Mic Help

L

lil.filmstress

New member
HI,
I am going to be working with the DVX 100 and am looking for advice on what mics to use for a documentary I'm shooting.

I'm looking at wireless lavs and a directional, does anyone know what works well with the Panasonic and where to find them? I am a student and want quality equipment, but am not rich either, so would be using a sennheiser shotgun with a mini and an XLR adapter be a bad idea? i know it will compromise some quality, but is it a very noticeable difference?

Any feedback is much appreciated. Thanks!
 
wow, if everyone on this forum is as condescending as you then I came to the right place!

I just found this site and am just learning my way around, if I'm too novice for your liking, then please move on to the others residing up on the mountain you live on.

Thanks for the advice btw.
 
before i slapping on your ass as i residing up , croll back to you hall , read some paper work people left for you after few years and only then if you really don't anderstand anything come back and we will start from the begging, until then no free lunch
and yes you are in the right place to find some answears
 
lil.filmstress said:
HI,
I am going to be working with the DVX 100 and am looking for advice on what mics to use for a documentary I'm shooting.

I'm looking at wireless lavs and a directional, does anyone know what works well with the Panasonic and where to find them? I am a student and want quality equipment, but am not rich either, so would be using a sennheiser shotgun with a mini and an XLR adapter be a bad idea? i know it will compromise some quality, but is it a very noticeable difference?

Any feedback is much appreciated. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Rush at EVS will help you. He's a member here (http://www.dvxuser.com/V3/member.php?u=688).

I've got a Sennheiser shotgun and a Sony wireless, they both work great, although they are not the cheapest. Especially with a wireless lav, don't get the 'cheap' stuff.
 
oleg said:
before i slapping on your ass as i residing up , croll back to you hall , read some paper work people left for you after few years and only then if you really don't anderstand anything come back and we will start from the begging, until then no free lunch
and yes you are in the right place to find some answears
Click to expand...
Ladies and gentlemen! And the winner of 'The most moronic post of 2005' award is...
 
oh . another one , good at least you can point him to a dissent dealer or maybe not so dissent if he sold you Sony wireless and me-66
you see film stress if you will not reed by your self these exactly answers you will get from x-cheeks
start reading, its easy
 
oleg said:
oh . another one , good at least you can point him to a dissent dealer or maybe not so dissent if he sold you Sony wireless and me-66
you see film stress if you will not reed by your self these exactly answers you will get from x-cheeks
start reading, its easy
Click to expand...
For the record: I didn't get my sound equipment from EVS, but from Vistek in Toronto. For lil.filmstress that's not practical because of her location. However, I, like many on this board, got other stuff from EVS, and have been extremely happy with both advice and service they provide.

HorseFilms said:
Wow. What the hell happened to Oleg? He used to give good advice.
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Oleg is a goner, but in case anyone is tempted to accuse me of being in bed with a vendor... :engel017:
 
Meltdown.....

It's one thing to be a jerk to established members or Mods, but quite another to antagonize new members and sponsors...

lil.Filmstress, I really hope you post again. If you read through some of the posts here asking for help you will find that this board is a wealth of information and almost all here are VERY willing to help, myself included. Don't let one bad apple spoil the bunch for you!

If you're still around let us know. Also, it would help to know what you'll be shooting with your doc. For example I might recommend one set-up for interviews conducted in a sit-down, studio type environment and another for "run-and-gun" type work. We can get you to where you want to be, and Rush at EVS will even give you the DVXUser discount, but we need to know a bit more about what you'll be doing and what your budget looks like.

Best,

Matt
 
What a morning.
MattC, Xcheck, thanks for your help. Here is more about what i'm doing. I will be shooting with a DVX 100 with an anamorphic lens mostly in Nicaragua but here as well. We will be following a group of people going down to central america on a humanitarian effort and i am documenting the whole experience, so from interviews to the group working inside elder homes to lots of B roll stuff...
i've already spent most of my saved cash on travel costs for my small crew so i have budgeted ~$500 for a lav and then the shotgun is up in the air at this point because i have a good sennheiser that i used on my first camera- GL1, but it has a mini input. i know i can get an XLR adapter and use it on the DVX, but i dont know if that would be compromising too much. i'd like to find a good site where i can browse the options if i did decide to spend the money and get a shotgun appropriate for my new camera. so i'm just looking for insight from people who have more experience than i do in audio production.
 
If you have a boompole and shockmount at $500 I would skip the wireless and buy the AT 4073 shotgun. If you are filming a group of people the wireless won't give you any sort of coverage. You will also need at least a softie, zeppelin would be prefered.

May I quickly propose that you consider making an investment into a higher level of gear and also pickup some wireless and all the accoutrements you will need. Only $500 in budget? Well, break the bank in purchasing all your needed sound equipment. Get the perfect audio kit. When you get home sell it on ebay or on consignment at stores like Trew audio. Assuming you keep everything in good condition this will get you back about 90% of your purchase price. That gives you $5000 to invest in good sound for your production.

Sounds like a great project, I would hate to see it ruined by your audio equipment not being up to snuff.

Best of luck.
 
What shotgun is it exactly?

Read this thread, we get into a lot of options:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V3/showthread.php?p=294773#post294773&conly=

Now, we can help you do this "on the cheap" but it will sound like it, I'm afraid. You're already spending a lot of money, not to mention time and sweat, to put this project together. Bad audio kills a project more than anything else (except for story). So I would STRONGLY urge you to rethink your audio budget and at least get a decent level of kit. I'm not recommending you spend big dollars (although that may be relative for you). The hardest pill for you to swallow will be wind protection (this should actually be called wind/ambient sound protection). You'll spend $500 for a decent set up (blimp, windsock, shockmount, boompole etc.). This investment will pay off better than investing in a higher-grade mic without it. Proper mic placement and noise control is what gets you clean audio, not mic choice. Mic choice will give you certain things like better off axis rejection, or a certain timber, but clean audio can be captured with most mics if you pay attention to placement and noise control. Oh and for placement, do not even think about leaving the mic on the camera unless you are in a situation where you absolutely have to. Lots of reasons for this and I can't type them all out now, but just know that if you don't follow this rule, you will not be happy with your sound. So, once I had my noise control under control, I'd select some mics. I think one should always have a good hyper. This might be a bit of a luxury, but I don't think so, and with the excellent Oktava hyper pricing in at $165, you should have one. Shotguns. I would go with either an AT897 or an AT4073a. I don't like low end Sennheisers, but that's me ( I love their high-end stuff). If you can't get the hyper and need one all purpose "compromise mic" I would seriously consider the 897, especially if you plan on ignoring my sage advise and attach the mic to the camera. LOL! Ok then a lav. I'm not a lav guy, others will have to chime in here. Sennheiser does have a nice wireless option (the only lav I've used) and I know the Countryman is very popular as well. Let's see what others have to say as far as Lavs go.

Your also going to want some good headphones ($99) and good cables. Given your environment I would make sure that all my mics were phantom powered (the ones I mention are).

At the end of the day, you're going to be spending $1,500 to $2,000 but you'll have good sound that won't distract from the story, that you'll be able to work with in post and that you can be proud of. You cant obtain those results with much less. If you simply CAN'T raise the coin, then we can start figuring out ways to pare back. But this would be my best "first" recommendation.

Matt
 
Matt man, where were you when I was getting my sound equipment?

Actually I am pretty happy with mine (so far). The only thing I am still fighting with is that ambient/wind sound protection. I've tried a few things, nothing has worked too well, so I guess I am going to have to bite the bullet and get a proper blimp.
 
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