Alternative Audio Recording Methods

[bbass74]

I do about 6-8 wedding a year and although it's not the primary type of filming I do, it probably brings the most money. But lately, most of the ceremonies I've done involves more than one officiant, a speaker, plus groom, etc. I don't want to have to invest in an elaborate wireless audio set up with racks and a mixer as that can be cumbersome and would most likely involve me having an extra hand just handle that (which is not cost effective). Plus, it's almost guaranteed that there is going to be interference so a wireless set up is not fool-proof, especially since 9 times out of 10, the efficient already has a wireless mic for the venue.

All that said, it was mentioned to me that using little mp3 recorders like iRiver is a good alternative. Having each person wired with a unit and a lavalier can record good audio with no interference. Also that you can pick one up pretty cheap and you can always expand as you need them. The only downfall is syncing but that should be too much of an issue, just a little time on the front end but if that beats out better audio and more cost effective, I'm willing to live with that.

Has anyone else had experience with this type of audio capture for weddings? Does anyone else have any other suggestions or alternative methods? I'd be interested to know.

 

[jax_rox]

you would have to plug some sort of mic into it. I would suggest something more along the lines of a Zoom or MicroTrack recorder, as they're designed for high-quality recording, whereas the iRiver is designed for music playback. Plus, using the iRiver's little on-board mic is going to be absolute crap and you wouldve been better off not worrying about it. The little T-bar mic that comes with the MicroTrack is going to give you 10 times better audio right off the bat, not to mention even a wired lav clipped to the speaker and running into the recorder.
But you'd have to plug some sort of mic into it. The on-board mic just isnt good enough, and the iRiver itself just isn't designed for audio recording work. So I would go with a proper recorder.

 

[Spartacus]

If your in a church and they are already using a sound system, why not plug into theirs?
Besides that, the seperate recording method with mp3 recorders sounds cumbersome, you won´t have any control over the recording (you speak of interference problems with wireless, what if your mp3 recorder stoped recording?) and you´ll have to do alleign sound in post, which can be tedious.
Maybe just hire a soundguy for the job, explain your clients what they get from an additional soundperson and charge accordingly...

 

[bbass74]

you would have to plug some sort of mic into it. I would suggest something more along the lines of a Zoom or MicroTrack recorder, as they're designed for high-quality recording, whereas the iRiver is designed for music playback. Plus, using the iRiver's little on-board mic is going to be absolute crap and you wouldve been better off not worrying about it. The little T-bar mic that comes with the MicroTrack is going to give you 10 times better audio right off the bat, not to mention even a wired lav clipped to the speaker and running into the recorder.
But you'd have to plug some sort of mic into it. The on-board mic just isnt good enough, and the iRiver itself just isn't designed for audio recording work. So I would go with a proper recorder.

I was told some of the iRivers have a mini input to plug in a lavalier. I was never even considering using the on-board mic. One of the downsides though would be the iRivers do not record uncompressed, only to mp3 or wma.

 

[bbass74]

If your in a church and they are already using a sound system, why not plug into theirs?
Besides that, the seperate recording method with mp3 recorders sounds cumbersome, you won´t have any control over the recording (you speak of interference problems with wireless, what if your mp3 recorder stoped recording?) and you´ll have to do alleign sound in post, which can be tedious.
Maybe just hire a soundguy for the job, explain your clients what they get from an additional soundperson and charge accordingly...

I have in the past done that but many times the sound board is not located where I need one of my cameras or the audio person isn't skilled enough to know how to give me a line, either through a sub or post eq.

And as far as if the player stop recording, I would bet that I wouldn't get anything, at which point I'm back where I started. I've had some users not turn their mic on at all and I don't get anything there either. But most of the time, if they are near someone with a mic, I can pick them up from the other mic.