Documentary production audio kit

[KINOKS]

I need help putting together an audio kit for documentary shooting.

As of now I've got:
- a Rode boom pole and shock mount,
- a Sony ECM673 shootgun mic and
- a Roland R-26 recorder.

This setup has is Ok but it isn't covering all of our needs. For instance, we've been shooting an interview setup
last Friday in a rather small room with very little furniture. Needles to say the shootgun mic picket up a lot
of room along with the interviewees voice.
Or if we're doing wide shots this boom doesn't really make a good impression.

So what do you guys recommend? A cardioid mic to mount on a boom for interviews, a lav mic (G3 maybe?), a wireless kit, a long mic like the NTG-8 for doing
wider shots, etc...?

Budget wise I'm not rich so keep the recommendations to a reasonable price/performance mark.


Thanks


Br
S

[RandomHero]

Hello there!
This is definitely a fun topic for me. Shotgun mics work great outdoors because of their pickup/rejection patterns. The problem is all the echo you'll get indoors, especially if trying to mic more than one person. There's a couple of ways to improve your indoor audio right away:
1: Hyper Cardioid mic boomed about talent. With your set up, this would be a fairly inexpensive transition, as you'd only be investing in a new mic (and shockmount). You could start off pretty inexpensively with something like the Rode NT3.
2: Lavalier/Wireless systems. This would be a great place to get to, but you'll require a dedicated transmitter/receiver for each talent, so the cost shoots up pretty quickly. For a dependable yet trustworthy unit, you'd be looking at a Sennheiser EW112 or thereabouts.
If you're worried about the look of a boom while doing your wide shots, you'd have to go wireless lav. Otherwise, I'd recommend just not going so wide as to show your boom mic (if you like the cardioid idea). Your recorder is pretty good, so you should be fine with that for now, and hopefully the rest of the information helped a little!

[KINOKS]

Hi,

the NT3 looks great. It's only 150€ Is this a good mic? I mean...it's very cheap, that's why I'm asking. If it's O.K. I'll order one tomorrow. It does look a bit thick though.
I guess you already know it wouldn't fit in the Rode shock mount?

G3, I've already done my research on it and if I was to get a lav setup this would be the one. I haven't done any research into the lav
that you get in the setup though. Is it any good?

As for doing wider shots I didn't necessary had in mind an interview setup.
I also had in mind shooting general documentary or reality scenes where audio must be picked up.
Scenes where a lav would get in the way, or where it wouldn't be appropriate for any number of reasons...

thanks for the help man

[RandomHero]

Hi,

the NT3 looks great. It's only 150€ Is this a good mic? I mean...it's very cheap, that's why I'm asking. If it's O.K. I'll order one tomorrow. It does look a bit thick though.
I guess you already know it wouldn't fit in the Rode shock mount?

Yes, it's very solid for the price. There's obviously some better mics out there for more money, but considering the gear you've got, this one looked like it'd fit your price point well. The thing with a cardioid or hyper cardioid mic is that it's pickup pattern will tend to fall off a little faster than a shotgun mic's will, so you'll tend to want to keep it closer to the talent when booming. It probably wouldn't fit in the shockmount you currently have, but a Rode SM3 or SM4 shockmount would do the trick.

G3, I've already done my research on it and if I was to get a lav setup this would be the one. I haven't done any research into the lav
that you get in the setup though. Is it any good?

The ME2 Lavalier that comes with the G3 series tends to be something of a throw-away lavalier if you're going for high quality audio. While it's still a decent lavalier and will sound very good on your interviews, you'll want to upgrade to something like a Countryman or Sanken lavalier eventually to get the best audio out of your setup.

[KINOKS]

So I've done some research of my own and found that the AT4053b seems to be the a good choice (albeit at a heftier price).
On the budget end I also found the Oktava MK012.

Also, would a cardioid mic also come in handy on the field? An NT5 maybe? I can get a used one for 130€. The only gripe I have with the NT3 and the NT5 is their size and weight. I won't be the one booming these mics but I do feel bad for my boom op that will boom this mics. Plus it needs a different mount for the boom so that's another thing that would just take time on the field.

I also found a Oktava MK012 kit that includes 4 different capsules. This sounds great also. Or this one that has 3 capsules.

I'm inclined to go with the oktava kit. But the AT4053b seems to be the best mic for the job - it's slim and lightweight and it has great audio quality. I just have to check the pice for it in my region. But the Oktava seems nice to, especially the different capsules option. I also see that the Oktava are sold as pairs...

What do you think?

Edit: and what is a pop filter ? Do I need it?
Edit2: I just got word on the At4053b pricing. It's 410€. So do I get the Oktava kit for 208€ or the single AT4053b for
410€ ooor the NT3 for 180€ which I'm not inclined to do at this moment when considering the alternatives.

[KINOKS]

I've done some more research on the Oktava mic and found out it suffers greatly from handling noise and wind. Maybe it's not the best option after all.

[paulears]

It could be useful, not sure? but https://vimeo.com/4598866 this video lets you hear all sorts of mics in a quiet room and a noisy room. It was put together for a different purpose - but does include a few shotguns and a dirt cheap lav mic - just to let you know what they 'hear' in difficult spaces. If you look at any TV interview setup, very few have booms and shotguns or even hypers on a boom. They do have lavs and stand mounted carloads.

[KINOKS]

I actually listened to most of the mics.
But I am not a sound person so I would rather go by on a recommendation from a sound producer then by my ears.

I've found a great article with lots of sound test here.


Regarding lavs; I've come to an understanding that a small diaphragm is never going to sound as good as a larger one.
So if I understand this correctly even the cheap Oktava mic is going to give better results regarding sound quality (if both mics were used in perfect conditions).
Gonna buy a set of lavs eventually in any case, I'm just wondering...