Recording Audio for Wide Shot

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nathannguyen59

Active member
Guys I was just wondering how I would go by recording audio for a really wide shot to show the scenery and what not.

I guess I could use a boom but it wouldn't be as clean as when used during a close up shot.

I was thinking of wireless mics? or ADR?

But i only have one wireless mic and it goes straight into the camera. So I don't know how I would use two at the same time.

Let me know what you guys think!
 
Are you doing close-ups of the same scene? Just get it with the close-ups. If not, your options are:

Record with a boom from farther away. Certainly not ideal, but you'll get some leeway with the fact that since the actors are so far from the camera, it'll be okay if they "sound" a little far away from the microphone.
Plant a mic in the scene. One of the worse options unless you know exactly where they'll be and can have them sort of speak into the mic.
Wireless lavs. Probably the best decision, but if you need two actors mic'd and only have one, it's not going to happen. You could rent a mixer for the extra inputs.
 
This might be a dumb suggestion, but have you thought about the cutting out boom guy in post? For an outdoors location, there's the problem that probably everything is moving all the time -- leaves moving slightly in wind, etc -- so it's not always easy to get a match between background plate and actual scene. But maybe you could get away with it.

ADR gets a "last resort" vote from me. Quality of sound will be different. Also, even for wide shots there will probably be sound-sync issues.
 
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If you HAVE to stay wide once they start talking then Lavs or ADR are the pretty much it. I generally would be cut to the mediums and closeups by the time they started talking.
 
Thanks for the advice guys.

So I have a Tascam DR-100 and one lav mic from Azden.

How would I go by using two lav mics in the same scene?
 
Yeah is a plant mic an option in the scene? My break down is like this
first option is a boom
then a planted shotgun mic
then a lav
then a planted lav
then a wireless lav
then adr.

I would look into blocking the scene in such a way that you can hid a mic somewhere in the shot.
 
i had no idea there was any difference between a lav mic and a wireless lav mic.

Could you elaborate on this?

And I do remember seeing mics that go inside shirts with tape that reduces any rustling noise.

Do you guys have any ideas on this?
 
nathannguyen59 said:
i had no idea there was any difference between a lav mic and a wireless lav mic.

Could you elaborate on this?

And I do remember seeing mics that go inside shirts with tape that reduces any rustling noise.

Do you guys have any ideas on this?
Click to expand...


It's just that, wired vs wireless. A wired lav will have a cord running to the recorder, wireless transmits to a receiver. If you have two people talking you'll need one for each. Without pretty good gear and a sound guy who knows what he's doing, I'd still vote for the "Move into a medium so I can boom before they start talking" option.
 
nathan - I was in the same boat. I had a single Azden VHF wireless lav and a Zoom H1 recorder and wanted to be able to record dialogue between two people. I guess I could have put the wireless on one person and hidden the H1 on or near the other person, but I was too lazy to sync multiple tracks in post :-)

To solve this problem, I bought a Tascam DR-40 4 track recorder and an Audio Technica VHF wireless lav (cheaper than the Azden). I plugged the wireless receivers into the recorder (which has two jacks) and then plugged the recorder into the camera input with a Sescom LN2MIC-TASDR100 cable.

S1010004.JPG

This setup works like a charm without a bunch of tracks to sync and without spending big money for an expensive UHF dual lav.

Another option if you don't want to buy the Tascam might be to just buy another wireless lav and an on-camera mixer like this one from Azden.

Hope this is helpful.

Good luck!

Bill
 
Yeah thats exactly what I mean. A wireless system vs a wired one. both have a small microphone that would sit on the persons lapel or in their shirt. They both have the problem with noise caused by the talent moving around and clothes rustling. The only reason the wired is first choice is because the wireless also introduces the problem of signal noise from interference.
 
I'd just use audio from the closeups- it's unbelievable how often that's done, and how un-synchronized it actually is.

If you're synching with a zoom, I definitely recommend you also check out Dual Eyes. After mastering your audio, it will [literally] make you cry because of how drastically it simplifies your editing workflow.
 
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