Rode NTG-2 STEREO?

I have no stereo mics. All mono. Generally speaking all dialogue is recorded mono.
 
Oh, so you will balance it in post? how will you know if your wearing your headphones and only hearing one channel that your getting good audio if the facility your at it loud.
 
smiles906 said:
Oh, so you will balance it in post? how will you know if your wearing your headphones and only hearing one channel that your getting good audio if the facility your at it loud.
Click to expand...

What camera are you using?

Generally speaking, a setup that is using only a single mic will use an external mixer, or on-camera audio routing controls, to send the one input to both record channels. And ideally, you'll be able to set the second record channel a few dB lower than the first as a "safety" in case of sudden peaks.

To echo others here, most mics used in production are single-channel. Dialog is panned to the center of the mix in post, and recording it in stereo in the field can make mixing in post difficult.

What stereo mics are good for: recording sound beds, such as city traffic or thunder storms or a passing train or birds chirping in the forest, to be used as background sounds in your final mix.
 
smiles906 said:
Oh, so you will balance it in post? how will you know if your wearing your headphones and only hearing one channel that your getting good audio if the facility your at it loud.
Click to expand...

Dialog is virtually always recorded in mono. Even if you record to both channels in the camera, you're usually going to be recording a mono signal as dual-mono, the same signal going to what would be the left and right channels in the camera, perhaps with their levels adjusted to one is 6 dB or so lower than the other as a safety against sudden extra-loud peaks distorting. In post, the track of choice is sent to the phantom center by panning the track equally to the left and right channels using the software editor's mixing tools while the other track is discarded.

As for monitoring during the shoot, most production mixers allow for a single channel, either from the mixer output or the monitor return, to be sent to both of the headphone's earpieces if desired. Some sound mixers (mixers the people, that is) prefer to use "split monitoring" with the input signal to the recording device being sent to one earpiece while the return monitor output from the recording device is sent to the other so they can compare the two. In fact, one of the reasons to use a mixer instead of just plugging a mic into the camera is to give you that flexibility.

If the location is too loud to hear clearly what's being recorded through your headphones, you need to spring for the $$ to get proper isolating headphones (ear buds or computer-style open-back phones are never proper). In really loud locations, wearing a set of isolating in-ear monitors like the Etymotics covered with a set of heavy duty ear protectors like they wear on an airport tarmac or aircraft carrier flight deck might be in order. In the sort of environment - and you can find it all sorts of places like factories, race tracks, rock concerts, etc - you've got more to worry about than just monitoring the sound - like those musicians who have any sense, you really need to also give thought to protecting your hearing from permanent damage that could knock you out of your career.
 
Ive said the same thing here im sure, about dialog "always" being recorded in mono.

I do have to say it's becoming not a bad thing if you're doing a documentary in some
pretty exotic locations to record in m/s stereo.

Im not a huge fan of m/s other than its almost the only way to go if you're portable
but whats nice about it is if you're decoding through your mixer on the way to tape
all post has to do is mono both channels to the center and the "side" goes away (its out of phase with each other when its stereo and combining them cancels it out)

If I was doing a doc in a jungle, etc I would probably go with stereo.
Anything that you're usually trying your best to get RID of background noise
mono is the way to go. (which is 99% of the time)
 
smiles906 said:
Oh, so you will balance it in post? how will you know if your wearing your headphones and only hearing one channel that your getting good audio if the facility your at it loud.
Click to expand...
Remote Audio HN-7506 headphones are great for high-noise monitoring. They sound almost identical to Sony MDR-7506's, and give you enough isolation to monitor comfortably in high-SPL industrial environments.

To repeat a sage bit of advice: take it easy on your ears (you only get one pair). Moderate headphone levels will help you avoid short-term ear fatigue, and long-term hearing loss. If you find yourself turning up your headphones to hear around environmental noise, you need to get yourself some isolation `cans.

And don't bother with active noise cancellation headsets like Bose makes. They're great for listening to an iPod while on a plane, but they'll make a mess of any recording you're trying to monitor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top