Diving into Audio

Hawk Teflon

Hawk Teflon

Veteran
Well, after my last short I've come to the obvious conclusion that I need help in the audio department. I currently shoot DSLR, and run audio to an H4N. However, I need a set up that will help me boom audio for much better quality. I'll have a dedicated crew member for that, so don't think i'm going at this alone.

However, I've never bought anything for audio past the H4N. I'm not versed in what I need to be looking for.

I shoot a mix of indoor / outdoor (I'd say about 70% indoor, but the outdoor in Oklahoma can be rather windy).

I checked the sticky thread at the top mentioning what set-ups are great for starting, but I think it was made back in 2006 and things have definitely changed since then.

I can't spend a small fortune on this, but I do want something I won't hate in a month, you know?

What would you recommend for $400? What about for $600?
 
If it weren't for the H4n, I'd say get the Rode NTG-2 kit from DVCreators. Unfortunately, that particular shotgun doesn't seem to play nice with the H4n as it has a slightly lower output. Recently, some DVXUser members have complained that the H4n's input gain has to be cranked all the way up to get any viable recording level with the NTG-2, and then pre-amp noise is amplified. You could always get an external pre-amp to go with it.

The Rode NTG-3 does cost a little more, but it's an amazing mic and it does play nice with the H4n. The truth of the matter is that you get what you pay for.

The Audio Technica AT875 shotgun seems to work well with the H4n without the need for any external pre-amp, though the shotgun itself does not sound as good as the Rode.

Basically, you need to get a full kit with mic, boom, shock mount, and some kind of windscreening. But then... shotgun mics usually aren't the best choice for audio indoors. That's territory for a hypercardioid condenser like the AT4053b or the Oktava MK012 Bello Nero.

The NTG-3 will perform better indoors than other shotguns, but the most useful audio kits have more than one mic.
 
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Thanks C2V! I was actually really hoping you'd post here. I know you know your stuff on audio.

I'm thinking that NTG-3 would be a little too much right now. That's about $900 for the set (mic, pole, mount, etc). I'm pulling teeth to get my wife to agree to $600, and unless I can sell the Digital Cinema Training DVD's, I wouldn't be able to afford it.

I'll look further into those threads tonight!
 
Another option that so many people seem to ignore is teaming up with an up and coming sound person in your area. There's bound to be someone not too far from you with an interest in sound and maybe not a ton of experience that's looking to learn. Find them, see if you can work together.

So many people that post here want to just buy all the gear themselves and then have anyone that's handy on set swing a boom. Unless you're actually looking to get into audio yourself, I don't recommend going and buying anything more than a very basic kit for your own use when you don't have a proper sound person with you. (Plus that way you save teeth and have more $$ to spend on camera goodies.)
 
Great advice Jordan!

Don't forget renting! Which we did for years. Even a couple of our location recordists - who were experienced and talented, one even gave courses at the NFB, rented gear on a per-production basis.

Owning gear that you don't use very frequently amounts to putting a pile of money in the corner and watching it depreciate.

On the other hand, sometimes you need to have a selection of gear ready to just pick up and go, I understand that.

If you have to buy on a limited budget, why not buy quality used rather than lower-quaity new? Trew Audio, Gotham Sound, and even forums like this (or JWSound for production audio) have vibrant used-gear market places.
 
Yeah, I've actually checked the Marketplace here for those listed above, but I couldn't find anything. Since "875" is too short of a search query, I know I'm missing some.

I'm absolutely for buying used (from reputable people), but only knew of this board really. I just checked gotham but it didn't seem to have much.
 
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