Balancing Sound

Given what it would cost for an active (powered) unbalanced to balanced converter and another balanced to unbalanced converter, and the amount of gear you'd be hauling around, my advice would be to keep the cable length as short as possible; keep the cable away from power cords, and save your money for an XLR mic and a single, stereo, XLR adapter like the Beachtek (although there are less expensive models).

You may want to return the ATR-55, but only if you have the money to upgrade. If not, it is still much better than an on-camera mic; you just need to do away with the extension, or get a 3-6 ft extension; no longer.

BTW: Some noise can be removed in post. It will affect your audio quality, but I've had to fix noisy audio and it often comes out just fine. Obviously, you want to keep the noise to a minimum.

Doug

I upgraded from the ATR55, it's a good mic if you don't extend it too far, don't use it with fluorescent lights, near any electric motors (ceiling fans, refrigerators), or any dimmers. If you have to cross power cables, do so at a 90 degree angle to avoid inductance. It does a really good job, much better than it should for the price.

any suggestions for an XLR mic, and a specific beachtek adapter?

I'm looking pretty hard at the Rode ntg-2 as it seems to be pretty well received...

If you look at the Product List page on the Beachtek website it tells you which cameras certain adapters are for... most likely you'll be looking at the DXA-2s... I use this one with my Canon HV20, and it works great.

If you think you may ever find yourself using a mic that needs phantom power you might want to consider the DXA-6A or DXA-6uv... the 6uv has level meters on it which you may or may not find helpful... most cameras will show level meters on the viewscreen anyway, so it's a perk you probably don't need to shell out the extra cash for..

As far as shotgun mics go, I've heard good things about the Rode mics, though I've never personally used one.. the thing to keep in mind is the longer the microphone is, the more directional it's pickup pattern, that's very important if you're going to be shooting wide and whatnot, because you'll want the mic as close as possible, but with a wide shot you can't really get it very close or either the mic, or boom, or boom operator will be in the shot... Unless you also incorporate wireless lav mics or something, but that's a whole other can of worms...


The other option you have, depending on the availability (and to a certain extent skill) of your actors would be to plan on replacing ALL of your dialog in post. In that case you would shoot with the setup you've got now, cut the film together, get the actors back and rerecord the audio while they watch the performance on screen, and listen to the original version in headphones -- trying to recapture the same emotion, energy, nuances, etc... For that you could use the mic you have, or pick up an inexpensive condenser.. maybe something like this: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/MXL-990USB-USB-Powered-Condenser-Microphone?sku=271009

Since I first posted this, I have purchased a Canon HV30. It seems to me that the Beachtek Dx-2s is a good option and I'll be price hunting for that pretty soon.

Will, do you have a boom mic that you would recommend? (price range somewhere around $200-300 would be nice..)

also, im having a hard time realizing what the beachtek will do as far as balancing the sound. is it necessary to have a phantom powered beachtek to achieve the full benefits of an XLR mic?

thanks for the help guys.

adambarito said:

also, im having a hard time realizing what the beachtek will do as far as balancing the sound. is it necessary to have a phantom powered beachtek to achieve the full benefits of an XLR mic?

thanks for the help guys.

Click to expand...

Only if the mic requires phantom power..

As for what mic to get, my personal choice would be a sennheiser. Ideally (if money were no object) the 416, but with an average price around $1k that's out of many people's budgets... the ME66 or ME67 isn't quite as bad, at a bit under half the cost of the 416, but the extra money spent on these mics is a solid investment in my opinion.

I just ran across this pretty decent mic round-up/comparison/review that is worth a look for anyone in the market for a new (low-ish cost) shotgun mic: http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/review_shotgun_mics.html

Of the mics included, which are probably the primary contenders you should be considering, with the budget you indicated I would probably lean toward the Azden

I've also been kicking around the idea of getting (or building) a parabolic mic, such as those used for wildlife audio recording, etc.. it seems that every project I work on has at least one shot that is damn near impossible to get the mic close enough to get good audio, and I have a feeling a parabolic mic might alleviate that issue at least somewhat, if not totally. If anybody is interested in building one, while these may not be the best design plans ever, it would be a cheap way to do some testing (somehow I can see this as a project knightly would find fun)... anyway, here's an "instructables" link: http://www.instructables.com/id/Dollar-Store-Parabolic-Mic/

adambarito said:

also, im having a hard time realizing what the beachtek will do as far as balancing the sound. is it necessary to have a phantom powered beachtek to achieve the full benefits of an XLR mic?

thanks for the help guys.

Click to expand...

I guess I didn't really answer your question about the balanced audio in my other reply..

Basically what that means is two copies of the audio signal are sent down the wire, and with a little electrical trickery they work together to cancel out a good deal of electronic interference that is often picked up with an unbalanced cable.

So, the beachtek isn't really what's doing it, it's the XLR cable... but you need the beachtek to be able to connect the xlr to your camera. It also maintains a consistent signal level so your camera's preamp isn't turning itself up and down constantly if I remember correctly.