Mic for a bar

R

Randy Ericksen

New member
I have a friend who wants to shoot and post short clips from bands in his bar. He wants to use the Kodak Zi8 for the video. It has a 3.5 mic input. What would be a good choice for a mic. The sound is loud but clean.
If this has been answered here please point me to the thread.
Thanks
 
http://1000words.kodak.com/post/?id=2446697 "Entry-level Mics for the Kodak Zi-8"
Note that your question is almost impossible to answer to your satisfaction without some notion of what your budget is.

Furtermore, if the sound is "loud but clear", what is it about using the built-in mics that he finds unsuitable? It is also difficult to answer your question without knowing what problem we are trying to solve.
 
Thanks for the reply. The budget is (?) but under 100$. He is just working on this. it is a small blues bar with big speakers. Do you think the internal mic would be OK. They are just for Youtube. It sounds like He should try the internal first.
Thanks
 
Sound for video < $100. Here we go again.

Randy, not to beat you up on your first few postings, but you need to be realistic; 100 bucks for a mic to record to most gizmos like the Kodak is just going to sound like crap.

Loud blues bar
Cheap mic
No Mixer
Cheapo recorder

This is not a recipe for success. If you read the stickies at the header you will get some basic ideas for recording sound. But in that overall price range you will be better served by something like this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/480163-REG/Zoom_H2_H2_Ultra_Portable_Digital_Audio.html

A separate recorder like that shown in the link will be a much better choice if the cam is moving around the room.

There are several other choices in this price range, so do your research. Once you have your audio and video files, link them up in whatever editor you intend to use.

I have to wonder how well the Kodak will do with bar lighting?

Grant
 
Zoom's new H1 is around $100, no idea how it performs in a high SPL environment though. As Grant says, the recorder should be stationary to get the best result.
 
Thanks for the feedback.Just to be clear, I know cheap is not going to be good. All me friend wants to do is get a song put it up on Youtube the next day and say "this is who played last night" and it will be the bartender turning on the camera.No editing no mixing nothing.I am just hoping to help him get something "watchable and listenable"The camera will be stationary and the lighting on stage is pretty good. I think that if the Zi8 doesn't work anything else will be to much work.
FYI I was looking at the Zoom H1 for me work and went with the H2 for 1 reason. I have a ton of SD cards laying around. The H1 uses micro SD. So far I like the H2.
Thanks everybody for the feedback, as I am finding out more and more, Video easy...Audio hard
 
I think you ought to just try the internal mics first and see how it performs. Else you are trying to solve problem(s) that may not exist (or be different than you are guessing).
 
I think you are right. The hard part is the bar is in Chicago and I am in South Dakota,and I am getting good advice from around the world. This internet thing might work.
 
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