Interview Mic: Oktava vs. Lav

They Live

They Live

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The decision seems pretty split between using a boomed mic or a lav mic during an interview.

What do you guys think? I have an Oktava that I was going use on a boom for my indoor interviews, recording to both channels, hot to one and softer on the other.

Would it be a better idea to use a lav mic? Or a lav mic and Oktava combo?

I like the idea of the booming the Oktava for the interview to get a more natural sound and too avoid clothes rustling, etc. I also like the idea of having my 2 channel options.

On the other hand, I don't want to intimidate the interviewee, and with the lav I don't have to worry as much about echoes, bad background sound, etc.


Opinions?
 
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Boom vs Lav

Boom vs Lav

I think you hit the nail on the head - a boom mic can be intimidating to a non-professional interviewee. With proper placement and equipment, you shouldn't have to worry about noise from clothing on a lavalier. Incidently, when NPR's Tony Kahn (long-time broadcaster hosting "Morning Story") gave a talk on sound (Developing Your Style), recorded by IT Conversations. He stated their audio engineers often put lavaliers on baseball caps! Now that's a clever idea new idea... Anyone who does interviewing should listen to his talk available here.

Regards, Michael
 
Gonna disagree with moonlitenite and many others who hold also hold this opinion. If I am doing a sit down interview, it's boom all the way. The "intimidation factor" usually dies after a minute of two of warm up questions.

Wireless lavs come with all the risk involved in the wireless transmission. Secondly, an interviewee will often start out talking really soft, even a whisper, and build up to yelling during the course of an interview. With wireless you are screwed. Cabled lavs solve this but introduce many other inconveniences.

Hidden lavs are never 100% foolproof from extraneous noise. Even exposed lavs are often bumped and disturbed by people talking with their hands and gesturing to themselves.

So if the choice is lav OR boom, most of the time I would choose boom. In the end having the option of both is the best.

My 2 cents
 
Hi Wabbit,

So do you sit close to your subject or does your boom mic have a wide enough pattern to pickup both of you when you're 5 feet away from each other? Or do you use two mics, and if so, what's your configuration? If you're only using one boom, how do you handle post-production editing when both of you are speaking at the same time? I find it imperative to record with two mics to Left/Right channel to deal with this problem.

Thanks, Michael
 
I agree with wabbit 100%.

Been doing interviews for shows like Modern Marvels (and other pretty decent jobs) and we always do both... lav and boom... so far the lav is almost NEVER the mic of choice... my sound notes read the same almost EVERY TIME... "boom on ch1... best sound".

The producers always want to see both mics... for some reason this double mic'ing is perceived as the professional way to do it... they ALWAYS want this... okay maybe ONE time did the lav work out better. We were at South Side Recycling... showing how this place processes an incredible about of aluminum cans for AB... and this place was right next to the highway... outdoor interview... super windy day. The talent was a female spokesperson for AB (pretty lady) and she had on a perfect pants suit for laving... so I put a Sanken cos11 behind her lapel and we sat her so that the wind was blowing across her from the other side... I used one of the rubber tape-down thingies which conceals most of the lav but makes a pocket of airspace for it.

In this situation we had gusts of wind which were rumbling the overhead boom... even though it was in a full blimp and furry! The other issue was that we were surrounded with a wall made of these giant blocks of pressed aluminum cans... cement floor... all pointing TOWARDS the highway, which was only about 50 yards away! So in this ONE situation... the lav pretty much saved me.

Every other time... it's the boom. For indoor stuff? Boom 100% of the time. I've grown to detest lavs. In my opinion most talent is way more comfortable sitting under a boom then having things mounted to their person.

We shot an interview with the lady that discovered Ashton Kutcher (for E!) and this lady was dressed really well with thin material all over... I didn't want to clip a bodypack to her thin clothing, so I thought I'd be a clever guy and just run the body pack out the back of the chair (since "of course" she wouldn't be moving during the interview) after 5 minutes the cam op goes "oh man those hoop earings aren't going to key well... do you have something else?" Since the producer wanted to move this along quickly (they ALWAYS do) she bolted up to run to her purse... *YOINK*

Did I mention that I hate lavs? The worst part is that the sound is usually SO much better with the boom anyway... I keep asking myself what's the point of this laving crap? So far... indoors... for a seated interview... I've never seen the point of the lav.

moonlit: The boom will still pick up the interviewers questions enough for the editing. If you want to use both speakers equally on the edit then you need to mic both speakers independently. Normally it's a 2-cam shoot if the interviewer is also shown... but you can frame to put in both. Just mic accordingly. If the interviewer is not shown then they usually sit to the side of the cam, so that the interviewee is looking into the open space of the frame... and keyed from that same side... then they sit around the 1/3 line of frame. In these situations the mic is litterally less then 18" away from their MOUTH... not their head... so the mic is litterally 6" above their head at the most... forward and aiming down... best to point at an imaginary ball that's about 8" in front of their mouth... so that if they move forward they don't get passed the mic's pickup. When you set up your shot you'll be amazed at how close the mic will be to them and yet still totally out of frame.
 
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Thanks a lot guys.

Yeah, my gut feeling has been to just go with the boom. I think lav's are a pain too, and I've never been blown away by the sound. I also think that we might be moving around some during the interview, so in that case the boom is definately the best decision.

Wabbit, your point about the interviewee starting out with a whisper and getting louder through the interview is another good point. This also makes me think that recording with just the boom, to 2 channels at different levels, will be my best option.

Matt, how important do you think a windjammer is for the Oktava? I've got it on a KSSM Shockmount with a Rycote BBG. So far, I haven't run into any problems, but I also haven't had to move the boom much when I've used it. If I'm walking around with the interviewee around his studio, do you think I'll still be okay with just the BBG? Also, any opinions on cable length?
 
You should be okay with just the BBG even when free-booming indoors. If the mic is locked down I will sometimes even use it BARE! I used to think this was a horrible idea... and you are taking a chance... but some of the other soundguys that I have worked with were doing this and they looked at me like I was nuts when I tried to leave on a zep for a seated interview.

At this point I pretty much say "fur outside" is the general rule.

As for cable length? I would say it is best to have a cable that is as long as you need. ;-)

(tough question without knowing the exact situation... I have many lengths)
 
MattinSTL said:
As for cable length? I would say it is best to have a cable that is as long as you need. ;-)

(tough question without knowing the exact situation... I have many lengths)
Click to expand...

Sorry for being vague.

I'm running audio directly into the DVX, no mixer. I have a 25' cable right now. If I'm sitting with the guy, the camera is right next to me, and then next to the camera is the boom operator, I was thinking 10' might be a good choice. Basically, in most situations the boom operator will be very close to the camera. I just don't want my boom operator have to deal with a ton of extra cable, and since it will be a mixture of sit down and roaming interviews, I was curious as to what would be easiest for a boom operator. I have a Gitzo G557 Boom Pole, 4 sections with a reach of up to 9'.
 
A 10' in the bag sure isn't going to hurt... but there's no reason that you can't also get to know my good friend, the Rip-Tie. I use Rip-Ties all the time to loop up excess length as needed. You don't want to be hanging a heavy load of cable off your DVX jacks or be hoisting a loop of 10' of cable at the end of a boom pole... but you can strain relief the cable at the cam input and loop up the 10' that you don't need.

Obviously I would normally just grab a 10' cable for this use... but I'm just sayin'...

I have cables in all sizes from 18" up to 100'... but generally speaking I have 2 x 15', 2 x 25', and 1 x 50' with me no matter what. If I'm wearing a mixer bag and booming then I like 6' if the bag has tails coming out of it (cable ends to plug into) or 7' if it doesn't. That's based on me being 6' tall. In an active booming situation I'll usually grab the excess cable and hold it to the pole (at the butt of the pole) so that I can push the pole back and forth without having to think about the wire that's hanging down (since it runs more or less with my back arm when I grip it like this).
 
moonlitnite said:
Hi Wabbit,

So do you sit close to your subject or does your boom mic have a wide enough pattern to pickup both of you when you're 5 feet away from each other? Or do you use two mics, and if so, what's your configuration? If you're only using one boom, how do you handle post-production editing when both of you are speaking at the same time? I find it imperative to record with two mics to Left/Right channel to deal with this problem.

Thanks, Michael
Click to expand...

I think Matt already answered this for you but for most documentary interviews the interviewer is sitting off camera. If there are multiple people being interviewed then they are usually close enough to cover with one mic. If it starts to get more complicated then that then I might bring another boom in but, yes, I would also try to wire them up.

I would also ask the interviewer to make sure not to talk at same time as interviewee and if they do, re-ask the question. No matter how you mic it, this can be a real problem in editing interviews.

If we are doing a walk-and-talk interview then I would definately be getting w/l on everyone...if I can.

Cheers
 
Many thanks Matt and Wabbit - great feedback. Lacking a crew and interviewing amateurs, I'll continue with the perils of lavaliers but certainly have a better appreciation of the standards of excellence. But maybe in my next life...

Regards, Michael
 
For sit down interviews I like to place a lav on the talent and send that to channel 2 and then place a boom on a stand (c-stand with boom mate or fishermans friend). I wouldn't use a boom op in this situation as the talent can't move that much anyway.
 
Yeah, already knew that and agree with you totally. My 25 footer is one of Matt's and it is "hand-crafted excellence".
 
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