Defenestrated
New member
Hello all!
I work for a hospital in the UK, and a key part of my role is producing various videos (and voiceovers for presentations, e-learning courses, etc). Up until now I've basically had to make do with a variety of budget mics inputted into my DSLR, and have put up with the pretty poor quality audio. Recently though I've been granted a bit of funding and this is the kit that I really want to upgrade, especially as I'm hoping to take on a few projects in the next year that may end up being distributed outside our organisation. I've only been given about £1000 but I guess anything is a vast improvement on what I currently have to use. Unfortunately while I'm fairly ok with the principles and techniques of audio recording (by no means an expert but enough to do my job) I really have no idea where to start as far as picking out the right kit, hence my hopeful plea to you wonderfully knowledgeable folks...
The vast majority of my work is indoors and recording solo presenters or small groups - the content/setting though can range from clinical/surgical skills training (lots of closeups, usually with the voiceover recorded separately as a narrative) to more corporate stuff (group meetings, one-to-one conversations, things like that) and also some resus/clinical scenarios in ward areas. We also do interviews and documentary type videos with someone presenting to camera. The rooms here can sometimes be a bit echoey - it's all hard floors and often quite open spaces (typical of a hospital, I guess). We do sometimes do outdoor shooting but it's pretty rare and even then is usually just incidental footage for use with a voiceover rather than anything needing audio recording. I'm thinking (if I can afford it) a good boom mic and then maybe a couple of lavs? Wireless isn't necessary as we won't have any situations where I can't hide the wires away if we're using lavs.
I'm guessing I'd also need a good recorder too - I've appropriated an H4N from another department but I've only heard bad things about it (not used it yet myself). The Tascam TR-60D sounds pretty good from what I've read of it (especially as often I'll be a one man team) and possibly within my budget, so would that with a good boom mic (I saw someone mention the Audio Technica AT4053b?) do the job? I can handle the boom as usually I can set up the scene with a couple of cameras on tripods for different angles (most of the scenes tend to be quite static) and if that's not possible I can get an assistant to help out. Hiring in external help unfortunately is a no go as often the filming can be very short notice, frequently cancelled/rescheduled at the last minute, and generally speaking there's no money. I'm just quite lucky to have been handed a budget specifically for upgrading my equipment, and it'll need spending quickly or I'll lose it!
Apologies for the ramble but I wanted to make sure I was giving enough information - any advice would be much appreciated.
Many many thanks,
Tim
I work for a hospital in the UK, and a key part of my role is producing various videos (and voiceovers for presentations, e-learning courses, etc). Up until now I've basically had to make do with a variety of budget mics inputted into my DSLR, and have put up with the pretty poor quality audio. Recently though I've been granted a bit of funding and this is the kit that I really want to upgrade, especially as I'm hoping to take on a few projects in the next year that may end up being distributed outside our organisation. I've only been given about £1000 but I guess anything is a vast improvement on what I currently have to use. Unfortunately while I'm fairly ok with the principles and techniques of audio recording (by no means an expert but enough to do my job) I really have no idea where to start as far as picking out the right kit, hence my hopeful plea to you wonderfully knowledgeable folks...
The vast majority of my work is indoors and recording solo presenters or small groups - the content/setting though can range from clinical/surgical skills training (lots of closeups, usually with the voiceover recorded separately as a narrative) to more corporate stuff (group meetings, one-to-one conversations, things like that) and also some resus/clinical scenarios in ward areas. We also do interviews and documentary type videos with someone presenting to camera. The rooms here can sometimes be a bit echoey - it's all hard floors and often quite open spaces (typical of a hospital, I guess). We do sometimes do outdoor shooting but it's pretty rare and even then is usually just incidental footage for use with a voiceover rather than anything needing audio recording. I'm thinking (if I can afford it) a good boom mic and then maybe a couple of lavs? Wireless isn't necessary as we won't have any situations where I can't hide the wires away if we're using lavs.
I'm guessing I'd also need a good recorder too - I've appropriated an H4N from another department but I've only heard bad things about it (not used it yet myself). The Tascam TR-60D sounds pretty good from what I've read of it (especially as often I'll be a one man team) and possibly within my budget, so would that with a good boom mic (I saw someone mention the Audio Technica AT4053b?) do the job? I can handle the boom as usually I can set up the scene with a couple of cameras on tripods for different angles (most of the scenes tend to be quite static) and if that's not possible I can get an assistant to help out. Hiring in external help unfortunately is a no go as often the filming can be very short notice, frequently cancelled/rescheduled at the last minute, and generally speaking there's no money. I'm just quite lucky to have been handed a budget specifically for upgrading my equipment, and it'll need spending quickly or I'll lose it!
Apologies for the ramble but I wanted to make sure I was giving enough information - any advice would be much appreciated.
Many many thanks,
Tim
