Hi all,

I am looking at updateing my audio setup -
Currently i have a few Zoom H2's and a couple of Lav mics, a wireless setup which only cost about £150 total (Lapel and hand held mic) Plus the one on the camera.

Mainly i do interviews, or STC (Straight To Camera) gigs, but i am being asked to do more and more "Conversation" recording - I.e. two or more people sat around a small desk having a chinwag.

Now while the Zoom H2's work very well, they realy do - In fact ill post a little something about the Zoom soon - i am lokoing for something that i can stick on the end of a boom and have it over peoples heads so that i can shoot the legs.

This would make it easy for me so that i have a good audio stream on the camera to start with and then bring in any H2 audio if needed.

So basically -

Has anyone got a setup like it?
Can someone please give me advice on the type and cost of the mic they use on a pole or stand?

I have a HVR HD 1000E which only has a 3,5mm jack on it, so im looking for something that will fir 3.5 or be down-convertable to 3.5mm.

Think Sky News when they have a few people on the sofa - But instead of them all having a different mic on im looking for one good mic that will be above them picking up the sound from all around. Dont worry, the main Question master (Bloke asking the questions) will have a Lapel on connected to a H2 as my normal, but just wondering if anyone can tell me which one to get.

Yeah i know a bit of a personal question as people will have different likes and dislikes, but throw them all at me and ill be able to descide - If you could give it to me in the following fashion please:

Make
Cost
From
Type
Length of cable
Good points
Bad points

Ill then make a buyers choice on these.

Cheers guys.

You can get xlr to nin-jack converts that you screw to the bottom of your camera and then that to the tripod, they're ment to be very good and why don't you use 2 lapel mics?

there are some good boom mics at dolphicmusic.co.uk

The sound balance in this case would be very odd - lapel mic with a close up sound for interviewer but open sounding mic for the guests. You need to re-think this.

I would go for lapel mics on the guests too.

Guys,

Both very good suggestions. i have tried the lapel mics on all before but it became a nightmare when i was syncing up.

I have since looked at a switcher? One of these things that allows you to plug up to 4 mics into it and allows you to choose which one is being recorded. This has worked out but not to the extent i was wanting.

I have tried to plug the lapels and room boom mic (At different times) into the Mic in socket of the HD1000E but the noise on the track is un-useable, the only way i have had good clean sound is by getting the seperate audio onto seperate recorders.

Not being an expert in sound recording im doing what i can - I have tried to find a 4 (or more) jack i.e. In one end you plug 4 or more mics into it, and then this goes into one lead which i can plug straight into my Zoom. But cant seem to find one that is either in my price range or that workes with 3.5mm jacks....

On a seperate note i was asking about a head mounted camera for those "Point of view" shots in another part of Videoforums - This i have found and sorted, but the audio came from a secreted lapel mic, this was nasty. We had to shoot it again but with a room boom mic and sock only 6-8 inches from the guys face just off camera.
This worked but it was a hell of a getup.

Anywho... Thanks for the help, ill be going back to the all wearing lapels and recording on seperate Zooms even though its an arse to sync up.

Mitch

Mitch, your biggest problem seems to be that you don't have a dedicated sound recordist on location. I understand that you want to have everything seperate and sort it out in the edit but with anything more than two subjects, you either have to have another recording medium, or someone to mix on location.

At your level (please don't take this the wrong way, as you're doing multi-person situations with one camera I'm assuming that it's micro-budget stuff) it would be worth looking at a cheap mixer. Even something like a Behringer Eurorack at under £50 and a bod to twiddle the knobs would enable you to get up to six mics into two inputs.

Individual tie-clip mics, even cheap ones, in this situation would sound better than a mic suspended over the whole group. Switchers (which only allow inputs from one mic at a time) are far from ideal for this sort of set-up. You need the ability to fade up whoever's speaking, even if there are more of them. (On small groups, I personally found it easier to work the other way and fade down whoever's not speaking, but it's the same principle).

Failing that, there's always the option of placing a couple of cardiod mics on the table, covering all the speakers. Not ideal but it works.

Guru
Many thanks for the input and advice. My main problem is that I am a tight a*** and wont pay for anyone to come onboard.

The set-up isn’t micro budget, but it is maximise profit time, so I wont be paying for an extra mouth even if the results are fantastic, my profit margins are laser thin already. The mixer is a good point though, and because im not audio trained didn’t even know I could do this. Normally I shoot and record on two different mediums, but if I can have the ability to record all on one, and fade out those who aren’t talking then this would be a best solution, especially for less than £100.

I have found one online not too far from where I live - http://www.swlighting.co.uk/products...c-203/2603.htm is the link, and ill be looking around to see if I can get it for less than that..

My actual set up is a small oval desk with oval couch, one main presenter and space for up to another 4 guests, this will be a pre-recorded edited monthly (Hope so) thing, and sent to the companies registered. We start for real just after October 1st for a 3-month trial, but I find myself preparing in “Low weeks”. The budget is low but not micro, and we still have to pay for a runner.

3 x cameras with Adobe CS4 all at my premises with DV tape. One is on the presenter all the time and the other 2 will target the speakers and wide shots. Our first session failed as we didn’t have enough light (Yet to sort), but the others were fine except the audio. As with most of my answers on this forum I say you can have a shi* picture but if the audio is great then you can use it. (Blair Witch did it) Bad audio and fantastic picture = Shi*.

Its time I got a soundman im sure, but for now ill stick with keeping the production costs as low as possible.

Thanks again for your input – Ill keep you updated when I buy one of these.

Mitch

Understood.

The only thing I would add is.... Behringer aren't the most rugged of manufacturers, in fact they are often laughed at by the audio world, so I wouldn't go near a secondhand Behringer mixer. Having said that, since you're the owner/operator and will probably take more care of your own gear, it should last you a lifetime. New ones (from Thomann Cyberstore) start at under £50 for a six input model and since anything more than four inputs is difficult for an experienced soundie to balance, there's no way you can juggle 12 inputs and worry about the cameras. I wouldn't spend the extra money on a second-hand 12 channel desk, rather get a new mixer with less inputs.

if your having problems syncing up the audio then get a clapper board or even someone clapping (one loud claer clip). When you import you clips from the cutting window make sure the inpoint is set as soon as you start to hear the clap. do this with all the cameras and individual recordings.

play it through and if anything is out of sync try playing only the first and seccond audio, and if they're in sync play the first and 3rd audio. adjust everything to one track, most often the top track.