On-Camera mic for racing circuit

bill totolo

bill totolo

Veteran
I am by far no expert on audio.
What I do know is: Hire a quality field audio mixer and all my problems go away.

That said, I just inherited a show where I'll be shooting interviews with drivers immediatley following a race. There will be loud cars nearby without exhaust systems, and lots of pit noise.
I do not have a field audio mixer and may not even have a producer to hold a stick mic. I'll have to rely on on-camera sound for interviews.

Is there any on-board mic that will allow me to capture usable audio?
My mind goes to the Senheisser MKH50, or ME66, perhaps a Rhode NTG-2.

If I do get a producer to hold a stick mic, perhaps the venerable Senheisser MD46?

Any input is much appreciated.
 
Hey Bill. I've spent 18 years covering NASCAR week in and week out. Normal on-cam nat/shotgun mic isn't gonna cut it if you're around running engines. My weapon of choice is the Senn MD-46 cardioid stick mic that you mentioned above.

After I started using the 46 at the track instead of the old trusty RE50 back about nine years ago, I switched all of my stick mics for everything to the Senn's. I believe I have five of them.
 
Thanks Run&Gun,

Any advice regarding wireless transmitters? As I understand it all the racers are on wireless as are the crews, and everyone is stepping on each other's frequencies.
 
Big events have frequency coordination. Everyone registers what gear they are bringing, what frequencies are available, where they are operating, when, etc. Then someone coordinates everything together to avoid stepping on each other. If all the car crews are using wireless, it seems rather likely that somebody is performing the function of frequency coordination already. Or else they all have some convention that prevents frequency collisions. But I would have a ready backup if you can't use wireless.

An on-camera mic can collect ambient background sounds (if you even need any extra help!) But even under the most ideal of conditions, picking up good dialog from an on-camera mic is poor at best. And a race venue with loud engines running nearby will make any kind of distant pickup (as camera-top would be) essentially impossible. If you can't get a microphone within 6 inches of the subject's mouth in a high-noise environment, I wouldn't expect usable dialog tracks.
 
We do the F1 coverage for SKY here in the UK and the best way to do an interview anywhere near cars or pit lanes is to have a mic for each person and this tends to be either a sennheiser radio mic or a handheld such as the RE50 or the MD26 you mentioned, that way each person can concentrate on trying to hear what the other is saying. We even have in ear monitors so they can hear each other if it gets really bad.
 
Richard Crowley said:
Big events have frequency coordination. Everyone registers what gear they are bringing, what frequencies are available, where they are operating, when, etc. Then someone coordinates everything together to avoid stepping on each other. If all the car crews are using wireless, it seems rather likely that somebody is performing the function of frequency coordination already. Or else they all have some convention that prevents frequency collisions. But I would have a ready backup if you can't use wireless.

An on-camera mic can collect ambient background sounds (if you even need any extra help!) But even under the most ideal of conditions, picking up good dialog from an on-camera mic is poor at best. And a race venue with loud engines running nearby will make any kind of distant pickup (as camera-top would be) essentially impossible. If you can't get a microphone within 6 inches of the subject's mouth in a high-noise environment, I wouldn't expect usable dialog tracks.
Click to expand...

In a perfect world, yes. If it is in fact NASCAR, NO. I was pushing for frequency coordination almost 15 years ago and they wouldn't do it. I know a frequency coordinator that handles the NFL team here in town and he offered to do it when he worked for them and they still wouldn't do it. It's the Wild West and many people have been screwed because of it. Sometimes it's locals that just show up on race day and you don't know it until you're in a gang bang and someone steps on your freq while you're in the middle of getting sound.

Even the NFL system isn't perfect unless they have someone continuously sniffing and someone standing there that you can report problems to. I was stepped on multiple times last season and have been stepped on this season even with my assigned freqs. Part of the problem, the NFL took the consequences away. They used to be able to confiscate your wireless, pull your creds and even ban you from using wireless for the entire season. Once again, the problem is local tv photogs who show up just to go to the locker room for post and the wireless hasn't been registered or coordinated.

Bill, I use Lectro frequency agile units, but there have been places where every frequency had something on it and I just had to go with the channel with the lowest RF on it and keep the Tx as close to me as possible to help eliminate the possibility of interference.

RF is just a nightmare everywhere, now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top