Opinions wanted on my audio....

mainstreetprod

mainstreetprod

Veteran
I have been posting lately regarding getting a hyper for indoor use. I have always used my Sony C-76 short shotgun inside and out , only recently learned that shotguns are supposedly not best for indoor use. Today I shot an interview using my standard method, shotgun on a stand just out of right side of frame, about 24" from the talent.
Sounds fine to me - but due to many years of loud music and headphones, my ears are not what they used to be. So I made a short clip to post here, at full sound quality.
Please listen to it on your best monitor speakers and give me your opinions about how well this mic is working for this purpose. Note that the shotgun is plugged into line 1, channel 2 is the camera mic - so listen only to the better side . The video is postage stamp size, but the audio is encoded at full 48KHZ. Thanks!

http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/21102/1173400844.mov
 
The audio sounds fine to me. Sounds actually very good. It doesn't seem very tinny at all, except it may not handle whistly "s"s very well.

PS can't you just shut off the second channel and record to both from the mic?
 
from tech tips at location sound.com:

interior situations pose an entirely different set of problems for the sound mixer. It becomes a question of striking a balance between reach versus acoustics.

Shotgun microphones with interference tubes tend to exhibit loss of definition when used in confined, hard-walled interiors such as kitchens, bathrooms, small offices, and so on. This phenomenon is caused by reflected sound waves interfering with the acoustic noise canceling principles employed with the interference tube. The solution is to use the wider angle condenser mics without interference tubes. The problem is that these wider angle mics (cardioids and hypercardioid) also have less reach. It becomes a matter of trade off between choosing the crisp sound offered by the wider pattern mics versus getting the reach needed to isolate dialogue from the background noise due to higher distances often demanded by the camera angle. Pick your poison.
 
Here is a sample of an MKE2 gold lav followed by the schoeps hyper boomed (I split recorded it, but put them one after the other so that you could hear the difference).

http://homepage.mac.com/saneproductions/FileSharing1.html

Get a hyper.

1173405809.jpg

The face has been blurred for confidentiality.
 
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The Schoeps is a lot crisper. What was the distance of talent from boom mic? What price range is the MKE2 lav? Thanks for taking the time to post the clip.
 
I put up the pic for you too.

I think that the sound of your clip is fine for some applications, but more echoy than I would like. I think you would be well served with an oktava.
 
here is another test. the oktava followed by the schoeps in an echoy hardwood floor room about 18" away followed by the me66 shotgun (recorded a minute later in the reading, same distance).

Use the same URL above.

16bit, 48kHz sd302, 80Hz low cut, hvx200 recording
 
Am I crazy if I think the Oktava sounds better? I dont exactly have trained ears, but there seems to be a certain richness lacking in the Schoeps. Thanks for the samples - I'm just getting into this whole making good audio thing and it was nice to hear a good lav up against a good hyper.
 
WOW! I finally see why the Oktava is so popular. I listened several times, could barely discern between it and the Schoeps. The Me66 sounded quite thin in comparison.
Obviously the Oktava would be great boom mounted, with proper shockmount/windscreen - but how about mounted on the HVX-200 ? Will it have the"reach"
I need that the Sony gives me - outside, as much as 4-5 feet?
 
What are you listening to the track on? That will make a huge difference in how it sounds. The oktava sounds really great. The schopes has much more clarity, better highs, is more intelligible, does not have a "bloom" in the bass that makes the oktava sound a little "tubby". In short, th schoeps just sounds like you are really in the room with my friend Ben. These are subtle differences that cost $$$, but to some they are worth it, others, not. Nothing will make up for good mic placement. You could have the best mic in the world and it will not sound good at 4'-5' away.

no it it will not be of use on cam (except for b-roll or eng type news). You should have the mic 18"-2' from the source.
 
I'm listening on $10 computer speakers, guess that explains it. But I think the Oktava will be fine for my purposes. B roll or ENG is all I would use it for on camera anyway.
 
now that it is settled, don't short yourself on the proper gear to use with your oktava
Gitzo 7560c 12'5" boom ($250) hmmm, gotham? not sure, I got mine a provideoandtape.com out of Portland OR (Bill Floyd)
BBG ($140) sound-room.com
Jammer ($70) sound-room.com
K-Tek KSSM ($110) trewaudio.com
Oktava mc012 with hyper cap ($180) sound-room.com with the DV discount code
 
HAHA good point - maybe I shouldnt have made that judgement on a laptop... I'll go listen again on my desktop speakers - they arent monitors but they arent this tinny little thing either...
 
mainstreetprod said:
I have been posting lately regarding getting a hyper for indoor use. I have always used my Sony C-76 short shotgun inside and out , only recently learned that shotguns are supposedly not best for indoor use. Today I shot an interview using my standard method, shotgun on a stand just out of right side of frame, about 24" from the talent.
Sounds fine to me - but due to many years of loud music and headphones, my ears are not what they used to be. So I made a short clip to post here, at full sound quality.
Please listen to it on your best monitor speakers and give me your opinions about how well this mic is working for this purpose. Note that the shotgun is plugged into line 1, channel 2 is the camera mic - so listen only to the better side . The video is postage stamp size, but the audio is encoded at full 48KHZ. Thanks!

http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/21102/1173400844.mov
Click to expand...

Sounds fine! I use my Octava less and less. Even sent one back. It would pick up even more of those room reflections. I'm breakin' out the short shotguns more and more these days, indoors, as well. You're thinking is not off. Convention be damned.
 
saneproductions said:
here is another test. the oktava followed by the schoeps in an echoy hardwood floor room about 18" away followed by the me66 shotgun (recorded a minute later in the reading, same distance).

Use the same URL above.

16bit, 48kHz sd302, 80Hz low cut, hvx200 recording
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for that!
Exactly what I needed. I think, however, that with the higher voice of the female speaker in the other example the Schoeps would have made more difference. What do you think?

One other little thing: you suggest the K-TEK K-SSM shock mount for the Oktava together with the Rycote BBG. Is there enough space for the K-TEK with the BBG mounted, even without the -10-pad on the Oktava? Would you mind posting a pic of the Oktava-BBG-K-TEK combo?
Martin
 
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