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SOUND ISSUES IN THE FIELD - BOOM vs LAPEL MICS

C

CRASHTV

Hi,

We are filming a video podcast in and around some offices. We do studio sections that we use wireless lapel mics that go into a mixer and then a mac. When we are in the field we only have a handheld mic. We have just bought a shotgun mic and boom and we are trying to record in the offices that way but we pick up so much air-con and background noise. Obviously the lapels are closer-range and we would love to be able to use wireless lapels BUT.. ones that can go into a portable receiver that can plug into an XLR point on our camera. At the moment we are having to sync all audio with the camera footae after filming and this takes too much time. We were hoping that recording with a shotgun mic straight into the cameras xlr port would be okay but we pick up too much background noise.

Any suggestions?

Is there such product as a wireless lapel mic receiver that is battery operated and portable which we can then plug into an xlr point?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Joel
 
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what mike did you get on that boom? The general rule is to point the microphone downward and toward the subject's chin. That will ground out the pickup pattern (mostly forward from the nose of the shotgun mike) against their chest. There is also a small pickup pattern to the back as well that will need to not be pointed at any noise making devices (like A/C units, heaters, vents, refrigerators or flourescent lights). Keep in mind that sound bounces. Bring some thick blankets that can be hung over stands to dampen echoes. Keep the mike no farther than 3 feet from the subject's mouth for the best signal to noise ratios (closer is better). Get Room tone so you can add it back to the edited piece in post.

A lav is generally an omni directional mike and will pick up relatively more noise than a directional mike... the difference being that their closeness to the subject's mouth gives it a good signal:noise ratio. It may also be the correct solution to this environment. There are no one solution tools in the audio arsenal. I keep 3 types of mikes with me on every shoot so I have options when miking a scene.
 
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ah....too bad...late again...old post...i am new here...but if this comes up again

Knightly made some very sound points....Heating and Air systems are one of my biggest enimys...i usually ask that locations have them shut down when we are filming...something that is talked about on the scout....

then i show up and they cant be turned off...i know i am screwed now...so what to do

any boom mic i use is going to pick this up...unless i shove the mic in the talents mouth...they usually dont like this...lol...so first try to cover any vents near where you are shooting..this will help a little...every little bit helps...then its time to wire...i hate wireless indoors...but in many cases it must be done...

yes..signal to noise is everything...and sorry Knight, but 3ft isnt really gonna do it for me...i want 6in or less to have the boom be effective in that situation...

so back to the wires...yes they have lapels that are wireless...thats all i use...but more money...an option you might have had was to run a cable to the actor(as long as the actor wasnt walking...and if the camera had two audio inputs you could of used the boom and the wire on seperate tracks (channels L&R)and then later make a choise what worked better...maybe one or a combo of the two...

i always run a boom even if its a wire shot...even if its to get me some clean air to mix in later and make to wires sound more natural...but if you only have one track to work with...you will have to go with only one choise...

and if you had a small portable overtheshoulder mixer and only one channel to record to...i wouldnt mix the boom and lavs together as they would more than likely get SLAPPY SOUNDING...due to the fact that one is close to the subject than the other and this would cause a delay...but it you did find the wires to sound very dry in this situation...you could just crack open the boom away from set a little to mic it in and air it out a little...

hope this helps a little
 
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i hate my dyslexia
you could just crack open the boom away from set a little to mic it in and air it out a little...
Click to expand...

ok..what i ment to say was...you could crack open the boom away from set ,a little, to mix under your lav to air it out so it sound more natural...

this is why i could never teach....
 
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