Reliable indoor/outdoor mic for sporting events and post game interviews?

A

AERO93

New member
My first post here, i did do a search, but did not find what i was looking for, so apologize if it's already out there.

I upgraded to the AC130a about a year and a half ago, to shoot mainly sports, so i just relied on the on camera mic, since the audio was very rarely needed. The on camera mic did a great job in my opinion, but the time has come to get something a little more reliable for the new things I'm looking to shoot.

I'm looking for an on camera mic that would offer the ability to work well for both outdoor and indoor sporting events and mainly for pre/post game interviews with players, again both indoor and outdoor.

i both searched the accessories and contacted B&H's audio department directly, but the number of mic's too choose from and the recommend mic (we don't recumbent anything under $400) was a bit over whelming for an audio noob.

so what would be the recommendation to pair with my AC130a and cover the indoor/outdoor shooting and interviewing of players?

Thanks!
 
It depends on your budget and whether you want the full ESPN experience or not. I use an HPX-250 with a Sennheiser G3 EK 100 with a SKP transmitter to an Electrovoice RE-50 dynamic mic. You could also go with XLR cables and save money. For ENG type interviews I have found this to work well. As for a shotgun experience, you can go with camera mounted, but you may not get what you want. You may want to go talk with a local news crew camera guy and see what they are using for field interviews. It may save you a few steps. Good luck.
 
If by "on-camera" you mean a mic that you want to mount on top of your camera, you won't find anything at any price that will do what you want. Simply, on top of the camera is the worst and last place to put a mic for usable dialog. It's at the wrong distance and at the wrong angle, though that is an over-simplified explanation.

Others have mentioned handheld reporter mics, which is what you'll probably want within budget and for the interview style you mentioned. The ElectroVoice RE50 is a longtime industry go-to, but there are newer and better options. Take a look at the Sennheiser MD42 (omnidirectional) and MD46 (cardioid). The wide-open omni pattern is more forgiving for reporter interviews, but the tighter cardioid pattern may be a better choice if you're typically in very loud sports stadiums and arenas.

Whether to go wireless is up to you (and your budget). It's a little more unwieldy at times having a cable running from mic to camera, but it can be done. And, besides, with a cable there is no RF transmission to drop out at inopportune times.
 
If you're a one man band listen to Alex's advice. It's spot on.

Not knowing if you're doing one on ones on a high school level (less press)
or an NFL locker room post game gang bang with 12 other cameras but if it is the situation
where you are fighting for position visually you really need someone else to work the mic whether
it's a sound mixer or producer or friend which in that case you'd want wireless.

My opinion but any of these situations it's disposable audio/video (will be irrelevant in a few days)
so it's about the content and being able to clearly hear what they are saying more than "oh this would have sounded better with a schoeps"
which means it's more about getting "whatever" mic you have as close to the source as possible.
That is what is going to improve your sound more than anything.
 
AERO93 said:
I'm looking for an on camera mic that would offer the ability to work well for both outdoor and indoor sporting events and mainly for pre/post game interviews with players, again both indoor and outdoor.
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The laws of physics preclude what you want. There's not a mic made, at any price, that'll give you even mediocre results from being located on camera. It's all about the location of the mic, and on the camera is both too far away (by quite a lot actually) and pointed in an odd direction. Yucko!

If you want to interview players, you need a reporter's "stick" mic. Either an Electro-Voice RE50N/D-B, or a Sennheiser MD-42. You do want an omni, you do not want a cardioid. Perhaps my only disagreement with Alex's advice. Why not a cardioid? Because you don't know how to use it, and you'll never get anyone who's not trained to use it, to use it properly. You hand it to a kid and tell him to "talk into the mic" and you'll be amazed in post how often he turned his head and went out of pattern, or dropped his arm and pulled the mic too far away. You'll spend many unhappy hours in post trying to rescue your sound, only to end up with mediocre results. Use either omni, tell them to put it 10cm away from their lips, and correct them often as they let the mic fall away from their mouths (holding a mic right there isn't natural to most people, and they aren't thinking about it, they are instead thinking about what they are trying to say, and about not embarrassing themselves on camera). Save yourself some grief and use an omni. Just sayin'.
 
I've shot a ton of interviews at sporting events, and it's definitely a tough environment to get good quality sound from. And with that being said Rippie is right that in those cases, good enough is actually good enough. I used to use a cheap handheld mic from B&H plugged into my Tascam DR-05, which was a huge improvement over using a shotgun mic (Rode Videomic in my case), even when I took the shotgun off the camera and tried to use it like a traditional stick mic.

Here's something I filmed awhile back using the shotgun mic as an interview mic in and around Madison Square Garden, which is about as noisy as it gets:

And then notice the improvement when using even a cheap handheld mic (there was a ton of noise in the room, which was small and packed to the brim with simultaneous interviews:

If I know in advance I'll have to conduct interviews in addition to game footage, I make sure I have at least one other person with me. And a word of advice, if you can, let the interviewee hold the mic, especially if they're not as media savvy and used to interviews. Otherwise, you'll get these audio dips that have to be addressed in post every time the interviewee speaks since they usually won't hold the mic as close to their mouth as you'd like.
 
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Darkwing Productions said:
let the interviewee hold the mic, especially if they're not as media savvy and used to interviews. Otherwise, you'll get these audio dips that have to be addressed in post every time the interviewee speaks since they usually won't hold the mic as close to their mouth as you'd like..
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What?
 
raphb said:
What?
Click to expand...

He means to have the interviewer hold the mic. Someone who's supposedly trained in how to use a reporter's mic. Which is not something your typical athlete has been trained for. They have all kinds of amazing skills, but typically have not yet had Microphone 101. They get that after their athletic career is over and their broadcasting career starts.
 
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