Good audio in club setting

D

David W. Richardson

Chapelgrove Films
There's a local band that wants me to shoot a video of them playing in a live venue -- in this case, a rather large (700-1000 people) club. What's the best way to capture good audio in that situation? I could probably pull an audio feed from the sound board into my DVX100a, but I worry that taking sound that way will lose the 'roomy' quality of the audio. And I don't know how to re-introduce that spatiality in post. At the same time, I think it would be difficult to rig any kind of mic setup that wouldn't run the risk of being blown out by the sheer volume of the music in that large a venue.

I need the experts' advice!
 
what the heck?? i'm pretty sure i didnt type that.

search... there are lots of threads that will answer your questions - i remember writing a pretty detailed post on how i handle these sort of things.
 
I've had pretty good sucess with a Sennheiser MD421II high up on a C-stand. It's a very rugged dynamic mic with high SPL rating. Have used it at live shows and in noisy bar scenes.

-Vic
 
vicrattlehead said:
I've had pretty good sucess with a Sennheiser MD421II high up on a C-stand. It's a very rugged dynamic mic with high SPL rating. Have used it at live shows and in noisy bar scenes.
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For live venues, I'll usually use a mix of the following:

1) Direct (dry) send from the house mixer. Usually gives you a nice, clean, close-perspective track of the instruments and vocals. I try to get this feed from a point in the signal chain before bass-extension or other effects proccessing. If possible, try to get a feed in which different instruments are grouped onto seperate sends. That way, you can remix it to suit your needs.

2) Close-up mics on the PA system. A simmilary dry sound, but with the additional colouration of the PA system. Often lacks the clean detail of a mixer send, but makes up for that with a ballsier sound. Shure SM-57 mics are great for this, although music with lots of sub-bass and bass-extension may warrant a kick-drum mic like an AKG D112.

3) Crowd mic(s). Like Vic's MD421II, these mic's are placed more or less centrally in the venue to catch the room accoustics as well as the crowd's reaction. Stereo pairs are great for this application. Although these mics won't take the punishment of the PA mics, they'll still need a pretty high SPL rating.

As you add more mics, you'll have to either record to a multitrack, or else ride the levels very well. High SPL headphones can be a real help for loud venues (protect your hearing and ensure accurate monitoring at the same time).
 
Wow SMuir! I had no idea it could be so complex. I don't think I'm ready to tackle anything with that many mics. I was hoping for something simple -- like a pull from the sound board along with a single on-camera (2nd camera) mic to gather the room ambience. Guess that would be too simplistic, eh?
 
chapelgrovefilms said:
Guess that would be too simplistic, eh?
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Not at all. A direct mixer feed and ambience mic will certainly get the job done.

The key to recording in a live venue with sound reinforcement is to strike a ballance between the "dry" sound coming out of the house mixer and the "wet" sound coming out of the air. Micing the PA's just adds another level of detail between the two (a "damp" sound, if you will). As such, its not that big a deal. Something you have to give some thought to, however, is mono vs. stereo recording.

When you record "dry" on channel 1 and "wet" on channel 2, you'll eventually be mixing the two in post-production into a mono track. Of course, mono is perfectly acceptable, and we should all be so lucky as to have well-recorded mono tracks to work with. If you want a more immersive, you-are-there sound, consider using a stereo pair and running the whole thing through a 3-channel mixer. When you mix the "dry" track into the centre of a "wet" stereo image, things can start sounding pretty cool.

Just be prepared to deal with hum or buzz on that feed from the mixer. In other words, bring a spare Shure SM-57 in case the mixer feed is so noisey that you have to mic the PA system for your "dry" track.
 
Good advice. My plan was to pull a stereo feed from the house mixing board into camera #1, and a mono mic for the 'wet' sound attached to camera #2. Camera #1 would give me the stationary master shot, while camera #2 would float to give mediums, closeups, two-shots, etc. This would give me a stereo 'dry' set and a mono 'wet' track to mix together. Not the perfect scheme, but simple enough for me to handle.
 
chapelgrovefilms said:
My plan was to pull a stereo feed from the house mixing board into camera #1, and a mono mic for the 'wet' sound attached to camera #2. Camera #1 would give me the stationary master shot, while camera #2 would float to give mediums, closeups, two-shots, etc.
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This sounds like a good plan. One thing to bear in mind, though: if the "wet" mic is physically attached to Camera #2, the "wet" sound will be entirely from its POV. This could complicate the editing somewhat, but i think you'll still be satisfied with the results.

Good luck with the shoot.
 
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