Hello,
I am a director/cinematographer with little experience in sound recording and I am about to start filming the second part of a low budget documentary on a ceramist. I need some help in choosing the right microphone combination. I am recording both sound and picture to a Sound Devices PIX 220. In the first session of filming I used only a Rode NTG3 mounted on a Rycote S series, I was operating the camera while a friend was holding the microphone. We used the NTG3 both in interiors and exteriors and for interviewing the lady who is the subject of the documentary. I am pretty happy about the results but I feel that when my subject was moving around and working, I did miss some important pieces of dialogue either because the mic was not operated properly or, even worse, because I was left on my own and I had to mount it on a stand while operating the camera. Since this time I will be mostly on my own, I decided to borrow a radio mic, a Sennheiser G2 with a Sanken COS 11D capsule, so that I don't miss any piece of dialogue of the ceramist.
So this time I'm going to have a radio mic for the voice and another external mic for picking up ambient sound - most likely mounted on camera - both connected to the PIX. I did some research on line but I am still confused on choosing the right microphone. I could mount my NTG3 on an Invision shock mount; or I could get a decent hypercardioid such as Audix, MBHO, AKG, AT in the 500/600 euros price range and use it for recording both ambient sound and indoors interviews; or I could get a mic that allows me to mount both a cardioid and a hyper capsule on the same body and use the cardioid as on camera and the hyper for the interviews; or I could use a stereo mic on camera or on a stand as I am not moving the camera around much and the filming is mainly in interiors.
I am really grateful for any suggestions you might have.
Andreas
I am a director/cinematographer with little experience in sound recording and I am about to start filming the second part of a low budget documentary on a ceramist. I need some help in choosing the right microphone combination. I am recording both sound and picture to a Sound Devices PIX 220. In the first session of filming I used only a Rode NTG3 mounted on a Rycote S series, I was operating the camera while a friend was holding the microphone. We used the NTG3 both in interiors and exteriors and for interviewing the lady who is the subject of the documentary. I am pretty happy about the results but I feel that when my subject was moving around and working, I did miss some important pieces of dialogue either because the mic was not operated properly or, even worse, because I was left on my own and I had to mount it on a stand while operating the camera. Since this time I will be mostly on my own, I decided to borrow a radio mic, a Sennheiser G2 with a Sanken COS 11D capsule, so that I don't miss any piece of dialogue of the ceramist.
So this time I'm going to have a radio mic for the voice and another external mic for picking up ambient sound - most likely mounted on camera - both connected to the PIX. I did some research on line but I am still confused on choosing the right microphone. I could mount my NTG3 on an Invision shock mount; or I could get a decent hypercardioid such as Audix, MBHO, AKG, AT in the 500/600 euros price range and use it for recording both ambient sound and indoors interviews; or I could get a mic that allows me to mount both a cardioid and a hyper capsule on the same body and use the cardioid as on camera and the hyper for the interviews; or I could use a stereo mic on camera or on a stand as I am not moving the camera around much and the filming is mainly in interiors.
I am really grateful for any suggestions you might have.
Andreas