AC90: Capturing Good Audio in Noisy Environments: AC90+Rode NTG1

T

Todd_Sh

New member
Hi, I'll start with admitting my newbie status, with this cam being my first AVCCAM, and the Rode NTG1 being my first shotgun mic.

I've been gaining some insights about setting gain levels with XLR mics from other threads, but I'm wondering if people with more experience than me might please be able to offer some more general hints and tips to help me capture better audio.

I'm doing a fair bit of vox-pop style/ run and gun interviews in cafe/ restaurant environments.

What I've been finding is that all of the cooking and air con equipment means that there seems to always be an underlying 'hum' or background noise, as well as the clanking of pots and dishes etc.

I was hoping that the ntg-1 would mean a more concise 'directional' recording, but I'm still finding the recordings are very noisy.

Without an audio guy and a boom mic with me, are there things I could be doing/ basic settings I should always have, etc to get the best possible sound with the least amount of background noise?

Also, should I always expect to have to some kind of NLE noise gate plugin manipulations, or should it possible to achieve good audio without the need to spend hours in post production?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Todd
 
First of all, you're finding out that sound is 80% of what you see.

And to record a spoken voice for video, any mic has to be within one foot, aimed at the speakers mouth.

With any shotgun and 2 or more spoken voices in a noisy environment, you need a boom and a boom operator who knows what he's doing,
to capture useable voice recordings. In a run and gun situation there's no other way.

As a solo operator, an alternative is to set up your NTG-1 off the camera on a mic stand in the quietest location you can find,
between the 2 speakers aimed as close as you can. Get 2 ppl and practise this and forget about seeing your mic in shot.

In a noisy area you'll always get some background you can't get rid of it, and the voices should speak up.
But with camera playback through cans, if you can't understand what they're saying, it's a write off, forget it. No offence, but with your experience,
no amount of post production will save it. Hope this helps.

Cheers.
 
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Use a wireless lav mic on the 2nd XLR audio channel for noisy environments. Noise gates in post won't help as the noise will still be there when the person is speaking. Parametric EQ might help a little.

If the Rode mic is camera mounted then the closer you get to the person speaking the lower the background noise will be since you can lower the audio gain level on the camera.

Might want to read what othere think about this mic here:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/367746-REG/Rode_NTG_1_NTG_1_Condenser_Shotgun_Microphone.html
 
I also shoot one man, however to help first get just a noise pattern of the room for approx 5-10 sec and use that later in post to help remove as much as possible, FCP and Adobe have good results without buying plugins just watch a few videos to understand how to correctly remove noise and the limits(unless you can control the room this is the only way to do it!). I also agree use a wireless lav mic with a good cover over the mic so it wont pick up movements in the interviewee. Most important you need to wear good headphones while shooting, only you can hear with headphone what you will hear later. This way you can make adjustments on the fly, Remember you can always ask for the person to say it agian. However once you leave you are out of luck.

The rest just takes practice, the more you do the better you will get. Follow the same routine each time, don't stray as you might forget something check you gear well before you go one location make sure you understand it buy doing dry runs over and over till you feel good. That way when something goes wrong on location you will know what to do and not freak out.
 
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