Indoor Shoot Mic options?

T

Trinity_Audio

New member
Hi guys

Im going to be doing a short 10 minute film in january and im just looking for a bit of advice on mics. Its an indoor shoot in a large country house, 2 actors who wont me moving much sat infront of an open fire. Now i will be using 2 radio mics for sure but im not sure what else to use, i have the option of booming both actors with a 416 and nt-2 but im not sure how these would fare in an indoor situation, so any suggestions on mic or ambient micing welcome as we can hire basically any mics we may need.

cheers

j
 
Indoors you generally want a hypercardioid rather than a shotgun. Do a search for 'hyper' and you should get a ton of results.
 
The 416 instead of the NT-2, on a pole with a boom operator. If the fire makes too much noise, that may be a legitimate reason to go with the wireless lavs.

Glen Trew
 
The reason hypers are more commonly used indoors is that shotguns pick up echo and slap off the walls in a strange, and unnatural sounding way. Some shotguns can't handle any interiors because of this, but the 416 Glen mentioned (or the NTG-3 which is very similar) is one of the better ones in this reguard (and just in general as they're both solid mics).

If the room is small and has lots of bare walls without a carpeting, couches, ect... then the reflections may be too out of control for the 416. Or with a medium-to-large room without too many echo issues a 416 may be perfect. Without being in the room it's hard to know.

Hypers pick up reflections more naturally, but don't reject as much sound on the sides either.

With all the variables, that's why it's a common suggestion to find a sound guy with gear already. Depending on who you find you may get much better sound for the same as it would've cost to rent mics you weren't even 100% certain were correct.
 
I agree with Gohanto above. If you already own a 416, I'd suggest using a Sennheiser MKH40 or MKH50 indoors. They're arguably as good as a Schoeps 641 in many ways, but about half as expensive. I would put the MKH series well ahead of less-costly mikes.

Don't overlook the need to use sound blankets to control reflections in small rooms. Your biggest problem with actors in front of a fireplace are going to be controlling the noises made by the fire. My suggestion would be to get 90% of the sound for the scene on the reverse angle (looking away from the fireplace towards the actors), douse the fire, and have the DP provide flame-effect lighting to give you clean audio.

--Marc W.
 
@Trinity Audio-You could use your 416 or look into the Rode NT3 as well. But I will warn you the NT3 is heavier.

Nicole
 
Are you the production mixer or the film-maker? If the latter then you can let your mixer worry about what mics he'll use. If you're the mixer and have money then Schoeps hyper cardioid or Sanken CS-3e shotgun (good indoors). If no money then an Oktava hyper cardioid. If you get Oktava's from the Sound Room it's a great sounding mic for a very good price.
 
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