H4N for filming short or feature films?

New_Zealand

New_Zealand

Veteran
I'm sure some of you guys are using the H4N with your DSLR? If so can you share some of your thoughts on the setup? Are you using an extra Mic or using the built in ones that the H4N has ?
 
Depends what you want to record with it? LIVE audio or Dialog...different techniques and different setup.

For LIVE audio recording, I think it would be ok, but like any other audio setup, camera-mounted isn't the best solution (unless for run-and-gun). If you plan to use it separately from the DSLR, the onboard mic aren't bad, but an external mic would definitively help.

For dialog, then you'll need a lot more than simply the recorder: An external microphone and a boompole to use with the H4n. It's more expensive, but it'll do a day-and-night difference on the results.
 
It won't be mounted on the camera. I already have the boom pole and a good mic that I use with my panny setup.
 
The built in mics can be useful for recording ambience and room tone sometimes, but you definitely do not want to use them for dialogue...especially in stereo mode. You'll want to run an appropriate mic on a boom (typically a shotgun for exteriors and a hyper for interiors) and set the levels manually, don't use auto gain control as your levels will be all over the map if you do. Record in 48/24 or 96/24 if you have the extra space. While I didn't find the 96/24 to sound better, I did find that certain programs would be more effective when it came to noise removal if they were working with a 96k file as opposed to a 48k file, but YMMV on that one -- I was using the free plugins with Audacity for noise removal early on, and they seemed to work better with 96k files, I've since moved on to some better plugins from Waves and Izotope and they seem to handle 48 and 96 equally well.
 
Thanks - With the mic attached to the boom pole where do you keep your H4N? I was thinking attaching to the belt but then you can't get to it very easily and was wonder if anyone attaches it towards the bottom of the boom pole to have access to it?
 
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