Looking for audio tips when shooting a live show

F

fieldreportermf

Active member
Hello All,

I am shooting a video for a band and am wondering if anyone has any tips re: audio. I did a test shoot this afternoon and noticed the audio was not good.

Audio Equipment:
Rode NTG-2 Shotgun Condenser Mic
Sennheiser EW112P-G2B UHF Wireless Lav

Scenario:
I shot in close to a large speaker(Rode NTG-2) and had the performer wear the Lav at about lower chest level.

Result:
After transcoding the footage (toast 9) everything looked great but sounded terrible (the guitar was clear and decent but the vocals sounded distant and faint). i did check my levels while recording and all seemed fine. Any tips (mic placement, etc) would be most welcome as i have another crack at this in 2 days.

Many Thanks
 
If this is for a music video, why are you recording with open air mics? Record off the mixer. Better sound, less problems.
 
I agree with PerroneFord, get the audio from the console/mixer on one channel and place the wireless lav far back to get some ambient sound on the other channel.
Better if you have a camera on the back getting a wide shoot and ambient sound! but try to get the main audio for sure, I have done a few concerts and they usually let me plug right in. Then again it all depends on what kind of credentials you have/who you know!
 
That isn't the right microphone for the situation, and even with the right microphone it's iffy without going from the mixer. Clearly there is one if the speakers are feeding off something. Get a way to record that, adapt it to XLR if necessary. Otherwise what you need to do is make sure it sounds right and everything is heading to the right spot, which probably means moving away and getting a wider area of sound input. But it depends on the room as much as the equipment.
 
Cool...Thanks for all responses. I will try and plug in to the mixer. I'm not sure how to do this. Can I somehow plug the lav into the mixer (XLR, Mini)? What should I ask the sound person operating the mixer/console? Will research.
This is an outdoor event. Again, thanks for the advice-I kind of "fell" into this one and I'm unsure of the audio set-up in this situation:thumbup:
 
You could run an XLR cable to the cam from the mixing board, or use the XLR wireless audio transmitter, The square one that plugs right to an XLR mic... in case you don't have that transmitter you could use the bodypack transmitter with the XLR cable plug.

In either way, make sure you do some testing before the talent comes out, as you might have to mess with the sensitivity on the Transmitter and Receiver. try to get an un-amplified signal as it might be cleaner (sometimes they plug you to the audio monitor output and then they play with the levels up and down messing eveything up)... if you have two cameras you could use one for ambient sound and the other for the XLR

One last tip is if you're plug right to the console connect the receiver to channel two on your HMC150 and run one audio channel lower than the other, in that case if it gets to loud and starts to clip you have the option to mix to the lower one in post and saving the audio!!!
 
I have a bag filled with "connectors" "converters" "adapters" all kinds of goodies because I have done quite a few of these and if you don't have options for connecting into someone else's board, suddenly they stop being friendly.

my last one was at the civic center in Philly and the board guy was like "I have used up all my outputs" then he said he had another optional output but it was RCA! Surprizing him enough I had adapters that went from RCA to 1/4 inch to XLR.

that's only one scenario. it can get messy out there

oh by the way don't record into the camera mic if you are in front of a speaker.

I did that once and even tho I had the input levels nice where they were not peaking, the actual recording was clipping and popping like crazy in post. so it was too loud hitting the camera either way.

I would not use the lav on the singer, get the vocal from the board.

if you have a spare or an older camera that you can use just to capture the audio that would be even better.

or a laptop with recording software for audio.

just throwing a few other options out there for you from some of the stuff I do.

and just to let you know....

in a live event, the audio it what makes your video when it's all said and done!

hope the tips help,

good luck.
 
Luis_ said:
I have a bag filled with "connectors" "converters" "adapters" all kinds of goodies because I have done quite a few of these and if you don't have options for connecting into someone else's board, suddenly they stop being friendly...

...in a live event, the audio it what makes your video when it's all said and done!
Click to expand...

Well said Luis. I had the same issue a few times recording live shows. It only takes a few times to learn what to do and not do.

I always use XLR if I can. Get a few 25' and 50' cables to have handy. Otherwise you can convert it to wireless, but you may open yourself up to more problems with static and dropouts in your audio.

I record as many 'good' channels as I can on different cameras. For instance this last concert the lights went out and surged my camera. It shut off and I had to 'fix clip' when I turned it back on and the camera was down for a few minutes... I was lucky to have another camera with the rode set on a stand recording backup audio on battery.

Having all the connectors is a MUST. You need a way to convert mini, 1/4, RCA and XLR into your camera. If all else fails you can get a digital recorder (cheap) and record from the board and dub it in later.

With this threads info, you should be fine... make sure you MONITOR your audio (with a good set of headphones). Don't assume your levels tell you everything.
 
Last edited:
Great info! Again, thanks- you guys have given me lots to think about and consider. As it stands right now, I have a friend on a B cam to capture wide shots and ambient(as suggested) and I'm going to try and plug my wireless lav transmitter into the board with an XLR>mini connector (seems like this may work-monitoring levels of course). I'm going to use my RODE on cam to get an additional option that may be useful.

I'm hoping that this will work...Beers to all:beer: Advice greatly appreciated
 
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