Mono/stereo microphone question

M

mise_en_scene

New member
Greetings all,

Please forgive this post which betrays my neophyte status shooting on DVX100A. I have searched for answers on this forum and elsewhere, but still remain a bit mystified.

Is it true that primarily mono shotguns (MKH416, AT4073a) are used for exteriors and dialogue? I'm going to be shooting talking heads in front of specific buildings/historic sites over the next two weeks, and I'm concerned about capturing both the speakers and the ambience around them. This is made more challenging given that the microphone will be mounted on the DVX rather than on a separate boom.

Should I not be so concerned about ambience in a situation like this? It seems to me that a mono microphone is hardly appropriate for capturing environmental sounds. Can you tell me what I'm missing here?
 
Shotguns are the most commonly used for dialogue because of their directionality. I would suggest if you want some ambient sounds, get a seperate mic and a seperate recorder and get some ambience that way. Or you can plug a second mic into the DVX and get the sounds on the extra audio channel.

If you want a good compact stereo mic, there is one made by Rode that is pretty decent...here's the link:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/NT4/
 
Well, for "pure" environment sounds I recommend two Studio projects C1 in ORTF formation fed into a MixPre pre-amp, and then line in into the DVX.
For an on-cam mic (if you want stereo) check out the AT815ST.

I'm actually a fan of stereo recordings, but not many are. "A lot more complicated, and not necessary" is the negative side of it.

Another option is to record the dialogue in MONO using one of the mics you mentioned and then get the ambient sound in stereo. Quite a good way of going about it actually.
 
vidled said:
Another option is to record the dialogue in MONO using one of the mics you mentioned and then get the ambient sound in stereo. Quite a good way of going about it actually.
Click to expand...

Thats what I was trying to get at...thanks vidled for making it more clear:grin:
 
Thanks all. I take it that if I can only have a one-microphone solution, it better be primarily for the vocals, and therefore a mono shotgun. I suppose ambience will have to take a back seat in such a situation...
 
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