Basic sound kit for foley & etc

[yummydonkey]

Hi, I'm currently in postprod atm, and realized that I need to grab extensive amount of foley sounds. There's no dialogue in it, but I would like to capture outdoor ambient, footsteps, whispers, humming. So it looks like I would need mic for outdoor & indoor usage.

I've debated on hiring a sound recordist for this, but I think it would be interesting to grab the gears myself & learn the craft a bit for future reference.

There isn't liberal amount of budget, I'm shooting for $1k ~ 1.5, just as basic kit for doing foley in the future & possibly ADR, VO. Please let me know if you guys think this is a good basic kit for that purpose.


Audio-Technica AT4053B Hypercardioid
$600

Audio-Technica AT897
$230

Marantz PMD661
$650

Windscreen, SD card, Carrying case
$100


Thanks! cheers


EDIT: oh and I should add, I'm not looking into becoming a sound recordist; I'll always look to have a dedicated professional at the shoot. This is more for grabbing additional supplementary sounds for post, or doing voiceover or minor ADR work. So I probably don't need a boom, or other things like that...

[Alcove Audio]

What do you have as far as computer audio and production sound gear? Until I know that I won't make any recommendations.


BTW, Foley requires lots of props and a quiet, sonically dead room. And, technically, if you are recording the footsteps (or whatever) and then cutting to fit they are sound FX, not Foley; Foley is recorded live to picture.

[yummydonkey]

Ah yea you're right, there will be minimal prop recording. I'll have the footage playing on the monitor as visual cue while recording, but there won't be any fancy foley effects, nor will the environment be completely silent.

I will be using PC, premiere with protools. Those are what I have so far, but I would be open to investing in softwares if there are some goods ones you'd recommend.

Thanks!

[Alcove Audio]

Do you have an audio interface?

[yummydonkey]

Hmm I don't have one. I also have a second machine ( mac laptop with final cut & logic, both desktop and laptop have Audition installed as well ) Hopefully if I can find one with mac/pc compatibility, that would be awesome.

[Alcove Audio]

If you are doing audio post - Foley, some sound FX and ADR/VO - you should get a passable audio interface. I personally prefer firewire interfaces.

MOTU (Mark Of The Unicorn) just came out with the Audio Express; I've had good experiences with MOTU gear over the years. The Focusrite Saffire series are okay. M-Audio interfaces are passable for USB devices, and since you already have Pro Tools it might be a no brainer. The M-Box Pro is probably out of your price range.

The AT4053b is a nice mic and can be used for multi-purposes, including production sound. If you do any ADR you should use the mic(s) you used on location.

When recording your own sound for audio post a "dead" isolated room is very important; otherwise you end up with strange artifacts and funky/mismatched ambient/reverb of your sounds.




BTW, a much, much better investment would be to hire me to do your audio post...

[yummydonkey]

Cool! I'll send over a contract then. $699/hr with a personal butler

Added MOTU to the list! Total cost of the kit, $1800 Thanks for the help alcove!