Looking for an Audio Solution (Canon 60d)

L

life4eva

Carbonite Member
I will be shooting inside of a night club and need to capture some basic interviews. As we all know the audio on these DSLRS are not very good. How can I capture descent quality audio inside of a noisy night club?

I would like to have a wireless receiver connected to a standard dynamic mic for interviews. Is this even possible with a Canon 60d?

Thanks
 
separate recorder and a hand held dynamic mic is your best bet.

And dont fool yourself thinking the 60D can do decent audio.
 
Should work as long as you get the mic very close to the subject and tell them to speak up.
An external recorder will be better but you will have to slate every shot.
 
recordingwhiz said:
separate recorder and a hand held dynamic mic is your best bet.

And dont fool yourself thinking the 60D can do decent audio.
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Any recommendations? Is this possible with an H1 or H4N? Also the audio does not need to be perfect just god enough that you can hear what the people are saying, thanks.
 
The H4n or the tascam DR100 or equivalent are the best choices as they should be able to handle whichever mic you chose or add to your kit in the future because they have XLR connectors with phantom power to provide power for condenser mics.

youll never have perfect when you cant control the environment, but the reality i that the preamps in the Canon's for lack of a better word.. SUCK.

If you can afford it get the external recorder, you will not regret it, and youll thank yourself for having better quality audio.

as far as mics, look here: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=ev+dynamic+omni&N=0&InitialSearch=yes

these are ENG interview mics, pick one and youre good to go.

if your ituation i extremely loud a cardioid will work too but you have to mind the proximity effect, as directional mics get bassier as the get closer to mouth and thinner as the y go away and the omni mics seem to maintain a better tonal balance.
 
recordingwhiz said:
The H4n or the tascam DR100 or equivalent are the best choices as they should be able to handle whichever mic you chose or add to your kit in the future because they have XLR connectors with phantom power to provide power for condenser mics.

youll never have perfect when you cant control the environment, but the reality i that the preamps in the Canon's for lack of a better word.. SUCK.

If you can afford it get the external recorder, you will not regret it, and youll thank yourself for having better quality audio.

as far as mics, look here: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=ev+dynamic+omni&N=0&InitialSearch=yes

these are ENG interview mics, pick one and youre good to go.

if your ituation i extremely loud a cardioid will work too but you have to mind the proximity effect, as directional mics get bassier as the get closer to mouth and thinner as the y go away and the omni mics seem to maintain a better tonal balance.
Click to expand...

Recordingwhiz is right on all points, but you better do some sync tests in post before you go out and slate and shoot a few hundred interviews. It will take careful organization and shot lists or you may get lost in post. I wouldn't rely on something like PluralEyes, it will make your job easier but not 100% fail safe. I've heard you can run the H4N signal back into the camera so that will give you a better in camera audio at the same time recording an external audio version.

Hey Recordingwhiz, It would be interesting to hear a comparison between an H4N recording and direct to the 60D. I've got a powered Sony ECM 55 lav and it seems to do OK directly into the camera. I could be wrong but it doesn't suck, of course it could always be better.
 
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ROCKMORE said:
Recordingwhiz is right on all points, but you better do some sync tests in post before you go out and slate and shoot a few hundred interviews. It will take careful organization and shot lists or you may get lost in post. I wouldn't rely on something like PluralEyes, it will make your job easier but not 100% fail safe. I've heard you can run the H4N signal back into the camera so that will give you a better in camera audio at the same time recording an external audio version.

Hey Recordingwhiz, It would be interesting to hear a comparison between an H4N recording and direct to the 60D. I've got a powered Sony ECM 55 lav and it seems to do OK directly into the camera. I could be wrong but it doesn't suck, of course it could always be better.
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I would love to hear audio examples as well. Also I would not do a hundred interviews, realistically it would not be any more than 30-40. Also I know this is not easy but I'm here to learn, thanks for the replies everyone
 
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If you're turning over sound and camera pretty much at the same time, then you shouldn't need to get too hung up about identing all your slates - your biggest problem will be getting good audio from your interviewees in the nightclub. Can you afford/do you know a sound recordist you can involve for the evening?
 
mr bill said:
If you're turning over sound and camera pretty much at the same time, then you shouldn't need to get too hung up about identing all your slates - your biggest problem will be getting good audio from your interviewees in the nightclub. Can you afford/do you know a sound recordist you can involve for the evening?
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Sorry if I gave off the impression that this was larger than what it is. Basically all I'm doing is capturing the event of the night and asking people here and there how they feel and any messages they want to say. Unfortunately the budget is to low to hire anyone else and this is more of a learning experience and just earning an honest days living. An H4n with a wireless mic attached seems like a very good option, I wonder if just buying an H1 and having the audience speak into it would work for the time being until I get more money? Just a poor kid trying to learn and make it happen , while at the same time helping my friends out in a small club.
 
I was wondering this myself (but for the T2i with Magic Lantern). I noticed that the H1 and H4 record the same quality from the specs I saw (24/96), but am I not able to plug in a lav into the H1 for example?
 
Guys... please dont get me wrong here, we are all here to get the best out of our gear as we pursue this great endeavor,

Yes you can get workable audio out of the 60D or 550/T2i and the others, however we are also here to help out others not make the same mistakes or go down certain routes that aren't as fruitful.

but when i highly recommend an external recorder it is not to down play anyone's efforts, it is to save you guys some time and grief, there is no reason to re-invent the wheel.

If your intentions or dreams here are to become or expand your efforts into becoming a great filmmaker or DP or whatever, then one of the things you will learn if you havent already, is that we ALL have some things to learn from others that have gone there before.

One thing that is very well covered and pretty much considered somewhat of a truth i that the preamps in these cameras are very lacking. and yes you may be satisfied with the audio you may be getting from the camera.
this does not mean they are up to par in a professional environment, sound quality is subjective and is at the end up to the individual. but from what I have heard from first hand experience with my T2i (Which I love for the video) , its audio is not up to the challenge compared to external options.

if its good enough for you? well only you can say that, but im of the school of always trying to achieve the best that i can. I just cant settle for OK or sub-OK.

Ultimately were trying to bring everyone's level up a notch by trying to steer some away from traveling down roads proven NOT to be very fruitful.

BTW, I would like to hear your audio clips recorded directly that you consider ok.
 
recordingwhiz said:
The H4n or the tascam DR100 or equivalent are the best choices as they should be able to handle whichever mic you chose or add to your kit in the future because they have XLR connectors with phantom power to provide power for condenser mics.
Click to expand...

You are right about connectivity but not about sensitivity, so the H4n and DR100 are not equivalent.
With the H4n you have no way to adjust the recorder gain to match some microphones sensitivity.
The Tascam DR100 has "MIC GAIN" which will allow you to use a wider selection of microphone (sensitivity wise) connected directly to the recorder.

Thanks.

Johnnie
 
I was trying to be general in terms of an external recorder with XLR and phantom, I was not comparing those two, as in "or equivalent" my point is that anything on that level is way beyond what you can achieve with the built in audio on the camera.

And if I was in that price range market I would choose the Tascam over the H4n, for more reasons than what you mention, which is very important.

I prefer utilizing a mixer before the recorder but that gets more expensive but kicks up quality quite a bit due to better preamps.
 
recordingwhiz said:
Guys... please dont get me wrong here, we are all here to get the best out of our gear as we pursue this great endeavor,

Yes you can get workable audio out of the 60D or 550/T2i and the others, however we are also here to help out others not make the same mistakes or go down certain routes that aren't as fruitful.

but when i highly recommend an external recorder it is not to down play anyone's efforts, it is to save you guys some time and grief, there is no reason to re-invent the wheel.

If your intentions or dreams here are to become or expand your efforts into becoming a great filmmaker or DP or whatever, then one of the things you will learn if you havent already, is that we ALL have some things to learn from others that have gone there before.

One thing that is very well covered and pretty much considered somewhat of a truth i that the preamps in these cameras are very lacking. and yes you may be satisfied with the audio you may be getting from the camera.
this does not mean they are up to par in a professional environment, sound quality is subjective and is at the end up to the individual. but from what I have heard from first hand experience with my T2i (Which I love for the video) , its audio is not up to the challenge compared to external options.

if its good enough for you? well only you can say that, but im of the school of always trying to achieve the best that i can. I just cant settle for OK or sub-OK.

Ultimately were trying to bring everyone's level up a notch by trying to steer some away from traveling down roads proven NOT to be very fruitful.

BTW, I would like to hear your audio clips recorded directly that you consider ok.
Click to expand...

http://vimeo.com/18003313


not in the red or arri league but for out and about carrying an external recorder is a no go for me.
 
personaly i focus or zoom while on record very little ,and if i do on manual aperture i dont know what you meen by audio trashed,carrying a separate recorder would help but its just too much with everything else.For people making an on location set shoot is another thing of course.
Speaking on sound alone would http://vimeo.com/17727423 be noticably better with separate sound.
 
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flinty said:
personaly i focus or zoom while on record very little ,and if i do on manual aperture i dont know what you meen by audio trashed,carrying a separate recorder would help but its just too much with everything else.For people making an on location set shoot is another thing of course.
Speaking on sound alone would http://vimeo.com/17727423 be noticably better with separate sound.
Click to expand...

I was giving reference to the "in camera" audio being trashed if you zoom or focus during recording because you can hear it. Of course using a separate recorder is a better solution and will allow you to do things on the camera without having to worry about hearing the sounds (depending on where the mic is).
 
Kit Hannah said:
I was giving reference to the "in camera" audio being trashed if you zoom or focus during recording because you can hear it. Of course using a separate recorder is a better solution and will allow you to do things on the camera without having to worry about hearing the sounds (depending on where the mic is).
Click to expand...

Or just an external directional mic.

I plugged the sennheiser mic I used from my DVX into the mic jack on the t2i, and when interviewing someone, the only annoying issue is the gain control (which can be shut off with the 60D or ML on the 550D, yielding very workable audio).

Again, I'm not an audio engineer so I can't say others would be as happy with the results, but for run-and-gun shoots, this is more than just acceptable IMO. I think the biggest reason people were jumping on the H4N and other external solutions in the beginning was due to the gain control issue, which would literally DESTROY anything useful.
 
I've been using a 60D with an old beachtek I had for my FX1 with OK results
Mic to beachtek to 60D 60D volume set at about 1/4 then set/adjust the record volume by cranking the beachtec up or down. The only thing I do in post is a quick noise reduction plugin to bump the floor up a little and done. Is it the best audio? no. but it's good enough for quicky broadcast stuff. (for me anyway)

I'm not sure but I think this was one where I used a seinhieser wireless and a shotgun behind the spoons and stuff.

(PS, don't pay attention to the colors. I was experimenting with MB and encoding in 264 vs ciniform.)

cooking stuff
 
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