Is this a recipe for disaster?

L

lozampognaro

Member
This summer I'll be filming a feature length documentary in Southern Italy about Italian folk music. I will be traveling around for 5 weeks in remote areas with all my equipment in a backpack. I recently purchased a Canon hx-a1 and will be shooting in 108024F.

Sound is important because I will be filming acoustic folk music in many strange locations. I am sticking with Audio Technica mics for now because my Uncle can get them for me at wholesale prices through his work.

Since I am operating all the equipment by myself and have limited space for a lot of gear and limited technical knowledge, I want to record directly to the camera xlr inputs and record onto the tape.
When I film the musicians I plan on using stereo AT4051a cardiod condensor mics set up on a mic stand and plugged directly into the stereo xlr imputs on the camera.

I'm not planning on using any kind of wireless system, but will just run the cables to my camera and be careful not to pull the micstand down if I move around a bit while recording. Is this a bad Idea?

For non music related sound I am planing on getting an AT 897 11' shotgun mic and either camera mount it or set it on a mic stand for a stationary interview. This will also get plugged directly into the camera.


I'm posting all this here because I have limited sound recording experience and I would like to know peoples thoughts about my setup and whether or not it's a recipe for disaster. I realize that it would be better to recored to a separate device and sync it up later, but I want to know if the set up I plan on using will be adequate to produce quality audio nonetheless. Am I missing anything?

Thanks!:happy:
 
buy recorder and ru n the music sound separate , not becouse the quality as for more profesional shooting be not tieedto the cable or brake aleg as someone pull the cable by acsident
o need for tc , you will be alwais be able to sync with the camera sound .
what come in mind is snmall edirol and deneckey phantom ps-2 to power the mics .
 
the main problem will be that you'll never know how loud they'll play. You'll end up either under recording and have the quiet parts down in the noise floor, or have to dive for the camera gain controls when they get loud. Either way is bad. Put a good mixer with a limiter between your mics and camera and you can change the gain without bumping the camera and the limiter will help keep you from overs.

Regards,

Ty Ford

PS Not a disaster, just not as good as it could be.
 
Thanks for the responses. Can someone suggest a good mixer that isnt too expensive. Preferably a small one that will fit in backpack. Keep in mind that I'm a one man crew and usually wont have anyone helping me.
 
dont waiast your money on mixer , bette invest in recorder which can run 24 bit so you can astablish your recording lower then with camera
check the tascam hdp-2 as it has much better pramps then your camera
ability syncronize on tc and limitters or fr2 which are relativly light .
rmember , cables they are your worst enemis .
just think that 50 feet of double cable will weight more then your camera .
forget about mixer for normal work flow .
dont know your budget but if had few spare bucks , i was looking for used sonosax recorder or mix pre atatched to zfr from zaxcom .
both could syncronize from ext tc and both setups would have good gain and amplifing structure
in both cases its very small rigs
 
I just received my xh-a1 in the mail today. I was reading the instruction manual and it states that when plugging a mic with phantom power into the xlr input you should "Use commercially available microphones with a cable no longer than 3 m." Three Meters!!!?? I just purchased 50 foot cables to run to my condenser mics. I won't be getting my mics for a couple weeks to do a test. Can someone please tell me if this is to be taken literally. Will I have a problem using phantom powered mics with 50 foot cables and no pre-amp?
 
lozampognaro said:
I just received my xh-a1 in the mail today. I was reading the instruction manual and it states that when plugging a mic with phantom power into the xlr input you should "Use commercially available microphones with a cable no longer than 3 m." Three Meters!!!?? I just purchased 50 foot cables to run to my condenser mics. I won't be getting my mics for a couple weeks to do a test. Can someone please tell me if this is to be taken literally. Will I have a problem using phantom powered mics with 50 foot cables and no pre-amp?
Click to expand...

The instruction is plain wrong. I have used 20ft and longer cables without any ill effect.
 
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