Topic: External mic for a cammie

[maidencolorado]

I just picked up a new cammie, this one has plug-in power for an external mic.  I normally run separate audio anyway, but have found myself in situations where the external on the cammie might come in handy.  I do have the accessory shoe, so mounting shouldn't be a problem.

I was wondering if you could throw some recommendations my way as to what would be a good mic in the up to $100 (maybe a little higher if necessary) range.  I mostly film rock and metal shows at a local club, some very loud, and as often as I can, right from up front.

Here are a couple of examples if you want to take a look:

Sabbat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDOr65z9Kgk

Seven Witches
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSZOXE7V6cY

[beatkilla]

You'll still overload the cameras preamp no matter what mic you use at a VERY loud rock show.

[BlackLab]

^ above is true for most cams but some have manual gain control

you didnt mention if you need stealth or not
if not Rode Videomic

I have run my Church mics and pre- amp through my cam

[stantheman1976]

If you go with a Rode mic make sure it's the Stereo VideoMic.  The other is a mono shotgun and will sound terrible for music.

[maidencolorado]

^ above is true for most cams but some have manual gain control

you didnt mention if you need stealth or not
if not Rode Videomic

I have run my Church mics and pre- amp through my cam

Nope, not going to be a stealth situation.  It won't likely be used in a situation where the volume will be too high, and I'll likely be running secondary audio anyway (never hurts to have a back up).

Thanks for the tip, I'll look into it.

[Red Boink]

It is not generally good to use a stereo mic on a camera because any movement shifts the stereo field in disturbing ways.  If the camera is locked, fine.  But if you intend on panning, zooming, getting crowd cutaways, in other words, shoot interesting video, stereo should be avoided.  You can sometimes pick up the beyer MCE87vs on ebay for less than $100, which is a great price as it retails for like $389US.

Good Luck,

Best,

John

[stantheman1976]

It is not generally good to use a stereo mic on a camera because any movement shifts the stereo field in disturbing ways.  If the camera is locked, fine.  But if you intend on panning, zooming, getting crowd cutaways, in other words, shoot interesting video, stereo should be avoided.  You can sometimes pick up the beyer MCE87vs on ebay for less than $100, which is a great price as it retails for like $389US.

Good Luck,

Best,

John

Ture, but it would be better to have a stereo mic instead of a mono shotgun like the Rode VM.  Even if you use the internal mics of the camera they are stereo and will have the same effect.  It's ideal to run secondary audio of course.  With a good mic you can get a cleaner source to help match the external audio to.

[guitard]

It's ideal to run secondary audio of course.  With a good mic you can get a cleaner source to help match the external audio to.

I've had some bad experiences where I used a mic connected to my videocam - and things didn't go right and I ended up with ZERO audio - and no one else taped the audio.

So with a secondary audio source - you stand a good chance of getting nicer audio for the video, and one way or another - you're going to have at least one audio source for the video.

[Red Boink]

Cameras don't do audio very well at all.  You may get room presence and general background well with a camera, but audio should be a separate endeavor.  I once knew a Chief Engineer who put Crown PZMs on the eng field cameras.  Guess what they got for audio???

Yeah.

So, you'll find those who promote all kinds of on camera audio schemes.  Your experience is your best friend.  I use a shotgun on camera.

Best,

John

[rastasean]

I agree that if you're recording music, record in stereo even if it is two mono mics.
check out groovetv on archive.org


very great audio and three/four different camera shoots. That's how you keep it interesting!

[Ekib]

You'll still overload the cameras preamp no matter what mic you use at a VERY loud rock show.

Unless you use Core-Sound's attenuator cable .

http://core-sound.com/attenuator-cables/1.php

I know it works great for camera's.

[beatkilla]

I actually have that attenuator cable.I used the Core Sound Binaurals with the attenuator plugged in to Sony vx2100 video cam which has manual gain control.Waveform looks great but audio still overloaded,but i am shooting from front row in front of stack so its loud.My minidisc handles it perfectly though.