Straight into DVX for low budget drama?

K

kellyboy

Well-known member
Probably a stupid question, sorry.

What do you guys who know think of going straight into the DVX from the boom mic for a low budget thing. Is the DVX up to the task?
If not, can you suggest a portable, relelatively inexpensive recorder? That uses compact flash or DAT?

Thanks everyone,

Joseph Kell
 
it is certainly do-able.

the only thing you really lose is the fine tuning of the volume but if your in a static environment where the sound is semi-controlled it shouldn't much of an issue.

in a lot of ways a mic plugged right into the camera makes sense in that there are less things to lower the quality of the signal or places for things to "go wrong"

i've done a ton of stuff without a mixer.

i'm shopping for a really great mixer right now because i want to have better control over the volume controls. the little wheels on the side of the camera are a pain to work with in the field.

plus the levels indicator on the screen aren't all that viewable.

lastly, once you get to the size of production where you have a dedicated sound person its better to have them plugged in with headphones but its important that the person either be really experienced or learn to keep their fingers off of the dials.

i'm not sound guru but i do know that inexperienced users tend to chase the levels by nearly constantly screwing around with the level control.

i wouldn't record on a secondary device. the dvx does a fine job of recording and recording to another device isn't worth it. too many things to go wrong.

keep it simple. even if you have a sound guy with a mixer around his neck and a boom etc. i still strongly believe in the camera operator listening to the sound thats going into the camera!

i mean its so easy to get sloppy and to ASSume that the sound is ok because it sounds ok to the sound guy but what if the cable got disconnected? you could spend a whole day shooting and end up with nothing on the cameras tape! or if the internal mic were turned on you would get sound but not what you expected.

matthew
 
but didn't mattin of st. louis say that when he plugged in the mixer he discovered it gave a muy macho boost in the mic's sensitivity, that he could keep the mic much farther from the subject's mouth?
 
Goddam it please quit saying that! I edited that post!

It greatly improves the sound of the mics (in my opinion) but I was HIGH when I thought it totally changed the pickup patterns of the mic... YES it can force a farther reach of any mic, but it will not eliminate unwanted sounds... it will also drop the noise floor.

All those things combined FOOLED ME into thinking I was getting a magic effect! I was a gullible idiot and just hadn't used a top quality mixer before... the improvements were so significant that I had a hard time identifying exactly what was happening. I heard this great sound and fell in love and we all know how stupid guys can get when they're in love... I just wasn't used to such a clean input.

That last sentence pertains to the mixer... not the love thing.:embarasse
 
if the dvx and the mixer are both using 48v phantom it would seem that the mic's performance wouldn't change much.

can a mixer really make a mic sound better? or is a mixer just something that can get in the way and possibly create noise?

i mean the limiter features sound great as far as blocking out certain audio ranges but other than filtering features i wouldn't expect the mic's performance to change much.

that said i haven't had a relativel high end mixer yet so maybe a week from now i'll be extoling the virtues of my mixer.

b&h is closed for a week so my dilema is do i deal wiht someone new or wait for b&h

i wish rush carried the sound device mixers...

matthew
 
So the answer is, both Matts are right.

You can improve your sound by using the better pre-amps in most mixers and using a dedicated separate recorder.

But doing so involves increasing the complexity of your shoot, as well as more time syncing things in post.

If you don't have the luxury of an experienced sound person, and if you're not willing to train someone who will ALWAYS be there for your low budget shoot, then I would keep it simple.

There are far too many things to keep track of on a low budget shoot (grabbing guerilla shots, continuity, making sure your whole shot list gets shot, keeping critical pieces of equipment in working order), not to mention all of the mundane problems of actors showing up, transportation, feeding people, etc. The less potential for problems you have, the better.

The DVX is not a perfect audio recorder. But it can do a darn good job on dialogue (as good as, and usually better than any other camera in it's price range), and using a boomed mic directly into the cam is definitely doable. I've done it several times for instructional videos.

As with all shoots, paying attention to the basics (quiet sets, decent booming techniqes) will do much more for you than throwing more money and equipment at a problem.

That being said, if your particular situation lends itself to having a dedicated GROUP of people that are willing to put the extra effort into getting the best audio possible, then getting a mixer and/or a dedicated audio recorder might make sense.
 
Everything Joe just said is true. If you're not really ready to complicate your productions then you might not really see the benefits of a mixer just yet.

That said... if you don't want to wait:

CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE (see what I mean Dave Fisk... I can't even link to the ACTUAL product page... all the navagation is strictly IN your website... Aaarrrrgh... well I tried.

CLICK HERE

And all these sites will be $1195 no matter what the price says on the site... that's just how much a 302 costs. Also I can tell you that any of the above 3 sites will give you a level of service that you've never had before.

Professional and Personal... in that order.
 
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