Thinking about getting a higher quality shotgun mic. I like to record my audio separate from the video so that I can mix it in post, and I would also like a better means of doing so (currently using a laptop with a recording interface). Does anyone have any suggestions from mid to high price range?
Audio Equip.?
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What Alcove said. Honestly, read it again to make sure you fully understood it! The only thing I would add is that even films with very substantial budgets are commonly mixed "in the box" these days but usually they have a much more powerful box and more than one of them!
Festivals are a little tricky. You really want your audio to be at least as good as everyone else's and preferably better. How good everyone else's sound is depends on the festival. At the Berlinale or Cannes for example, as "good as everyone else's" would mean spending some serious budget and achieving sound quality of high professional standards ( both production and post) but the other extreme is a very small provincial festival, where probably no one will achieve even low professional standards. For a festival which will be screened in a decent cinema (using the cinema's sound system), this does present a dilemma for the lo/no budget filmmaker. No amount of time in post is really going to get you in the ball park if you can't even hear the levels or frequency response of a cinema system.
G
Thanks guys. Seriously, you two help me out so much, and I really appreciate it. I think I will hold off on the ProMix3 then, because my primary concern was the preamps in the DR-100 and avoiding hiss. Hopefully if I can do some decent Gain staging and use a decent mic (k6/me66) I can get decent enough audio.
It made a massive difference due to the DR100 settings. Putting the gain at 'L' eliminated all hiss and this was a result of the Soundcraft's powerful pres kicking in. Zero hiss in the recording, finally!!!! It turned the little Tascam into a surgical tool.
So I have now bought a used Promix 3.. for $40 USD including delivery!!!!! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261157841577?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
Will let you know the difference levels.
Unfortunately, I have loaned out my DR100 so can't test it at the moment...
If you can, get the Promix, it will enable you to get far better audio (notice 'enable you' it won't give you better results on it's own, but won't get in your way as much). Used promixes go stupid cheap, afriend just picked one for £50 so well worth looking around. If you can find one for that price you'd be stupid not to get it.
The lowest I can find of those is about 470Yes, it's crazy that DR100s are going for $200 - $300 USD used in the UK but Promix 3s go for $40 - $180 USD used and $900 USD new (this is the UK with ridiculous taxes on new electronic goods). If I were to guess, it would be because everyone knows what a recorder is but field mixers are relatively unknown and surprisingly ignored.
Seriously - $40 USD for a Promix 3 is a steal, especially as it came with case, batteries, charger etc... Hell, I've seen cases go for $20 USD on ebay!!!! And it works! Hell, even $150 USD for this mixer is a steal.
When I first used a mixer with my DR100, I finally understood what Alcove etc... were talking about. It turned my DR100 into a professional recording device and I was smitten. I didn't have to de-hiss afterwards - just lovely, clean sound (admittedly a decent mic helped - a Sony ECM 674).
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