Can You Hear Me Now? Mic/Boom/Recorder Recommendations for Films?

[FalTorPan]

In your films, what do you use for microphones? I'd like to purchase a lower-cost mic that I can attach to a boom, whether it be a "real" boom pole or one that I might cobble together with a painter's pole. I'd be interested in specific brands and models, and why you chose them.

What do you use as a recorder? In keeping with the theme, I'd like to purchase a lower-cost digital audio recorder. Of course, plugging the mic into the camera is an option, but I wonder if that might be more trouble than it's worth. I can imagine the camera operator and boom operator getting caught in each other's cables.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

Nearly every shoot we've done, we've fed the audio into the camera. Generally, we're using Shure mikes. Today, though, we had issues with phantom power, so we opted to use the built-in stereo mikes. Worked pretty darn well, in fact.

I'm going to be investing in a new mike next month, perhaps with its own power supply, to see if we can get even better results. I'm looking forward to the input from others as well.

 

[Maurice]

We've used several different audio recorders on my films, including a Zoom H4n, a Tascam handheld recorder.

 

[FalTorPan]

Thanks, everyone!

Maurice, with the H4, have you used its built-in microphones and then attached the H4 to a boom, or have you used an external mic on a boom?

What mics might you recommend?

 

[MikeH92467]

If you haven't already, be sure to check out the thread on Fan Film Making tips. There's a number of posts in there referring to sound. One that really struck me as excellent is to manually set one channel at what you think is the ideal level, and the other at about 50% less. The idea being that if the volume peaks at too high a level causing "clipping" (a problem that simply cannot be fixed in post-production and forces the time consuming looping process) you still have one clean channel. A low level can be brought up and most of the hiss cleaned up in post production. As I said clipping is not fixable. On another note, I would recommend against using Automatic Gain Control. It typically makes things that are supposed to be quiet noisy and suppresses the dynamic range of louder scenes. Just my opinions. I hope anyone who wishes will chime in.

 

[Maurice]

Thanks, everyone!

Maurice, with the H4, have you used its built-in microphones and then attached the H4 to a boom, or have you used an external mic on a boom?

What mics might you recommend?

Never used the built-in mics. We always use external mics. I don't recall which mics we used, though. I'll have the check with my sound guys.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

We're shooting separate sound, which I think I prefer.