Shotgun mic into external recorder into camera?

O

odshannon

Well-known member
Hey all,

So I've been trying to find this question asked on the internet for a while but can't seem to word it on google to find it. Basically my plan is to run a Tascam DR-70D into a Audio-Technica AT875R and then directly into my GH3 when I do run and gun style shooting. Is this possible? Or even worth it? I am looking to get the best audio that I won't have to sync in post, just to I can have more crisp background and ambient noise to add my "doc" style films. I know the DR-70D has external mics to use but I already need the AT875R for booming interviews, so I figured why not try and use it for this as well. I am not an audio guy, so any help would be appreciated!

Thank you,
-Shannon
 
Welcome to DVXuser.

This topic was just beat to death a week or so ago. Scroll down the list or use the link.

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?329630-Tascam-DR-70D-what-do-you-think

The Tascam is no high end recorder, but it should beat any DSLR audio easily. In addition, it will support phantom powered mics, which gives you a lot more options than what your DSLR will do by itself. And, the audio out of the Tascam to your DSLR might be compromised, read the linked thread.

If you haven't, and are interested in audio, read the stickies, there is lots of good info there.

Grant
 
odshannon said:
Basically my plan is to run a Tascam DR-70D into a Audio-Technica AT875R and then directly into my GH3 when I do run and gun style shooting. Is this possible? Or even worth it?
Click to expand...

Yes, and yes. The output of the AT875 goes to the DR-70D, and then to the camera. This is the design purpose of the DR-70D. The "trick" if there is one is to turn down the audio levels on the camera and compensate by turning up the levels on the DR-70D. This is done because the micpreamps on the DR-70D are far better than the micpreamps in the camera (doesn't matter which camera, they're (nearly) all bad). If you fail to do this, you end up with noisy audio. Try it and see -- now at least you'll know why.

Otherwise, I too welcome you to DVXuser, and do read the thread Grant pointed you to.

EDIT: Almost forgot. You do know that the worst position you can have for that (and any other) microphone is on the camera itself, yes? Two reasons for that -- too far from the speaker, and generally not pointed where it should be. This and a bunch of other useful stuff is in the location sound forum stickies.
 
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Great! Thanks for all your help guys. I had been reading that thread and saw that a hiss noise was being addressed but still was confused about an external mic to the external recorder to the camera and wanted to make sure.

I do know that is the worse place to put the mic but a lot of my shoots are going to be shoulder rigged with just myself and I want to be fast and nimble. I will however, take any chance I get to get better audio if possible, but being a one man band can be difficult in film.

Thanks for the welcome! I do plan to learn more about audio as it's probably my weakest skill on films. I'm used to just dealing with cinematography as I'm a DP for most things but due to a new job, I will be doing everything myself.

Thanks again everyone!
-Shannon
 
odshannon said:
Great! Thanks for all your help guys. I had been reading that thread and saw that a hiss noise was being addressed but still was confused about an external mic to the external recorder to the camera and wanted to make sure.

I do know that is the worse place to put the mic but a lot of my shoots are going to be shoulder rigged with just myself and I want to be fast and nimble. I will however, take any chance I get to get better audio if possible, but being a one man band can be difficult in film.

Thanks for the welcome! I do plan to learn more about audio as it's probably my weakest skill on films. I'm used to just dealing with cinematography as I'm a DP for most things but due to a new job, I will be doing everything myself.

Thanks again everyone!
-Shannon
Click to expand...
The purpose of filming is communication and 90% of the communication comes through audio. Pretty pictures, though important, are the frosting on the cake. Do whatever you need to do to get pristine audio and then think about what to do to get the images to accompany it.
 
Steve House said:
The purpose of filming is communication and 90% of the communication comes through audio. Pretty pictures, though important, are the frosting on the cake. Do whatever you need to do to get pristine audio and then think about what to do to get the images to accompany it.
Click to expand...

Trust me, I'm not a "pretty pictures" DP or at least try not to be. I heard a quote once that the two most important things are story and sound. I am a storytelling filmmaker. But I think you're not fully understanding what I'm trying to do with the setup. I will have good audio overlayed of a person speaking and then I just want to accent with good broll and audio but I don't have the time to sync every single broll shot with external audio. The docs will be like something my brother and I did but will have more cleaner "ambient audio" then what we did.

https://vimeo.com/110028254
 
A camera mounted mic (nat sound) is often OK for B-roll, where it's underneath the narration or music... In fact, I was surprised how much of the camera mic track I used when I started doing audio-post on docus and such.
 
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