I am planning on using 2 cameras to shoot my feature film, a canon xl2 and a xl1 although we r trying to get another xl2.... we will have one shotgun mic plugged into 1 of the cameras and the other will have just the on camera mic... should we have 2 shotgun mics for both camera cause i heard you should rarely use your on camera mic? Otherwise i assume it wont sound right going from 1 camera to the other when we go to edit, am I wrong? How should I go about this? Thank you
Audio Help
- Thread starter mightyjoe28
- Start date
Correct, the on-cam mics are not gonna get you clean sound. Ideally you want a wireless lav mic for each speaking person along with a boom mic for the shot if possible. A boom mic works best when it is CLOSE to the mouth of the speaker. ALSO...It depends on what & where you are shooting, wide shot etc...
So should i get another shotgun mic for the other camera as well or at least another mic?
As long as you slate your shots, you can use the audio from camera A (which has the boom plugged in) when you cut to camera B. Keep the on-board mic on camera B on so that you can use it's audio as a scratch track for sync with the slate.
Id suggest getting a wireless Lavalier mic and patch into cam #2.. you can get one for $150ish thru Amazon... cheaper than a decent shotgun and go from there....... whatever you do TEST,TEST TEST first, dont find out in post that whatever you did did not work.
If you have enough bucks, get a Zoom H4n $300, you can hook up as many as 3 mics to it. The Zoom will give you many more options.
HOWEVER each scene & location is different and only w/ experience can you determine what is needed.
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Where the mics are plugged in is irrelevant as long as they are using the best sound capture device available to you. You have to keep in mind that using more than one camera severely limits the access and mobility of the boom-op - and will most probably interfere with Production Sound Rule #1 - Get the mic in as close as possible. Plus, from what I've read, using two cameras will make it ten times as difficult to light.
I think that you should first rethink your two camera plan. Even mega-budget productions rarely use two cameras unless it's for capturing effects, stunts and pyro. A multi-camera shoot is just asking for big-time audio complications (time & money or very poor production sound).
For production sound advice you can start with my blog; once you've read that you can come back with more directed questions.
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=111888913&blogId=265521269
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=111888913&blogId=187450977
I think that you should first rethink your two camera plan. Even mega-budget productions rarely use two cameras unless it's for capturing effects, stunts and pyro. A multi-camera shoot is just asking for big-time audio complications (time & money or very poor production sound).
For production sound advice you can start with my blog; once you've read that you can come back with more directed questions.
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=111888913&blogId=265521269
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=111888913&blogId=187450977
Listen to Alcove... great advice . using 2 cams and adding another boom op is as easy as herding cats. Try to get precise small bites in your sound and video is mo betta than trying get it all at once. Think baby piranha as opposed to hungry great white shark
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Thank you everyone for your advice.... i only was going to use 2 cameras so i dont have to reshoot the scene a bunch of times to get different angles......granted its a huge production but i saw Ridley Scott used 10 cameras for Robin hood's action scenes.... i do understand what you are saying about it being an issue
I'm the audio guy here; you should post in "On the Set" or "Cinematography and Lighting" to find out the consensus on multi-camera shoots.
If you are going to use multiple cameras you should rent a enough wireless lavs and a multitrack recorder to handle every speaking part in the scene in addition to the boomed mic and a plant mic or two. Otherwise the odds are you will end up having to ADR a large portion of the dialog.
If you are going to use multiple cameras you should rent a enough wireless lavs and a multitrack recorder to handle every speaking part in the scene in addition to the boomed mic and a plant mic or two. Otherwise the odds are you will end up having to ADR a large portion of the dialog.