So I'm making this post because I'm curious as to your setups on recording audio on the go. I recently got a Behringer C-1 condenser microphone and an audio interface to go with it to plug onto my desktop and it's a great setup but I'm restricted to just my room seeing as the C-1 needs phantom power, which is supplied by my audio interface but it's restrained to being connected to my desktop. I'll either need to figure out a way to achieve portable phantom power and route the mic to my field recorder, or likely invest in some kind of shotgun mic that does not require phantom power. Anyways, I'd like to hear about your setups that work great for your purposes.
Portable audio setup
- Thread starter cochinasanchez
- Start date
Let me get this straight; you're the one giving incorrect information, quoting articles 180deg out of context but I'm the dick waving troll. Do you own a mirror?
Because: "I'm not a professional audio engineer and I don't profess to be" but I do apparently know more and like to argue with those who are! This is starting to get funny now!
How is a modern ultra quiet JFET mic comparable with a vintage tube mic which ceased production in the 1960's? And, what has a large diaphragm condenser studio mic got to do with recording SFX outdoors? And I'm the troll?
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Let me get this straight; you're the one giving incorrect information, quoting articles 180deg out of context but I'm the dick waving troll. Do you own a mirror?
Because: "I'm not a professional audio engineer and I don't profess to be" but I do apparently know more and like to argue with those who are! This is starting to get funny now!
How is a modern ultra quiet JFET mic comparable with a vintage tube mic which ceased production in the 1960's? And, what has a large diaphragm condenser studio mic got to do with recording SFX outdoors? And I'm the troll?
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LOL, I've never met such an unprofessional, "EXPERT" in all my life.
LOL
Why don't you ask Rode Microphones that? They're the ones who made the YouTube video. You can troll them.
http://www.rode.com/contact
To be more specific with my response, I am recording single sound effects only. No ambience, stereo sounds, or anything like that. Just isolated single sound effects. I hope that is sufficient info now.
No, it's not, because you still didn't answer any of the questions.
1 - How much audio experience of any kind do you have?
2 - What is your budget?
3 - Which field recorder are you using?
Now, I'm in the market for a shotgun mic myself, so here's my answers to the same questions.
1 - How much audio experience of any kind do you have?
I've been working with audio for over 40 years, and am a fairly accomplished recording engineer and audio post editor.
2 - What is your budget?
Under $1,500.
3 - Which field recorder are you using?
I will be renting Sound Devices mixers and recorders.
Your turn......
There's a few really local guys with whom I share clients and trade favors; I call them first. After that I check out the local rental houses. If unsuccessful there...
Professional Sound Services if you're in the NY Metro area.
http://www.pro-sound.com
plus dozens of others, although PSS is a bit more sound-for-picture oriented than other sound houses.
I've also used Trew Audio. They will ship anywhere in continental North America.
http://www.trewaudio.com/
Oh, PS...... I'm actually looking into a shotgun as I'm starting to get more calls for ADR work, and owning my own nice shotgun rather than renting may be more cost effective. I'm still torn, though. I've been renting - as often as I could - the same make/model shotgun used during production, and the results have been pretty good. Decisions, decisions, decisions.
Professional Sound Services if you're in the NY Metro area.
http://www.pro-sound.com
plus dozens of others, although PSS is a bit more sound-for-picture oriented than other sound houses.
I've also used Trew Audio. They will ship anywhere in continental North America.
http://www.trewaudio.com/
Oh, PS...... I'm actually looking into a shotgun as I'm starting to get more calls for ADR work, and owning my own nice shotgun rather than renting may be more cost effective. I'm still torn, though. I've been renting - as often as I could - the same make/model shotgun used during production, and the results have been pretty good. Decisions, decisions, decisions.
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As Alcove said, no that's not sufficient. It narrows it down a bit, to probably some type of shotgun mic. An important ingredient here, as Alcove also asked, what is your budget? Also, it would help if you could be more specific on the type of SFX you want to record; are we talking about handheld items like bits of wood, metal, glass, etc., or bigger things like machinery or sounds of nature? Will you be recording in a very quiet outdoor space or a busy/noisy one?
I'm asking you, you're the one who brought it up and posted it! I also asked why you posted it, what relevance it has to this thread because it appears that you're the one trolling.
Personally I'd stick with what you're already doing. Using the same make/model of mics used during production certainly makes ADR mixing easier and/or more convincing but my priorities and ADR recording environment maybe different from yours.
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Hmmm, thanks for the info. My upcoming production which just got funded via Kickstarter has the bankroll to hire a trusted guy. He has a 744T and Schoeps mics. But, I do have a site, www.iSoundFX.com, I'm building a sound effects library for, and there has arisen the need for more than two tracks at a time. Thus the 744T is the step upwards in my mind. It makes sense for me to rent/own a 744T since www.isoundfx.com will be an ongoing library that I'm constantly updating.
BTW, a shotgun mic is a good option for sound effects for trapping ambient noise, to lower the ambient noise, and increase your SNR, when the source is afar, however, a cardioid mic tends to be a better option for capturing sound when you are able to get the mic close in on a subject. This is something I've noticed by way of comparison. Of course if you can do split tracks of the sound, one from the shotgun and one from the cardioid, then you'd be better off, so you could hear the difference and choose.
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You just can't stop can you? Why do you keep giving completely wrong information to others wanting to learn, do you get some kind of sick/perverse pleasure from deliberately trying to mislead others or do you just not know any better and like humiliating yourself in front of those who do know better?
OP: The aim of course is to increase SNR, NOT to lower it! In any relatively noisy recording environment (say outdoors) you want to use a mic with a tighter polar pattern as the tighter the polar pattern the more noise it will reject coming from the side (thereby increasing the SNR). A cardioid mic can work outdoors providing you can get it extremely close (within a few inches) to what you're recording. This is extremely limiting of course which is why some type of shotgun or at least a hyper-cardioid would be a far more sensible and versatile recommendation.
Not it's not, noise is annoying but relatively harmless. By deliberately giving incorrect information and poor advice you are potentially causing harm. So what you're doing is worse than a bunch of noise, please stop your trolling!
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Take a step back and ask yourself. Do I treat people like this in real life? If I met someone who could physically harm me, would I fashion my replies to him this way? Not that I could or would harm you, mind you.
The point I'm making is, you are very rude and insensitive and in fact very condescending. You should treat a 145lb weakling the same as a 225lb MMA fighter. We all deserve it.
If I'm wrong, you should present it nicely, with respect. You are the furthest thing from respectful regarding audio, which is the lesson I'm trying to teach you.
You may be right and I'm completely off base, but it's your approach which is doing you no favors.
I think a good majority of what you're saying is actually complementing what I'm saying, but you somehow feel it's in your best interest to knock me down, so you are attempting to belittle and demean my opinions rather than embrace my flaws and communicate to me in such a way that I will receive it properly.
This is the problem I've experienced personally when dealing with others on the internet. The problem in your case is that it's so prevalent in what you're saying, it's making your knowledge and experience sound like a bunch of noise, which is what I said above. Sorry, but it's true.
1 - How much audio experience of any kind do you have?
I compose music in fl studio and I have experience with mixing and mastering sound. I have had experience doing sound effects for previous projects of mine. Total is about 6 months of sound experience.
2 - What is your budget?
I'm a poor college student looking to be someone in life, so you can assume that my budget is as small as possible without wasting money on toys that won't help me in the long run.
3 - Which field recorder are you using?
Unfortunately it's not an intended field recorder. it's an Olympus VN-722PC voice recorder. It's worked fine for me in the past even without the lack of settings so I am okay with continued use of it.
and btw, I've used an Audio Technica ATR 6550 shotgun microphone before it crapped out on me due to rough usage, and it gave me great results.
I compose music in fl studio and I have experience with mixing and mastering sound. I have had experience doing sound effects for previous projects of mine. Total is about 6 months of sound experience.
2 - What is your budget?
I'm a poor college student looking to be someone in life, so you can assume that my budget is as small as possible without wasting money on toys that won't help me in the long run.
3 - Which field recorder are you using?
Unfortunately it's not an intended field recorder. it's an Olympus VN-722PC voice recorder. It's worked fine for me in the past even without the lack of settings so I am okay with continued use of it.
and btw, I've used an Audio Technica ATR 6550 shotgun microphone before it crapped out on me due to rough usage, and it gave me great results.
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That's still unfortunately a very vague answer. To move beyond the "toy" area of say shotgun mics, you'd be looking at the high hundreds to low thousands of dollars. That's not to say that you can't get relatively decent results with a low hundreds shotgun mic but it's relative and depends on what you mean by "in the long run". For example; a Rode Videomic Pro is around $200 and is capable of producing decent enough results for the low level amateur filmmaker producing online (Eg. Youtube) content. If "in the long run" you are talking about high level amateur filmmaking or professional filmmaking, then the Videomic Pro is effectively a "toy" and a more realistic entry point would be a Rode NTG3 at about $700.
OK, that narrows recommendations down considerably! Quickly looking up the VN-722PC, it seems to be a dictaphone. It has an unbalanced 3.5mm mic input, which effectively means it will only work with "toy" level microphones. So, something like a Rode videomic pro is about the best quality mic you could buy for this recorder and none of the specific mic suggestions made so far in this thread would be suitable! TBH, you are going to struggle to progress a great deal further with this recorder, not just because of it's "toy" input limitation but also because it only records compressed (lossy) audio, which is likely to cause issues with much of the processing which sound design entails.
Again, you really, really need to take a look in a mirror!! Before I even contributed to this thread you were "shouting" not to use a shotgun mics (except in a "worse case scenario") and stated that "most people get it wrong". Is that not insensitive and very condescending? It's even more galling that you were basing your condescension on incorrect facts/ignorance in the first place. If you want nice and respectful responses, then write nice and respectful posts in the first place! You could demonstrate respect yourself by: 1. When replying to those asking for advice, you actually give them appropriate advice, 2. Even if you think you're sure of your facts, it's much wiser to phrase your arguments/points more carefully than just outright contradicting experienced pros as there maybe other mitigating facts of which you're not aware. Experienced pros can be wrong of course but generally they have gotten to be experienced pros by not being wrong, 3. Quoting articles or information out of context, in an attempt to prove you're right, can be an effective tactic against those who know little about audio. But against experienced pros, it's a tactic which achieves nothing except insulting our intelligence/knowledge! and 4. Know when to give up. Instead of resorting to personal insults, defamation and hypocrisy, do yourself (and the OP/others) a favour and do what you did in post #33; graciously admit you're wrong or at the very least that you're not sure if you're right.
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Thank you all for the advice. I appreciate ALL of your valuable input. C :