For beginning filmmakers...I find this information useful and have been watching his podcast for a while:
http://www.izzyvideo.com
The most recent bits are about audio.
http://www.izzyvideo.com
The most recent bits are about audio.
Fantabulous Podcast
- Thread starter knightly
- Start date
Maybe the other ones are better? Basically in this one, he says he dislikes condensor mics because he forgets to turn them on (lol), forgets batteries, or breaks them. None of those are reasons to use a dynamic mic instead of a condensor. It's like saying shoot video instead of film, because you might forget to bring the film to the set, lol.
in the second one, he said he was getting questions about how to get good sound for cheaper...he still didn't hit my price point though 
I would say that if he's talking about budget guerilla sound, he should be talking 50 dollar mikes rather than 150 dollar mikes. Again though, his podcast tends to be geared toward the "this is a camcorder" crowd.
I would say that if he's talking about budget guerilla sound, he should be talking 50 dollar mikes rather than 150 dollar mikes. Again though, his podcast tends to be geared toward the "this is a camcorder" crowd.
Don't forget, this was for "Guerilla shoots", so it's more about running in quick, getting the shots and getting out. In a frantic shoot like that, you don't have time to adjust mixing levels, and it would be easy to forget an on/off switch.
Still, I'd personally go for the better quality, but if I had to shoot in the subway again (the guards are quick) I'd do something like that I guess.
I'm with indietalk. I've got one, really good, dynamic microphone, and it's just not sensitive enough to pickup ambient/subtle sounds without boosting the gain to a rather high (noisy) level. To be fair to Izzy, though, he demonstrates one of the good uses for a dynamic mic ... vocals with the speaker holding the mic close to their mouth.
I need to send Izzy a note, but the thing I found most misleading about his recommendations was that the $20 cable for XLR to unbalanced 1/8 minijack was somehow equivalent to an active XLR adaptor (like the Beachtek). Without waxing technical (I've built my own balanced to unbalanced conversion circuits), the cable is simply using two of the three wires, with zero noise cancellation ability. The cable adaptor is Ok, for very short cables, in environments that don't have a lot of electrical interference. For cables over 8 feet and for studio situations where there is a lot of other equipment, lights, etc., the cable adaptor will be too noisy; especially with a dynamic mic.
Since condensor mics start around $240, it hardly seems worth "getting by" with a $150 dynamic mic. Of course, this is just my opinion, based on my experience. Your mileage may vary.
Thanks, Knighly, for posting the link. There's some good, inspirational stuff there.
I need to send Izzy a note, but the thing I found most misleading about his recommendations was that the $20 cable for XLR to unbalanced 1/8 minijack was somehow equivalent to an active XLR adaptor (like the Beachtek). Without waxing technical (I've built my own balanced to unbalanced conversion circuits), the cable is simply using two of the three wires, with zero noise cancellation ability. The cable adaptor is Ok, for very short cables, in environments that don't have a lot of electrical interference. For cables over 8 feet and for studio situations where there is a lot of other equipment, lights, etc., the cable adaptor will be too noisy; especially with a dynamic mic.
Since condensor mics start around $240, it hardly seems worth "getting by" with a $150 dynamic mic. Of course, this is just my opinion, based on my experience. Your mileage may vary.
Thanks, Knighly, for posting the link. There's some good, inspirational stuff there.
Yeah, I understood, he said for the videographer, and was holding a dynamic mic, but still... I don't see those as reasons, it's really unacceptable to forget to turn on a mic or not bring batteries, imagine if not you, but your sound man did that. Would it be okay then?
I suppose you could forget your camcorder battery too! It would be hard to forget to turn your camera on, though. I've made it a discipline to use headphones to check my audio, every time I shoot anything that has an important audio component. There are a lot of things that can go wrong; condensor mic or not. You could have forgotten to switch the mic selector(s) to the right settings, you might have levels set wrong, you may have a bad cable, or a loose connection somewhere. At the very least, I always check the level meters to see that they are showing something that seems to correspond to the audio levels I'm expecting.
.... but everyone here agrees on the right way of doing things ... the big question is, how far down can you go, when giving advice to newbies? Personally, I like to teach people to respect strict disciplines and do things the "right" way, until they've got enough experience to know when they can bend the rules .... not the other way around. - that's just the German in me, though.
.... but everyone here agrees on the right way of doing things ... the big question is, how far down can you go, when giving advice to newbies? Personally, I like to teach people to respect strict disciplines and do things the "right" way, until they've got enough experience to know when they can bend the rules .... not the other way around. - that's just the German in me, though.
I'm quite a bit closer to the starting line than you guys are, thinking about little details like batteries for your microphone are much more mechanical for more experienced folks...I've done specifically the things he mentions and find them very valid points...on a one man crew, the less details you have to worry about, the better you can concentrate on making the production better over all.
As recently as my feature shoot, I had to schedule a reshoot due to bad audio (dying battery).
Most of the first 10 or so episodes cover framing and lighting and all of the stuff that took me so long to find information on 4 years ago searching the web for anything at all (around the same time I found the forums) I could get my brain around in this endeavor. I wish I had his podcast to point me in the right directions...they're not advanced by any stretch, but they do increase knowledge and encourage beginners to get out there and shoot using simple explanations and step at a time instruction.
I think the main focus in the guerilla one was the price point he was targeting. Way out of my budget...anything greater than $100 is not something I will even consider. I fund my own films, so food and shelter comes first...I'm not at the financing point of my career yet.
As recently as my feature shoot, I had to schedule a reshoot due to bad audio (dying battery).
Most of the first 10 or so episodes cover framing and lighting and all of the stuff that took me so long to find information on 4 years ago searching the web for anything at all (around the same time I found the forums) I could get my brain around in this endeavor. I wish I had his podcast to point me in the right directions...they're not advanced by any stretch, but they do increase knowledge and encourage beginners to get out there and shoot using simple explanations and step at a time instruction.
I think the main focus in the guerilla one was the price point he was targeting. Way out of my budget...anything greater than $100 is not something I will even consider. I fund my own films, so food and shelter comes first...I'm not at the financing point of my career yet.
I agree with you, completely, knightly. I have XLR phantom power, so I don't worry about power to condensor mics, but I've had battery problems with wireless mics that have made me hesitant to use them in anything but carefully controlled and monitored situations. For my run-n-gun shooting (from my kayak, and such), I use a camera mounted, wired microphone that requires no batteries or extra attention. It just sticks out a bit and has a 1ft cable connecting it to the camcorder.
There is a huge budget component to everything I do, too. I build as many gadgets as I buy. For me, the most important thing is knowledge and experience. At least if I have the right information, I can make an informed decision. Also, if the price point is under $100 then it changes the picture a little. Not to be too hard on Izzy, but if you're looking at $150 for a dynamic mic, why not buy a Audio Technica AT835B shotgun condensor mic for $240. I think $150 is high for a dynamic mic and you'd regret spending the money. On the other hand, I can get dynamic mics all day long at the local pawn shop for around $20 each.
BTW: Since we're talking budget stuff. It might be interesting to those who aren't electronics gurus but don't mind building things and soldering ... the chips needed to make a balanced amplifier that will take the outputs from a balance microphone and amplify them to line levels (or less if you need to go in a mic input) cost me about $3. The XLR jack, breadboard, enclosure, and 1/8 plug added another $6 to the cost, but if you're running on a budget, these things are expensive to purchase, and really inexpensive to build. The LM833 spec sheet even includes the schematic! (here is a photo of my prototype version ... the production copy is neater, but you can't see anything!)
There is a huge budget component to everything I do, too. I build as many gadgets as I buy. For me, the most important thing is knowledge and experience. At least if I have the right information, I can make an informed decision. Also, if the price point is under $100 then it changes the picture a little. Not to be too hard on Izzy, but if you're looking at $150 for a dynamic mic, why not buy a Audio Technica AT835B shotgun condensor mic for $240. I think $150 is high for a dynamic mic and you'd regret spending the money. On the other hand, I can get dynamic mics all day long at the local pawn shop for around $20 each.
BTW: Since we're talking budget stuff. It might be interesting to those who aren't electronics gurus but don't mind building things and soldering ... the chips needed to make a balanced amplifier that will take the outputs from a balance microphone and amplify them to line levels (or less if you need to go in a mic input) cost me about $3. The XLR jack, breadboard, enclosure, and 1/8 plug added another $6 to the cost, but if you're running on a budget, these things are expensive to purchase, and really inexpensive to build. The LM833 spec sheet even includes the schematic! (here is a photo of my prototype version ... the production copy is neater, but you can't see anything!)
I'm going to go ahead and tone down my responses now...I took the critiques of this personally as I've made the same mistakes he was referencing and were stated as unacceptable. With experience, these mistakes are, in fact unacceptable, but that's not the target audience for this podcast.
I feel the information presented, although not as complete as it could be for experienced videographers and filmmakers, is presented in a way that folks with no experience can sink their teeth into. My daughter watches this podcast and gets alot out of it, so it does work for a less experienced audience.
I'm sorry if you took anything I said personally, Knightly. I didn't mean to criticize anyone. We all start at the bottom and we all have to work within our budget. I haven't watched all of the podcasts on Izzy's site, so I surely cannot speak to the value of the site overall. Nothing I've posted should be construed as an opinion on the entire body of his work. Just my thoughts on what I did see, and those thoughts were meant constructively. To be fair, Izzy's inexpensive, dynamic microphone is a lot better than some of the mics I've used. I got started in the audio business when I built a computerized light board and my own, 8 channel mixer for my high school band in 1981. I honestly believe I had the first computerized light show. I ran it from my Commodore Vic 20. My mixer board was mediocre at best, and we used anything and everything we could get our hands on for microphones. The computer cost me most of what I earned walking beans and detassling corn for 3 months.
Now, 25 years later, I'm still in pretty much the same boat, but I've got a better computer, and a lot of bruises from the school of hard knox.
Now, 25 years later, I'm still in pretty much the same boat, but I've got a better computer, and a lot of bruises from the school of hard knox.
Taking things personally is my fault, not yours...don't worry about it. I am an adult and am responsible for my own actions.
Personally, I didn't feel the microphones he was offering as budget solutions were as cheap as I'd like to see...I'm a big fan of $50 microphones which seem to be at that sweet spot of cheap enough and close enough to pro quality that only pros could really tell the difference unless it was pointed out. And a $20 microphone close to the subject will still get you better audio than an on camera mic.
Personally, I didn't feel the microphones he was offering as budget solutions were as cheap as I'd like to see...I'm a big fan of $50 microphones which seem to be at that sweet spot of cheap enough and close enough to pro quality that only pros could really tell the difference unless it was pointed out. And a $20 microphone close to the subject will still get you better audio than an on camera mic.
After watching Poke's music video, I feel like I should just give you a big hug, knightly. Lucky for you, you're a safe distance away.
You know, I grew up in Redwood Falls, Minnesota, and I lived and worked in and around Minneapolis for a few years before a large corporate entity convinced me to relocate to Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. I've got a lot of family in Minnesota ... we might be related!
No harm done, BTW. I just know I can come across as being overly critical. It is a character flaw. It has driven me to commit suicide time and time again, but someone keeps burying me in the pet cemetary and I keep coming back. Some of us just can't get a break.
You know, I grew up in Redwood Falls, Minnesota, and I lived and worked in and around Minneapolis for a few years before a large corporate entity convinced me to relocate to Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. I've got a lot of family in Minnesota ... we might be related!
No harm done, BTW. I just know I can come across as being overly critical. It is a character flaw. It has driven me to commit suicide time and time again, but someone keeps burying me in the pet cemetary and I keep coming back. Some of us just can't get a break.