Shotgun Mic Question (Yes, I have read the stickies...)

C

custerc

Well-known member
Hi all. So I just bought a DVX 100a, and I'm looking for something that's going to provide me with decent enough sound to do interviews. These will mostly probably be shot indoors in quiet places, but I may well also be doing some shooting in large outdoor environments, and I will be doing all of the shooting in China, which generally has a bit more ambient noise than other places (they love honking car horns, recycling guys hammering on bins, etc.).

I've spent the last few hours reading through all kinds of stuff about microphones on this board, including the stickies and this article which I found very helpful:

http://dvestore.com/theatre/mics_guide.html#

However, in all these "shotgun mic" articles, it's unclear whether people are talking about mounting the mic on the camera or using a boom. In my situation, I have to mount the mic on a camera. For one, I don't have friends who like me enough to spend all their weekends standing around holding poles while people talk to me in a language they don't speak. Also, having a boom mic is going to attract a lot more police attention, which is something I am trying to avoid. Expensive camera and mounted mic, I might be able to play off as a monied-up tourist. But if there's a sound guy, boom mic, cables, etc. then I'm off to the slammer (and in all likelihood, my gear is getting confiscated).

SO.

What I want to know is if anyone has experience specifically using these mics attached to their cameras for interview-type situations. Looking at the article above, I liked the NTG2 and the Rode Videomic the best, based on a combination of sound quality and price range, but I probably won't always be able to place my camera so close to the interviewee's face. Assuming I'm within 10ft or so, would you expect either of those mics to pick up good sound (it doesn't need to be theater quality...most of it will be in Chinese anyway, so I may cover it with studio-recorded voiceovers in English of the translation, but I may also go subtitles, so it needs to be decent enough that Joe Viewer doesn't think "wow, this sound blows" and/or "I can't hear clearly what's being said".

Like I said, I know this kind of thing has been asked a lot, and I apologize, but from the other posts I found it very hard to tell if people were using these mics on a boom or actually attached to the cameras. Thanks!
 
No deal, a camera mounted mic, especially in a busy urban area, will sound pretty horrible unless it's literally in someone's face. Your best bet, if you're not asking random tourists, is to go with a wireless lav mixed with the on camera shotgun.

All of those articles mean a proper placement from a boom about 1 to 2 feet from the sound source. A $2000 mic would sound pretty horrible when mounted on top of a camera, you just have to have a way to get the mic as close as possible to the source.

Depending on the shoot, you can either go "live news" style and use a handheld mic (with or without a wireless transmitter), use a lavalier, or use a boom pole.

Hope this helps!
 
If it's interview, I think a lav or wireless lav will be more helpful.
A shotgun mounting on a camera, doesn't do the job of recording good quality audio in the interview, unless you get a stand either hang it or go under right beneath their chest, of course you have to frame out the gun....
but again, if you can have lav either wired or wireless would be better I think

Hiro
 
So for interviews, looks like I'll go with maybe a countryman emw for a wired lavalier...still have a question tho...


Does it make sense to have something like the Rode Videomic on the camera just in case, though? I'll be doing pretty much 100% guerilla documentary type stuff when I'm not doing interviews, so it might be good to have something attached to the camera aside from the on board mic...maybe? I have no idea how much it improves the sound. Lets say, for example, I were trying to shoot an informal discussion between multiple subjects from a few feet away in an outdoor environment. Obviously, ideally I'd have a bunch of wireless lavalier mics or a boom, but neither of those options are possible for me at the moment, so my question is, does having a shotgun mic of some kind on the camera improve the sound enough vs. the on board mic to make it worth the extra $150 or so?
 
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Definitely, since the mics on the camera are designed to pick up sound equally from all directions, a shotgun (or any directional mic) on the front of the camera will at least help a little, provided you are aimed right at your subject and are within about 2 maybe 3 feet at most distance. The closer the mic is, the better, so don't hesitate to stick it in someone's face. If it's not too overt in your guerilla work, a handheld mic is relatively cheap and will do your audio worlds of good.

If you want to invest in a good on-cam shotgun that will also work great on a boom when it comes time for that, I'd go with the NTG-1 since it's extra short for camera mounting.

To be honest, look around for deals on used sennheiser g2 and g3 wireless lav sets and see if your budget can go a little higher for one.
 
KnoxHotch said:
Definitely, since the mics on the camera are designed to pick up sound equally from all directions, a shotgun (or any directional mic) on the front of the camera will at least help a little, provided you are aimed right at your subject and are within about 2 maybe 3 feet at most distance. The closer the mic is, the better, so don't hesitate to stick it in someone's face. If it's not too overt in your guerilla work, a handheld mic is relatively cheap and will do your audio worlds of good.

If you want to invest in a good on-cam shotgun that will also work great on a boom when it comes time for that, I'd go with the NTG-1 since it's extra short for camera mounting.

To be honest, look around for deals on used sennheiser g2 and g3 wireless lav sets and see if your budget can go a little higher for one.
Click to expand...

On that note, is there a good place to look? I've been mostly using ebay, but most of the stuff on there seems to be new, and a bit out of my price range. I would really prefer used stuff. I live in New Hampshire, though, so the local Craigslist isn't exactly full of pro/semipro audio gear...

Also, this site is freakin' awesome. Thanks for all the help past, present and future, everyone!
 
The Sennheiser Evolution G2 or G3 wireless sounds like a good option. If you can find the SKP 100 plug-on transmitter and a matching EK100 receiver in the used market, you'd be golden. Otherwise, that is about a $799 system new, but then you'd have a lav too. For "man on the street" interviews, you just can't beat the good ole handheld. They sound good, they're rugged, and even when handled roughly, still sound great. The local news shooters around here do a wireless shotgun. I've seen a shooter with a full sized broadcast camera, unclip his shotgun that was mounted on the camera and handhold it during an interview with his left while controlling the camera with his right. Crazy.

Anyhow, I hope this video here will give you some ideas:

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I AGREE
 
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