Automatic Audio Mixer on Doc. Need Advice.

Vern

Vern

Active member
I'm doing a run/gun doc. I recently took over a doc and the audio is pretty bad. There are, at times, up to 10 players and I've only got 2 channels going into my camera. I need a wireless set up so I can throw 4 (or more) lavs on people and still roam around with my on-camera shotgun mic within one general area.

Is there some sort automatic mixer that I can carry around in my backpack or something? Really don't know much about audio, so dumb down the advice a bit for me.

Right now, I've got 2 Sennheiser ME66 shotguns and 3 wireless Sennheiser lavs.

Eventually I'll be on a boat for about a month (with only solar power) and I'd like the system to carry over to that sort of situation as well. Perhaps that means leaving the auto mixer in the cabin and doing a wireless signal to the camera so I can roam around the boat. Either way, I'm assuming it'll need to be battery powered.

Thanks for any advice.

I'm shooting on a Panasonic HPX170.
 
Hi Vern:

You are shooting in a situation that definitely requires a sound mixer. If you try to do this yourself, your audio will definitely be substandard. You have way too much mic rigging, battery management, cable routing, channel monitoring and routing assignment for one camera op to be worrying about.

There are a few auto-levling mixers out there for live presentations but the quality of the tracking and gating will be pretty bad for what you are doing and the routing will not be sufficient for your needs. Seriously, hire a sound mixer for this, you will regret not doing it.

Dan
 
Another route to consider is a field recorder. You can use your camera's on-board mic for syncing purposes, and run all the rest of your mics into something like the relatively inexpensive Tascam 8-Channel recorder, (though only 6 true mic inputs), or something like that.
 
yeah, i know i need a mixer. i need a line producer too but i don't think it's in the cards.

how about when i'm on the boat? can i just jam the camera too a field recorder and mix it all in in post? how long can I record on one of these? something that doesn't draw a lot of power and runs on batteries. Whatever it is will need to be powered for a month straight, in essence, and be low-maintenence.

i'm also in San Francisco currrently, far from home, if anyone can recommend gear rental places up here. I do need to get a sound mixer asap as i'm losing tons of moments due to lack of proper audio.

Thanks fellas.
 
But you still don't understand, if you have one of these multi-track recorders, who will be riding gain, checking the mics, replacing batteries and most importantly, monitoring the sound from all of the mics, all of the time? You can't start recording and just walk away and assume that good audio is being recorded, someone has to monitor this and handle the issues as they arise and issues always arise.

Sorry, I have not shot in San Francisco with rental gear. Hopefully someone will chime in, I know there at least a few good audio places up there.

Dan
 
I couldnt agree more with Dan on this one.
Sometimes its ok to get by without a sound guy on the smaller jobs but 10 people on camera unscripted?
It's just silly to even think you could try to get away without one on a job of that scale.

With only 1 camera in play a good sound mixer could probably get away with booming everything (wire's could be good on
main talent) but with what you save renting a recorder, mixer..etc.etc..

just hire someone man.
You're only as good as your last job and don't you want your product to be as good as it can be?
 
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Perfect article. Thank you.

I DO understand the importance of a mixer. The problem is, it's just not possible aboard the boat. Not a chance. What I CAN do is plan, and do SOMETHING as apposed to nothing -- those are the options I'm looking for. Perhaps that means getting lanyard type mics so it's easier for me to do solo, or just rigging up the boat with a couple of water proof shotgun mics and recording those sync'd. Any thoughts on that? Perhaps 3 shotgun mics planted and water proofed?? The boat is not a racing boat so I'm not thinking it'll be too loud most of the time.

Here's a link to the boat's website: www.plastiki.com

Also: anybody have experience "waterproofing" Sennheiser G2 transmitters? Maybe the tiny pelican cases with a hole drilled through??

Thanks again.
 
How much $$$ do you have to throw at this? For all the $$$ your talking about I would hire a sound person as a consultant to set it up for you. Map out what you want to get and how to get it. I have a hard time figuring out why you need all those mics for one camera on a small boat. You can't waterproof mics with great reliability. The general way is to use (non lubricated) condoms and a bunch of gaff tape. But your going to be out for weeks so that is an iffy proposition. For dancers and such we usually use condoms on the body packs also. BUT your in saltwater and you have folks working a sail boat and you have to put the lav somewhere. You could talk to Ann Kroeber she and her husband (and brother) worked on and did a lot of field recordings for the fil WIND so that should be a bit similar. But your not likely to get working sailors to wear a lot of audio junk strapped to them and there are also safety issues. Also you are talking a crapload of batteries to power all that. You will need at least 3X the number used since you will only be able to charge during the day when you will also be doing most o the shooting.

For rentals you could try Leo's and I think Gassers still is in business. Support businesses for film up here have died with the demise of a lot of the filming in the bay area so it's kind of slim pickings. But any equipment you keep for weeks at sea you should figure is going to get destroyed. A lot won't but salt water is VERY destructive to electronic equipment. I sure wouldn't rent to this shoot, with out having everything serviced afterward on your dime.
Check the REEL DIRECTORY on line and there should be everyone in the area that rents equipment.

BTW it won't be quiet unless your just sitting dead in the water. Sail boats don't have motor noise but thee is a lot of sound. Also you will have some serious wind issues.

My advice s to simplify as much as possible.

If you want to talk to Ann drp me a line off list.

Cheers
SK
 
thank you sk. this is perfect. i'm pushing to get a sound man onto the project, and it most likely will happen, i just wanted a do-it-myself option in case I couldn't get one.

with the condom technique, do you place it over the bare mic and then a softie or blimp OVER it? is there a way to waterproof an on-camera shotgun with blimp?
 
Vern said:
thank you sk. this is perfect. i'm pushing to get a sound man onto the project, and it most likely will happen, i just wanted a do-it-myself option in case I couldn't get one.

with the condom technique, do you place it over the bare mic and then a softie or blimp OVER it? is there a way to waterproof an on-camera shotgun with blimp?
Click to expand...

I haven't done much underwater recording (what one would normally use the condom for) and the last time one of the editors happened to have one with him... It was old and leaked, a very sad commentary on the private life of professional sound editors ;~)

The general idea is to cover the whole thing back to the cable and gaff tape the condom to the cable to seal it. This probably has a not great affect on performance but it's generally used to put the mic underwater so your not going to get a normal sound anyway. Mics used in wet weather are not (in my experience) "waterproofed". Usually you have it in a zep with the deadcat and some of this matting stuff over the top as an umbrella of sorts. Your just trying to get the rain to go around rather than through the zep so the mic stays dry. But everything else gets wet. As I said I would talk to some people who have done this kind of recording. Find some doc that is out in the water a lot, look up the sound mixer and google them. They will be in some directory and ask them what they did.
 
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