Sound Mixer and Shotgun Mic?

M

Mettsaphor

Member
Hello Everyone!

I am currently trying to piece together an equipment list for an upcomming low budget feature film I will be working on. We are still trying to decide between the HVX200A and the HPX170 to shoot it with. (they both sound and look so good!)

We are planning on recording our sound into one of these cameras. (through a mixer first.)

But I have very little know how when it comes to sound.

My questions are,

1. What would be a good, non-expensive mixer that will get the job done?

2. Any reconmendations on a good Shotgun Mic for a reasonable price?

As I'm sure every filmmaker is farmilar with, we have a very small budget to work with haha.

Any suggestions would be a huge help!
Thanks!

-Christopher
 
Will you be using a "REAL" sound guy to do sound? If not I would suggest recording straight to cam. Mixers are good, but you need someone competent who knows how to use it properly. So I would suggest using your budget to get a better shotgun or - save the money on the mixer and see if you can find someone (pay someone) to do sound for you, that could apply to the shotgun as well and then you have a larger budget to pay someone. Who you get for the money depends on your budget - dont expect a professional to work for free or for next to nothing.
 
Non-expensive is relative. For a working pro looking to enhance his setup, $2k on a Schoeps probably isn't much. On smaller films that might be the entire budget for sound (or the entire movie even). So do you have $$$ value in mind?

And remember a shotgun mic isn't always the best solution. What locations are you shooting in? If indoors do you have low ceilings that would limit overhead booming? Do you have someone with experience as a boom op?

I agree Noel though that hiring someone will almost always get you better results than trying to it yourself.
 
Hey Noel,

We actually have a friend in mind who has done audio on alot of student films and some commercials, but he is out of town at the moment and I haven't been able to reach him to ask him what mixer and Mic to use.

We want to get the best possible auido, (obviously haha) for what we can afford, so we thought throwing a mixer into the mix, (pun was intended) would help our chances at that.

Any suggestions?

Thanks again!
 
Hey Gohanto,

We will be shooting a mixture of both indoors and outdoors, more outdoors than int.
We were hoping to keep the sound budget under 1k. Like I said its a very limited budget.

Additonally, we were considering after buying the equipment that we could rent it out to local schools to help fund our next project.

Any Ideas?

Thanks!
 
I agree with Rafaeldelauz: rent rather than buy. Sound gear is expensive, and its pretty easy to throw good money into a bad investment. If you don't already know what gear you want/need, then renting will give you the opportunity to effectively "try before you buy".

As for renting out your gear to local schools: I wouldn't recommend it. Insuring the gear would get quite expensive, and leaving it uninsured will almost guarantee that your mics get dropped.
 
following on Smuir post. When you buy cheap (and bad) sound gear you won't be able to rent it out to anybody because every prestigious sound rental offers really good packages for dirt cheap. Nobody is going to rent your crappy gear when they can rent good stuff for an extra 50 bucks/week.
 
Rent.

Depending where you are you may have a good rental house near you. Talk to them about your budget and what you want.

Otherwise, even something like this...
http://www.trewaudio.com/rentals/nashville/sound_packages/
Which they can mail sound packages anywhere, and you could get package #1 for an entire month for ~$600. Just for reference, the Rycote blimp for protecting the mic from wind you get with that package, costs $600 on its own. (And that's a blimp system that'll block wind when outdoors)
 
In austin, renting SOME sound gear (not all of it) will cost at least 300 for a week... it doesn't make much sense to me to rent that often if you plan on doing a lot of projects... projects that PROBABLY won't turn a dime. Sure it might suck to buy a bunch of gear and realize it's not for you, but you can also buy used and shop around for awesome deals. Who knows, maybe you could even buy, use, then turn around for profit. I do agree that spending 25 bucks for a mic for a day might be a good idea AT FIRST but I still think owning your own gear and being able to use it whenever you please is a good thing.

Just my extremely amateur two cents! =]
 
Mettsaphor said:
We want to get the best possible auido, (obviously haha) for what we can afford, so we thought throwing a mixer into the mix, (pun was intended) would help our chances at that.

Any suggestions?

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

Yeah I think this is a common misconception because I seriously believe if you dont have a pro sound guy on set then a mixer isnt going to help you much, Im not just talking about a guy who knows how to operate a mixer, Im talking about someone who knows sound. And then it is my firm belief that recording direct to cam is a better option in this scenario as the only real issue is ensuring your cam is on the right db setting for your mic choice and that your levels are good.

Looking at a decent mixer, a lay person will look at it and see a lot of knobs and buttons and unless you know how these work, theres a greater chance of something going awry than direct to cam.

So, if you cant get a pro sound guy, and want to buy equipment and not rent, I would get the best shotgun I could and record direct to cam (dont forget good headphones to monitor - think Sony MDR7506)

Oh and for the record, I am not a pro sound guy, but someone who has weighed up the options many times to get the best sound I could.
 
green thumb said:
In austin, renting SOME sound gear (not all of it) will cost at least 300 for a week... it doesn't make much sense to me to rent that often if you plan on doing a lot of projects... projects that PROBABLY won't turn a dime. Sure it might suck to buy a bunch of gear and realize it's not for you, but you can also buy used and shop around for awesome deals. Who knows, maybe you could even buy, use, then turn around for profit. I do agree that spending 25 bucks for a mic for a day might be a good idea AT FIRST but I still think owning your own gear and being able to use it whenever you please is a good thing.

Just my extremely amateur two cents! =]
Click to expand...
Owning your gear is a terrible idea if you own a lot of junk.
1000 dollars is not enough to buy a good used mixer + a good used microphone.
Without a real sound person and using your own bad equipment you are going to have horrible audio in your projects and then you can be totally sure they are not going to return a dime.
You set your priorities, they sound of your movie or owning cheap equipment. Good luck
 
green thumb said:
I do agree that spending 25 bucks for a mic for a day might be a good idea AT FIRST but I still think owning your own gear and being able to use it whenever you please is a good thing.
Click to expand...

It's not a bad idea if you want to pursue a career in audio. Experiment, make mistakes, and get by with what you can if that's the case. Otherwise, find pros or at the very least people wanting to work pro in audio. You'll get attention to detail, better tracks, and a better deal when that's the case.
 
rafaeldelauz said:
Owning your gear is a terrible idea if you own a lot of junk.
1000 dollars is not enough to buy a good used mixer + a good used microphone.
Without a real sound person and using your own bad equipment you are going to have horrible audio in your projects and then you can be totally sure they are not going to return a dime.
You set your priorities, they sound of your movie or owning cheap equipment. Good luck
Click to expand...

This might be a bit excessive.

You can get a MixPre, a Rode SG-2 (or an Octava with all the capsules), boom pole and shock mount, NEW, in the $1000 range. The sound you'd get from this might not be the absolute pinnacle of achievement, but it definitely would not be 'horrible' -- assuming you have a skilled sound person using that gear.
 
chapelgrovefilms said:
This might be a bit excessive.

You can get a MixPre, a Rode SG-2 (or an Octava with all the capsules), boom pole and shock mount, NEW, in the $1000 range. The sound you'd get from this might not be the absolute pinnacle of achievement, but it definitely would not be 'horrible' -- assuming you have a skilled sound person using that gear.
Click to expand...
tough thing is a "skilled" sound person isn't going to be using that level of gear, but their own.


(i totally see your point just throwing in the obvious)
 
Rippie said:
tough thing is a "skilled" sound person isn't going to be using that level of gear, but their own.


(i totally see your point just throwing in the obvious)
Click to expand...

Yup. All sound mixers I know will only use their own gear on shows and productions. They are familiar with their own setup and workflow rather than having to learn a new setup that's been given to them. Also, when working with an unfamiliar setup an "A" mixer can get blamed for inconsistent recorded audio after the production. Another disadvantage is that a broken piece of gear would probably be blamed on the mixer who was using it even though that it was clearly pre-damaged (Money out of the mixer's expense). Some producers WILL do this to you. To be safe mixers will always try to bid their rate based on their own package so that they take full responsibility.
 
chapelgrovefilms said:
This might be a bit excessive.

You can get a MixPre, a Rode SG-2 (or an Octava with all the capsules), boom pole and shock mount, NEW, in the $1000 range. The sound you'd get from this might not be the absolute pinnacle of achievement, but it definitely would not be 'horrible' -- assuming you have a skilled sound person using that gear.
Click to expand...
I got your point, but I don't think that having a decent mic with a decent mixer is enough to have good sound. Probably I want to believe that our job goes way beyond choosing the right gear.
I think any sound package that he can buy under $1000 it's going to be too limited to solve all the problems that a feature will present for a sound person, including that package that you are proposing. I mean, I wouldn't go to record a docu just with an Octava set and a Mixpre, or a NTg-2. I want see this guy trying to make through a bedroom door, way behind a Dolly, after the camera crew and the director, hanging from a 8 feet boompole with an octava on the other end, while three actors are delivering lines facing on the other direction of the camera. The octava (or the NTg2) probably sounds Ok and the Mixpre is a nice little toy, but the sound of that scene is going suck big time, because he doesn't have enough gearto tackle the situation.
On the other hand I think he can rent a more complete, flexible and reliable package for that money and be able to deliver a better job.
 
Wow! Thanks everyone for all your input!! I will deffintley look into renting the equiptment and/or a more competent sound guy for this project! Perhaps down the line when we have more of a sound budget we will look into buying, but for now it sounds like our best bet is to rent!


Thanks again!
 
Just hire an experienced sound guy that way at least you know your money is being spent well. Also you won' t have to worry about trying to figure out which sound package to get, who is going to operate the sound package, and will I have enough to pay this person after doing that. Not sure how long the film is going to run but I'm pretty sure with 1000 towards sound you can get someone decent to do all your audio needs. I hope all works out. Take care.

Nicole
 
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