Looking for advice for sound recording lectures/firm meetings

[hellboy80]

I have two questions:
1) Sometimes I need to shoot all kinds of lectures (one or more people are talking and bunch of people is listening, the camera is mostly few meters away from the speakers).
2) I also need to shoot a discussion of employees of some firm, in a way so that they would not be aware of the camera and microphone (I dont mean the mic should be completely hidden, but it shouldnt attract so much attention so that the discussion could be more relaxed and intimate).
What lowbudget sound-recording equipment and techniques could you recommend me for such situations? I'm talking about single-camera shooting, I'm mostly a one man crew.
At this moment I have only Rode NTG2 mic, but I dont know if its the right choice.

 

[Alex H.]

For lectures, a wireless lav is usually in order for the presenter. Use the shotgun, or another condenser, mounted on a stand (not on the camera) to catch the "room". An alternative, if the presenter is already wearing a lav for a house system, is to tap into the house feed instead (still using a second mic to record the room). If there are questions from the audience, the shotgun/other may not get what you want in a stationary position. If you have a boom op who can swing it for the audience, that's a great way to go. Otherwise, a wireless hand-held can be passed around the audience.

For panel discussions, plate mics (PZM, boundary mics) can be very effective. They're also low-profile and don't attract much attention.

In either scenario, you'll want as many audio record tracks as you have mics so that you can have control over the mix in post.