How's this set up for a ultra low budget feature?

M

Movie_Dude_3

Well-known member
I'm a 20 year old college student trying to save as much as possible with a feature flick I'm hoping to finish over the summer. I bought my DVX100b earlier this year and now, I'm setting aside the funds for my audio. The thing is, I can't spend too much because I have to pay bills and I have a god daughter/niece on the way.

So here's the set up I'm looking into right now:

Off Amazon, $59:
Audio-Technica ATR-35S Lavalier Microphone - $26.61


Audio-Technica AT8314-15, Premium 15' Balanced Microphone Cable with 3-Pin XLR Male to 3-Pin XLR Female Connector - $10.65


On Stage Spotlight Tripod Microphone Boom Stand - $25

Off B&H($308)
Rode NTG 2 - $269
Rode Dead Cat Wind Muff - $39

Altogether, almost $370. It'll probably cross the mark with shipping. I wanted to use the boom stand as a replacement for a $150 boom mic. I would primarily use the boom pole on the stand, which is supposedly well put together.

Will this be sufficient for my needs? I will be shooting indoors and outdoors equally, and the movie is a comedy, so it's dialogue-heavy. My intention is that one day I'll submit it to film festivals, but the main idea is to get it finished.

Thanks for any advice guys!
 
i think with that 26 dollar lav, you're really pushing your budget.
Perhaps you could try to find one for half of that?

Seems a little high.

do yourself a favor and start reading every thread on this forum as you can about audio in general.
 
Rippie said:
i think with that 26 dollar lav, you're really pushing your budget.
Perhaps you could try to find one for half of that?

Seems a little high.

do yourself a favor and start reading every thread on this forum as you can about audio in general.
Click to expand...

I've read through the stickies and a few of the other threads. I've also done some research through Youtube reviews.

Is there really a cheaper lav mic? Or was that a sarcastic remark?
 
Rippie's in sarcasm mode. For a decent lav, you should be budgeting a minimum of around $350.

Talk to Guy over at DVeStore about his NTG-2 package, and then get some good reference headphones, ie. Sony MDR7506, and you'll have an okay, if very basic, starter kit. Unless you're planning on duct-taping the actors into place so they won't move (comedy GOLD, I admit), you want a boom op, not a tripod stand.

And like Rippie suggests, at the very least, you need to read at least the entirety of the stickies (yellow threads) on this board.
 
JordanBlock said:
Rippie's in sarcasm mode. For a decent lav, you should be budgeting a minimum of around $350.

Talk to Guy over at DVeStore about his NTG-2 package, and then get some good reference headphones, ie. Sony MDR7506, and you'll have an okay starter kit. Unless you're planning on duct-taping the actors into place so they won't move (comedy GOLD, I admit), you want a boom op, not a tripod stand.
Click to expand...

I'm not using the stand, I'm buying it for the boom pole. I'm worried though since it doesn't give the length of the pole itself.

And I can't afford a $350 lav. I know this is a professional board, but I'm still not there yet. I have a long, long way to go. Gotta start somewhere, I think.

Thanks for the advice!
 
ditch the wired lav.
Useless in your situation.

Ditch the microphone stand, useless in your situation.

Get that shotgun, windscreen, 25ft xlr.
GOOD microphone shockmount, and a cheapy boompole.

GOOD headphones (or you wont know what you're actually recording)
and a headphone extension cable from radio shack.

Your camera op of course has the burden of doing 2 jobs at once, camera, and watching your levels.

I'll say this as plainly as possible.
Redesign your shots so you can get close with your microphone.
You can tell a wonderful story without EXTREME headroom wide shots..and get decent sound which will make your student film 10x better than the ones with bad sound.
Or you can disregard that advice and have a movie no one will want to watch because
the sound is terrible.

Your choice.
 
I know you can't afford the lav, you probably don't need one in your situation (And if you do, then its more likely that you need several, with the wireless kit to go with them. If you have a shot that you absolutely must use a wire for, rent it for that day.

Any boom you pull off a tripod stand is going to be like 3' long, absolutely useless for your purposes. Check out the NTG-2 package from DVeStore and add the Sony phones. Guy is a sponsor and gives a discount for members of this board.

That gives you a very basic, but capable sound kit.

The other option is to just rent everything, which would mean your $ would get you better gear to work with. (And before the inevitible "But I live in the middle of nowhere." The big houses - Trew,Gotham,Coffey,etc - will absolutely ship rental gear to your location.)


And 2nd everything Rippie said...
 
Rippie said:
ditch the wired lav.
Useless in your situation.

Ditch the microphone stand, useless in your situation.

Get that shotgun, windscreen, 25ft xlr.
GOOD microphone shockmount, and a cheapy boompole.

GOOD headphones (or you wont know what you're actually recording)
and a headphone extension cable from radio shack.

Your camera op of course has the burden of doing 2 jobs at once, camera, and watching your levels.

I'll say this as plainly as possible.
Redesign your shots so you can get close with your microphone.
You can tell a wonderful story without EXTREME headroom wide shots..and get decent sound which will make your student film 10x better than the ones with bad sound.
Or you can disregard that advice and have a movie no one will want to watch because
the sound is terrible.

Your choice.
Click to expand...

I definitely don't mind making the shots tighter and more personal. I'm looking into the pair of headphones now, I definitely forgot about that. Took off the lav and tripod from my cart. How does a hockey stick sound for a boom pole? Finally, I'm looking into the RODE shockmount. I just regret not getting a $269 B&H bundle earlier; it came with the mic, a short XLR cable and the shockmount. Now it's out of stock. :(
 
Hockey stick -- no. Just no. :)

One of the biggest problems with having a boom stand beyond what was already said is that it'll be nigh unto impossible to have more than one person in the sweet spot of your microphone's pickup pattern, especially a shotgun pattern. It may be possible for shots where they're particularly close together, but if they're sitting at a table across from each other, etc., you need dynamic booming to get the mic where it needs to be.
 
Yeah, you can find cheap boom poles for under 100 bucks. The other option is a long, extendable painters pole from a hardware store. 10 - 25 bucks. You have to modify the top. Search in the DIY section for more info. And don't worry, because that mount that came in the rode package sucked. Mine broke very fast and I would have never wanted to use it up on a boom pole. Also, the cable was xlr to mini. You need an xlr to xlr. And a long one at that.

Good luck.
 
Entity said:
Yeah, you can find cheap boom poles for under 100 bucks. The other option is a long, extendable painters pole from a hardware store. 10 - 25 bucks. You have to modify the top. Search in the DIY section for more info. And don't worry, because that mount that came in the rode package sucked. Mine broke very fast and I would have never wanted to use it up on a boom pole. Also, the cable was xlr to mini. You need an xlr to xlr. And a long one at that.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

10-25 bucks for a makeshift boom pole sounds great. Sorry to hear the bundle didn't come out so well =\

Thanks for the great advice!
 
First post, hope it is okay since I don't own a dvx...but have been lurking here a lot stealing audio advice.

I actually am planning on shooting a short (indoor/outdoor) this weekend with almost the same setup:
rode ntg-2 (i got the cheap bh package)
a pd170
a homemade fishpole
and a mic stand.

I can report back with the results if you are interested. One thing I will say, if you are going to use a mic stand, get one that telescopes to 4 feet. It will work a lot better as long as you block your shots right.
 
Sounds great! I just ordered my RTG-2, Rode shockmount and wind muff. I should be getting it on Monday, so we'll both be able to talk about the mics.
 
If you must use a stationary boom...

If you must use a stationary boom...

No substitute for a boom operator, but this worked quite well for a set I worked on recently:

Calumet 6.5' Boom Arm and Light Stand With Casters ($169)
http://www.calumetphoto.com/item/MF6210K/

It's not very heavy-duty, so I wouldn't try putting too much on the end of the arm, but I used it with a mic & blimp and it held up quite well.http://www.calumetphoto.com/item/MF6210/ We were using it in a very static situation (talent sitting at a desk, or laying in bed) so your mileage may vary.

John Moore
http://sound.flyingmonkeystudio.com
 
I know this is going to be a VERY noob question to ask, but when buying an XLR-to-XLR extension cable, should I get male-to-female? male-to-male?

Thanks for all the help guys.
 
Better to ask the questions than to find out too late that you got the wrong thing. You'll want Male - Female XLR cables to connect the mic to your camera. Don't forget a headphone extension of about the same length to let the boom op hear whats being recorded.
 
Thanks guys. Just bought a XLR cable and a pair of headphones. With about $420 spent on audio, I still need a boom pole.

Anyone have any ideas for a less expensive hobby?
 
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