Wedding Video Setup

[seanko]

I am going into wedding videography in a month or so and I need to start buying equipment around about now.

I'm not really familiar with what setups people use.
Is it a good idea to have a boundary mic on the stage with the band? I've seen some wedding videos before and the band was all muffled.

Also, is a pair of NTG-2's mounted on the cameras a good idea? Or should I use another type of mic?

Last question, will I need a handheld mic for the interviews or will a shotgun mic be sufficient?


Regards,

Sean

[MikeWilkinson]

There are lots of threads about weding gear setups, but I will give some info about what I use anyway...

Wireless mic for the groom (at least) is a must. Audio for vows is vital.
NTG2's on small stands for band audio is OK, just be mindful of cables, they can look tacky in some venues.
Handheld (wired) for guest interviews at the reception is good. Shotgun will do but you have to do it outside the reception room or else the DJ's music will be overwhelming.
Also use hookup yoru wireless to the DJ for a clean mix from the DJ's music/announcing.

A word of advice– get a kit of wireless adapters/converters/impedance changers, as you never know what kind of output (if any) a DJ is going to be able to give you.

[seanko]

There are lots of threads about weding gear setups, but I will give some info about what I use anyway...

Wireless mic for the groom (at least) is a must. Audio for vows is vital.
NTG2's on small stands for band audio is OK, just be mindful of cables, they can look tacky in some venues.
Handheld (wired) for guest interviews at the reception is good. Shotgun will do but you have to do it outside the reception room or else the DJ's music will be overwhelming.
Also use hookup yoru wireless to the DJ for a clean mix from the DJ's music/announcing.

A word of advice– get a kit of wireless adapters/converters/impedance changers, as you never know what kind of output (if any) a DJ is going to be able to give you.

Thank you very much

At this stage I don't think I can afford to buy all that equipment.
My budget is about 1.5k for the audio and 2 NTG-2's are already $750.
Wireless is not an option either. But will the band/dj sound ok with a boundary mic?

Regards,

Sean

[MikeWilkinson]

Wireless is not an option? I'd get a $500 wireless kit over two
shotguns for wedding work anyday. use the rest to get a handheld for guest interview (if you plan to do that)

All I'm saying is that in my experience, the vows/ring placing are the most important audio of the ceremony, NOT the violinist/organist/band/whatever. A wireless mic on the groom/pastor is the best way to do that.

For the band/dj. The best sound is going to a feed from thier main outs. A boundary mic will have all the ambience and natural reverb from the hall, plus crowd noise. Ideally you shoot two camera, one with a wireless feed fo the main outs, and the other with the onboard mic, OR 1 camera's onboard mic and record the main outs to a mini disk or some other portable recorder.

Just my $0.02 from about 50 wedding shoots.

[saneproductions]

Please don not buy anything until you do more research. You will be utterly screwed if you only have on-camera mics for this.

You can get a sennheiseer ew g2 wireless system for $500 add a countryman emw lav to replace the stock mic that comes with the g2 system and the bride, groom and preacher are covered (at least mostly). Read the stickes, and ....

The first thing that you should do if you are new (possibly even before reading the stickies) is get this book "Producing Great Sound for Digital Video" by Jay Rose

http://www.dplay.com/book/index.html (please use the links on his site see exp there)

No forum can answer the basic questions as well as this well thought out book. It describes almost everything you need to record great sound, techniques, equipment, acoustics, technical explanations etc. Once you have the basics, it is great to come here and debate what shotgun or boom or monitors to get, as that changes more quickly... the inverse square law however, never changes.

[DivotDan]

I don't know if you are in a big hurry or not, but I bought both of my g2 sets on ebay and this forum for $650 total.

Everyone is correct too. Vows are the #1 most important thing to get. You can put music over just about anything but the ceremony and call it artistic freedom or something. Gotta have wireless lavs above any other sound options for weddings.

I also have the NTG-2 and I don't think I paid but $250ish maybe (it's been a while). But I do love it for all my on camera work (but I'm not a sound god like some of the people in this forum. Listen to them before you listen to me!).