how many mics do you have ?

D

deleuze3

Well-known member
Hi, i was wondering how many mics do you have ?

How many mics do you actually use ?

For filmmaking, as a start, do you think a lav, a shotgun and an hypercardioid would do the job ?

I already have an oktava mk012 and a rode lavalier. I was planning to buy a at875r for outside.

Thanks in advance,
Deleuze3
 
Uhhh ... 26 in my "active" collection, plus five more I consider obsolete junk/backups. But I do some music recording and sound reinforcement work as well, and occasionally have to mic up a whole room, or a table of speakers, for panel discussions and such. The mics I use for that (mostly small diaphragm cardioid condensers) tend to be separate from the lavs, shotguns, hypers and handheld reporter's microphones I use in video production.

Really, it depends totally on what kind of production you plan to do. Personally, I couldn't live without at least two lavaliers in my kit at all times, plus a hyper and shotgun. A handheld dynamic like an RE50 or Sennheiser MD46 is useful if you do on-camera reportage. If you ever want to record voiceovers/narration, something like an EV RE20 or Shure SM7B is useful as well, but probably wouldn't go out in the field very often.

The AT875R is a terrific general purpose mic and one of the world's great bargains, but it's not the most directional of shotguns, and might not have the "reach" you need in some circumstances.

- Greg
 
deleuze3 said:
Hi, i was wondering how many mics do you have ?
Click to expand...

For film/ TV/video, a shotgun, two hypers, six lavs, a handheld interview mic, a stereo mic (for SFX and ambient bed recording), and a VideoMic Pro.

For studio and live stage, another 35 mics of different kinds.

deleuze3 said:
How many mics do you actually use ?
Click to expand...

All of them. Not typically at the same time, but different tools for different applications.

deleuze3 said:
For filmmaking, as a start, do you think a lav, a shotgun and an hypercardioid would do the job ?
Click to expand...

Maybe? Is one lav enough? Are you often interviewing multiple people at the same time?

A good shotgun is a good start. Anything else is added as you find yourself in situations where you need a different tool.
 
I have a bunch of mics, but I do some work as a location sound mixer, so I had better have a bunch.

The main thing I'll suggest for you is to get one more lav mic. Lav mic are fairly susceptible to damage and it'd be a bummer if a damaged mic killed your day. So have a spare.

And perhaps consider an additonal wireless system to go with it. It would be good to be able to wire up two people (hence; two wireless systems), but even if you have just one wireless system, it makes a lot of sense to have a spare mic.

The other thing to think about: What are you going to do with these mics? Attach them to a camera? Use the two bigger ones on a boom and run them (and the wireless system) into a separate audio recorder?

And do you want to be the audio person, the camera person, or are you planning to be a one-person band and do it all?

Those aren't rhetorical questions. Let us know since the answers will inform our responses. ;-)
 
Last edited:
Around 30 I think, If I count my cheap lavs. But I don't do much filmmaking anymore, mainly events, commercial and corporate so I need a wide variety.
For outside I would suggest some type of blimp. To me it's worth it not having to try to salvage audio in post. And a good set of headphones to monitor.

There are some really knowledgeable people here (not me) that can provide good help if you can tell us more about the kind of filmmaking you intend to do and how you plan to use your mics.
 
Thanks all for your answers. I appreciate.

FOr outdoors shooting, i plan to buy a at875r.

But since i have already an oktava mk012, i was thinking of buying a windjammer + baby ball gag windshield instead.

What would you do if you were me ?

Thanks in advance
 
I have a sanken CS1 that I use for 98% of all my work. End of. Its on a wire. I have a spare wire.

I have a wireless set up that I dont use (much) and various 'scratch mics' that I use for multicam.

I get OK sound by..
good mic placement
picture composition that justifies any extra sounds.
recording wildtrack
listening when I record
knowing how to edit
knowing when to hire a soundie
 
Last edited:
I own dozens of mics.
How many do I use on a job? Anywhere from one to perhaps four boom mics, and anywhere from a couple to 8 or so lav mics, and anywhere from zero to three plant mics. Those are all pretty generally typical figures for me.

For the OP, I'd suggest the Rycote INV7 as a shock mount for your Oktava if you haven't already. Plus an Deity S Mic 2 for outdoors with a Rode Blimp v2. And a couple more Sony UWP-D11 wireless.

Depending on what exactly it is you're needing this for and your overall budget plus medium term plans.
 
A thought.

How many tracks of audio can a viewer appreciate? Basically one spoken+wildtrack/ambient.

Im not sure the productions that need 4-8 mics. (yes they do exist of course) but in the main one is enough!
 
morgan_moore said:
A thought.

How many tracks of audio can a viewer appreciate? Basically one spoken+wildtrack/ambient.

Im not sure the productions that need 4-8 mics. (yes they do exist of course) but in the main one is enough!
Click to expand...

Well your "standard" narrative film will go to the final mix with 50 to 100 tracks. Documentaries are lower but sometimes will get up in the 30's.

But your mixing up production, post production and final release tracks. Production often records a bunch of tracks and post cuts that down to basically one track, but it will be laid out on numerous tracks. The sound department will bring in lots of tracks of sounds to cover the action and build the world the film takes place in.
Music brings in a bunch of tracks and Foley, maybe ADR...

What you describe is more of a ENG type situation where you shoot an interview and throw it together and it's played hours later. Yes then you don't record or mix many tracks.

But again what "a viewer (can) appreciate" is the release format, or at lest the STEMS and doesn't have a lot to do with how many tracks production recorded.
 
OP, If you have been doing sound for many years like some of us you acquire mics for various reasons over the years. I'm also in the 30+ (maybe more) category and I mostly record stereo or mono for FX work. I have some mics because they have a weird sound, some because they have a great sound and some because they are OK and cheap so I'm not worried about strapping them say under the hood of a car. Because I'm mostly recording SFX 80-90% of the time I'm using a stereo pair of cardioid mics and most of the rest of the time it's a hyper or a shotgun. On production it depends but wireless is often in the mix. On a "reality" sort of gig I had a bunch of plant mics because of the logistics of the shoot.

I don't own a micI haven't used, but some don't get used a lot.
 
Noiz2 said:
Well your "standard" narrative film will go to the final mix with 50 to 100 tracks. Documentaries are lower but sometimes will get up in the 30's.

But your mixing up production, post production and final release tracks. Production often records a bunch of tracks and post cuts that down to basically one track, but it will be laid out on numerous tracks. The sound department will bring in lots of tracks of sounds to cover the action and build the world the film takes place in.
Music brings in a bunch of tracks and Foley, maybe ADR...

What you describe is more of a ENG type situation where you shoot an interview and throw it together and it's played hours later. Yes then you don't record or mix many tracks.

But again what "a viewer (can) appreciate" is the release format, or at lest the STEMS and doesn't have a lot to do with how many tracks production recorded.
Click to expand...

Indeed. I am talking ENG, doc, and low budget corporate - were I can often go to many tracks (maybe 4!) wildtrack, ambient voice and music.

I just wanted to present a counterpoint to the 'I own 8 mics' story line.

At a basic level I think listening, choosing the sounds you want, imagining their place in the edit and recording those sounds, usually by placing a shotgun near them, while monitoring are the key skills. Not gear.

Feature? Yep kit. 8 people round a table? Yep kit. Orchestra? Yep Kit.

In all those cases - hire a sound team!

Many jobs? Brain outclasses gear - gear can get in the way. Wide shots can get in the way. Lack of knowledge of the non synch wide can get in the way. Lack of practice of editing ambient over, Broll and or offspeed vision can get in the way.
 
Last edited:
I'm a one man show most of the time. I have three mkh416's (super) (planning on selling one), rode reporter (handheld), three DR-10L lav kits, two MKE2's (AVX kits), a rode videomic that I don't use anymore, 2 H4N recorders, and a Sound Devices mix Pre-D. I still want to buy a hypercardiod but not really feeling a need it right now. I also have a back full of cables, adapters, recorders and the like.
 
morgan_moore said:
...

In all those cases - hire a sound team!

Many jobs? Brain outclasses gear - gear can get in the way...
Click to expand...
Most of the folks with a lot of mics are that "sound team", I doubt most shooters have a lot of mics.
Gear can get in the way and skill trumps gear almost always.
 
morgan_moore said:
Indeed. I am talking ENG, doc, and low budget corporate - were I can often go to many tracks (maybe 4!) wildtrack, ambient voice and music.
Click to expand...

A few years ago we were running around a college campus during football season doing live shots from various locations with talent, players, coaches, etc. We asked the producer going in, how many people max would ever need to be wired up at once. We were told 2-3. So we decided to travel as light as possible since we would be running around and only brought the 3-channel mixer(SD302, before I bought a 633 as the Run & Gun mixer). About half-way through the producer says we're going into the coaches office for a "tour" with him. We need four people mic'd up. We ran four channels of wireless into a three channel mixer and mixed it down to two channels that were sent to me wirelessly. Oh, yeah, and this was all live. My audio guy was glad when that shot was over.
 
Noiz2 said:
Most of the folks with a lot of mics are that "sound team", I doubt most shooters have a lot of mics.
Gear can get in the way and skill trumps gear almost always.
Click to expand...

I'd say a lot don't, but if you have a couple of gear packages, it's pretty easy to get the body count up there. I have several camera packages and tons of wireless. When I was on the road, I had a gear package that stayed on the road so I didn't have to take it back and forth home every week. Just a basic ENG package, but it was six mics, just for that. Two wireless lavs, two stick-mics, on-cam shotgun/nat mic and a lip-mic for cutting tracks. When you have a lot of wireless, the lavs add up fast. I think I have 15 lavs.
 
Run&Gun said:
A few years ago we were running around a college campus during football season doing live shots from various locations with talent, players, coaches, etc. We asked the producer going in, how many people max would ever need to be wired up at once. We were told 2-3. So we decided to travel as light as possible since we would be running around and only brought the 3-channel mixer(SD302, before I bought a 633 as the Run & Gun mixer). About half-way through the producer says we're going into the coaches office for a "tour" with him. We need four people mic'd up. We ran four channels of wireless into a three channel mixer and mixed it down to two channels that were sent to me wirelessly. Oh, yeah, and this was all live. My audio guy was glad when that shot was over.
Click to expand...
On that "reality" shoot I mentioned they specced one boom mic and one lav... I brought a lot of extras and used every one. I ended up using my backup recorder as a second system, something else they failed to mention.

I have great sympathy for location recordists. I have hardly ever been on location where they gave an accurate assessment of needs ahead of time. And on a couple of occasions where we specced certain items to be available they were not there when I arrived, or were not what was asked for. In one location it took three tries before they got a mixer that came close enough to what was specced. We needed the live mixer to feed direct outs to the recording set up. First mixer didn't have direct outs, second mixer didn't even function!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top