to the camera or digital recorder

K

ktrainyo

New member
Hello people my first thread although I have read a thousand. I am stuck with a question and need some advice. I am working on a micro budget film and looking to figure out sound. I have heard the DVX has great audio but my question is as follows:

Is it better to have a mixer, and input the audio from the mixer directly to the camera, or is it better to record on a digital recorder? If I did record onto a digital recorder, is the mixer necessary?

Will be shooting with a DVX and alternating between an AT 407 and a couple of Sanheiser G100 series lapels.

Also, before you guys tell me to hire a sound guy, which I would like to do eventually, I would first like to figure this out myself on a small micro-budget.
 
How about feeding the audio to both, digirecorder and camera? This way you can use the recorder as a mixer and backup (use 24 bit also for safety if avalable) and feed the line signal through to camera. In at least Fostex FR-2 you could do that.
 
Well, first off, you really haven't given us enough information to answer your question. Do you have a boom and a boom op or are you going to put the mic on the camera? Are you planning to just run the lav's or do you want 2 lav's and a boom? Etc., Etc., Etc.

As far as the sound on the DVX goes, great is not a word I would use without qualification. Is it great compared to most other high-end prosumer cameras, yes. Is it great compared to a Deva, Sound Devices, Cantar or other high-end recorder? Not in any way, shape or form. Is there a happy medium? Yes, and Petrus makes a great suggestion.

But, you indicate you want to "figure it out for yourself". The best way to do that is to bring in someone with more experience than you, and watch, listen and learn. You can also learn by trial, but that rarely works in a microbudget project (said another way, the bad sound you get will probably cause your microbudget to not be a microbudget by the time you finish ADR and "fixing it in post").

So, yes, you can run into the camera, and yes, you will get decent audio. Will you get better audio recording separately? Hard to say, since this depends entirely on the recorder.

My ultimate suggestion - talk to your local university film department or local rental house and see if they can recommend someone to spend a little time with you to map out a sound plan based on your specific script and project requirements. Then, if you still want to figure it out for yourself, you will be starting from a better level of knowledge. Failing to do this, at least buy Jay Rose's books on capturing great sound for video. And/or Ty Ford's book. (I haven't personally read Ty's book, but I hear it's a good one...and besides, Ty's performance in "A Dirty Shame" is so good that he deserves to be rewarded... ;-)Oh yeah, and read them too. ;-)

HTH,

Phil
 
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