Need External Mic Advice: HPX & Skate Filming

R

Ratdick

New member
Hey

I'm looking for a sub $300 mic to shoot skateboarding so mostly outdoors with occasional indoor skateparks which are just noisy warehouses.The outdoor shots are usually tripod long lens and following with a semi-wide fisheye on a skateboard.

I have an HPX170 and I need to use something other than the built in mic. I don't have the money to invest in an expensive mic setup now.

I would like accurate audio that would cut down on the excess noise around and hopefully cut out the noise of the board below me a little.

I know this is vague but nothing I've read on mics is helping me with this decision. Any help or suggested mics would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Edit: To make things clear it would be mounted on the camera
 
Last edited:
Ratdick said:
I would like accurate audio that would cut down on the excess noise around and hopefully cut out the noise of the board below me a little.
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Then what exactly are you recording? You're right, you're being very vague.



Rather typical BTW, spend $3k+ on the camera and not even 10% of that on audio......
 
But what are you trying to record? You said "skateboarding" but what about skateboarding ... running commentary, environmental ambiance, interviews with skaters, sounds of the board's wheels, or what?
 
As Steve and Bob have already said, it is not possible to even begin to answer your question without knowing WHAT you are asking to record. You only told us WHERE, not WHAT.

You also gave the limitation "mounted on the camera". Unless you are just recording ambient noise (from the sidelines including grunts from the camera operator and camera noises), or running commentary by the camera operator him/herself (from the back-side of the microphone), it seems quite likely you are asking an impossible question. If you want to emulate other videos you have seen about skateboarding, you should know that the good ones (the professionally produced ones, not the YouTube cell-phone camera junk) are likely not using ANY sound from an on-camera microphone.

Ambience sounds are likely recorded separately in a "clean take" so they can be edited in as needed. Same for sound effects of the boards, the wheels, the sounds on the ramps, rails, concrete steps, etc. etc.

Interviews were likely done with a hand-held mic near the subject's mouth, or someone behind the scenes with a proper shotgun mic on a boom pole. Running commentary was likely done with a separate mic for the commentator, or added after the fact in post-production editing.

Frankly, there is NOTHING you can do very well with an ON CAMERA microphone, at least IMHO. It is simply in the wrong place most of the time. (Too far from what you are trying to pick up, and too close to the camera and operator).
 
or running commentary by the camera operator him/herself (from the back-side of the microphone),
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Now that isn't fair. You can turn the mic around in the mount... ;~)
 
BTW There is a Skateboard video using on board mic that is pretty compelling ;~)
http://vimeo.com/1654340

These guys handed off the camera while sliding town the hill. This isn't a clean professional sound but it has kind of war footage energy.

It is one of the most insane things I have seen. Simply amazing nobody got seriously hurt.
 
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