Audio setup?

[LogwanProductions]

Hey everyone, just got the Film Club started up at school so I should be here creeping and reading as much as I possibly can
Quick question, a group of ours is working on a short little PSA, and luckily Long & McQuade have an Apex Shotgun mic available for rent, so I was just wondering if this setup would give me some decent sound.

Boomed shotgun mic for subject/narration > ART Tube Mic Preamp (Model 127) > my Dell laptop.

I'm able to rent the mic for $12 for the month, and $8 for the month for the Preamp, as I figured it'd be better than plugging straight into my laptop?

 

[wheatgrinder]

Hey everyone, just got the Film Club started up at school so I should be here creeping and reading as much as I possibly can
Quick question, a group of ours is working on a short little PSA, and luckily Long & McQuade have an Apex Shotgun mic available for rent, so I was just wondering if this setup would give me some decent sound.

Boomed shotgun mic for subject/narration > ART Tube Mic Preamp (Model 127) > my Dell laptop.

I'm able to rent the mic for $12 for the month, and $8 for the month for the Preamp, as I figured it'd be better than plugging straight into my laptop?

The tube mp is useful for getting a good vocal sound, but I'm not so sure its useful for getting a CLEAN sound. It does give you phantom power so thats a big plus. It doesn't run on batteries so unless your an EE your tied to power outlet, for you location this might not be a problem.

You might just look into a condenser mic WITH batteries thereby removing the need for phantom power, and again depending on location you can likely just get an adapter and plug it right into the camera... you'll be limited to what you can adjust, but just keep it from over driving etc, and you should be OK. Make sure you set your camera to the highest sound bitrate you can..

 

[Alcove Audio]

Okay, the Apex Shotgun is a cheap mic. It will not have very good sound. If you are shooting indoors a shotgun is not your best option anyway, a cardioid mic - preferably a hyper-cardioid - will do a much better job.

The ART mic pre is aimed at recording music, not film/video production; it will "color" the sound, and when doing production sound you want as accurate a representation as you can get.

Using your laptop will limit your mobility. What camera is being used? If it has XLR audio inputs plugging the mic directly into the camera would be a much better option as you won't have to sync the audio in post.

BTW, Long & McQuade is a musician aimed franchise, you would be better off looking for a vendor who specializes in film/video rentals.