NTG-2? any doc filmmakers that go straight in for primary audio? Shotgun with WA?

F

francese

Member
Folks,

Ok. I think the Rode NTG-1 is the mic for me. a fair price and does the job, right?

But, has anyone tried the NTG-2?

Also, are there any doc filmmakers here who go straight into the camera as a primary source? Is the hum so noticeble and unworkable in post that your footage is unuseble?

Are there any other low cost options to Sound Device's field mixers?

And, has anyone used a shotgun with a .6 wideangle?

thanks a million--
francese
 
NTG-2 is the same exact mic except that it can take AA battery as well as phantom. I've been satisified with results plugged directly into cam with NTG-2. Probably not the ideal but absolutely acceptable. Not sure about the wideangle - I'm guessing camera mounted is your only option? Might peek into frame...
 
shouldnt be any hum, get the ntg-2 for those odd occasions where you need battery power, or cant afford to run phantom.

low cost field mixers for just one mic defeat the point - a low cost mixers preamps wont be a whole lot better than the cameras. depends on the mixer, of course. but im sure you see what im saying.
 
I am guessing here but I think the hum he is referring to is the camera. Sounds like a camera mounted situation here.

Camera hum is likely to be the least of your sound issues if you try gathering your audio with a camera mount mic. If the mic is just going to go on the camera it really is barely worth the money to buy a separate mic.

Ditto to what Tim said about the mixers.

Just buying a "decent" mic is not going to get you quality audio. It takes some attention. What are you trying to achieve here?

Cheers
 
Of course straight to the camera is is perfectly fine, perfect sync, why would there be any hum? Just take the mike away from the camera and it will not pick up any tape/zoom noice. Or, with good insulation even on the hot shoe and with high enough audio levels you'll get no (noticable) noice from the camera. Or what do you mean by "hum"?
 
pre-amp noise and shoulder mounted verite

pre-amp noise and shoulder mounted verite

cool. thanks for the the help.

I have been sifting through a number of the more popular threads here in audio and I came across a few discussions about the noise that is generated by the 100A's mic pre-amps. Thats the hum I am referring to.

I am interested in doing a lot of shoulder mounted one-camera shooting for verite-style documentary. I have a mighty-wondercam and I would like to put together a set-up with one wireless lav mounted on the MWC for my primary subject and a decent shotgun mounted on the camera that will pick up other dialouge.

I realize that a super or hyper cardoid shotgun mounted on low noise pole pointed directly at my subjects will get the cleanest audio, but I'd like to keep it to a two-person crew--- one interviewer/producer and one shooter/audio recordist. And, it also seems like the camera-mounted shotgun is less obstrusive.

In your collective expereinces, am I sacrificing too much audio quality by mounting the shotgun on the camera because of distance? and Is the noise from the pre-amp a real issue?

I am also worried about seeing the shotgun if I use a wideangle lens. I plan on doing a lot of shooting in tight quarters and like the WA look. Is there anyone out there with expereince using a shotgun and the Century Precision Optics VS-06WA-DVX 0.6X?


thanks,
francese
 
ok, firstly, people usually say "hiss" when they talk about a noisy preamp, not "hum" which is usually picked up from electrical problems (ground loops, fluoro lights, faulty ballasts etc etc)... so now we know, and i speak for everyone when i say:

forget the hiss. people dissing the preamps on the dvx arent really hitting them for noise induced into the signal, they are hitting them for being "worse sounding" than good preamps in expensive mixers. mic straight into camera is COMPLETELY acceptable, providing of course that you set the levels correctly, because the preamps in most cams WILL have worse signal to noise - in other words, audio that is recorded TOO LOW (ie. incorrectly) will have more hiss when it is amplified to the correct levels in post.

regarding mic on cam. yes, your audio will not be as good (more reverb,less vocal detail etc). but i dont know what you're going for with your production, so i cant say if you could get by with it or not. just think about it carefully. or better, do a little test shoot and choose.

as a rule: mic on cam - NO. mic on boom/lavalier - YES. there are exceptions to every rule, but most guys here would agree with me on this.

as for mic on cam in the wideangle - just try it out before you buy, man. and dont forget to include the wind protection when you measure!
 
hummin and hissin

hummin and hissin

Ah. OK. I got. thanks. hiss, not hum.

Yeah, I expereinced the hiss on a three person interview that I produced last month. I had three wired lavs going into one mixer and XLR out running into one channel of the DVX on line level. The three subjects were seated next to each other. They were conversating, so we kept the faders up on all three all the time. Mic 2's battery went out, so subject 2's voice was picked up through mic 1 and mic 2. The low-level audio on DVX sucked! lots of hiss (luckily no phase problems). Fortunately, b/c I was thinkin', I sent the other out from the mixer into mini-disc on auto-level record. With the MD on auto-level, it overcomponsated for the low signal and sounded great--no hiss.

OK. so what I am hearing is that if I really want to do this right, I need a pole. I have been watching a lot of verite docs lately, Liz Garbus' GIRLHOOD and NoJaim's CONTROL ROOM and STARTUP.COM. From what I can tell, they used just one or two radio mics and a camera mounted shotgun. In Control Room, Nojaim said she could not use wireless lavs due to the restrictions at the army's central command...and I saw no evidence of a pole. maybe she used a pistol grip.

thanks
francese
 
use what works... usually its a pole. then its a wired lav. then its a wireless lav. then its a cam mounted mic.
 
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