Another microphone question
March 7, 2016 12:06 PM Subscribe
I'm doing a music podcast based in my living room. I've a tripod, atop which is mounted a nice (Canon EOS Rebel T3) camera. Nice enough for my living room and for Youtube, I think. But what about the audio?
I'm pretty confident I've got the lighting covered via the light of day (natural light), but am worried about the audio. The whole idea is to capture the "living room concert" experience as authentically as possible, so the performers will be sitting on couches 10-12 feet away from the camera. Do I need additional microphones? We're talking about people with acoustic guitars, nothing fancy. Do I need to do any extra mikeing of the room, and if so, how would you best go about it?
I'm pretty confident I've got the lighting covered via the light of day (natural light), but am worried about the audio. The whole idea is to capture the "living room concert" experience as authentically as possible, so the performers will be sitting on couches 10-12 feet away from the camera. Do I need additional microphones? We're talking about people with acoustic guitars, nothing fancy. Do I need to do any extra mikeing of the room, and if so, how would you best go about it?
Came in to say that I do pretty much this with a Zoom H2n, but someone beat me to it.
posted by TinWhistle at 1:13 PM on March 7, 2016
posted by TinWhistle at 1:13 PM on March 7, 2016
Yes, 10-12 feet away from a camera mic is going to sound "hollow". The AKG Perception is a good mic for acoustic guitars for under a hundred dollars. One mic for each instrument is best, pointed at the sound hole. Plus extra mics for vocals - but now you are needing an audio mixer as well.
Optionally you can boom the mic - ie hang it from above just out of camera frame pointed generally at the performers heads. In this case it's best to have a mic with a "long throw" like a shotgun mic to be able to pickup "distant" ie more than 6-8 feet away.
The issue with using an omnidirectional mic is that by their very nature they pickup sound from every direction. In your situation I'd use a mic with a directional pattern like a cardioid or hypercard.
As an alternative to a purpose designed audio recorder like the Zoom, you can use an iRig Pre to plug any pro mic into your phone and record away!
There are many ways to solve this problem, and some experimentation may be helpful. Good luck.
posted by Zedcaster at 4:59 PM on March 7, 2016
Optionally you can boom the mic - ie hang it from above just out of camera frame pointed generally at the performers heads. In this case it's best to have a mic with a "long throw" like a shotgun mic to be able to pickup "distant" ie more than 6-8 feet away.
The issue with using an omnidirectional mic is that by their very nature they pickup sound from every direction. In your situation I'd use a mic with a directional pattern like a cardioid or hypercard.
As an alternative to a purpose designed audio recorder like the Zoom, you can use an iRig Pre to plug any pro mic into your phone and record away!
There are many ways to solve this problem, and some experimentation may be helpful. Good luck.
posted by Zedcaster at 4:59 PM on March 7, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
Short answer is "Yes, definitely, but it doesn't need to be elaborate."
Without getting fancy-pants, a decent-quality omnidirectional condenser mic placed much closer to the players than the camera is will help with minimizing ambient noise. The sound quality will just be that much better.
This might be helpful: How to Mic a DSLR Video
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:23 PM on March 7, 2016 [1 favorite]