camera swings and jerky zooms. Hopefully syncing the sound to the one camera won't be too hard. I've done it for small clips before. I'm running out of time so if anybody thinks this sounds really dumb feel free to let me know! I also think I might just be too full of myself and getting carried away :-) Thanks again for the input! You all gave me ideas and situations I hadn't thought of.

Mark
IanG wrote on 10/25/2004, 2:15 AM
I'm lucky enough to live close to a theatrical rental company. They mostly deal with TV and West End productions, but the owner's amazingly helpful towards amateurs like me. Given the money you can spend on decent sound equipment and the expertise it takes to use it properly, it might be worth having a look through the local phone book.

Ian G.