Hi, I'm new looking for some audio advice:) TY

[oxymoron]

Hi guys,
I am currently taking on on an amateur project to capture video and audio in a loud bar / nightclub environment.
More specifically to capture conversations between 2 people in this noisy environment.

I will be filming with the Canon Powershot s100
And have been contemplating a Zoom H1 and rode lavalier mic for the audio capturing and am on somewhat of a budget. The audio quality doesn't need to be amazing, just as long as I can hear the conversation between 2 people with one mic.

Any suggestions or guidance on this would be greatly appreciated.
Having a large audio setup is not an option as it must be able to not be visible as to ensure a genuine reaction.

Thanks for any input guys, I appreciate it.

Adam

 

[AudioPostExpert]

Here is a sample of basically what I am trying to achieve.

Do you have ant idea how this was accomplished?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIlYOVznB-M

Just so you know, that audio would fail QC for pretty much any commercial TV station in North America or Europe. His dialogue constantly cuts out and at least half her dialogue is inaudible. It could have been done better than that, baring in mind that although there are a lot of people around, there doesn't appear to be any traffic, which is usually the real killer when recording in the street.

G

 

[oxymoron]

Yeah you bet bud,
As I said the quality doesn't have to be extraordinary just as long as it can be heard.
This isn't for any kind of income generating project. Just an indie project to learn from.

 

[knightly]

Just an indie project to learn from.

I've had a dozen of these... what I learned is that you don't short change the sound... although it's a little more forgivable on something documentary like, but not by much... There's a point just below good where no one will care how amazing the image is, they'll stop watching your piece... audio is more important than the image (and I'm a cinematographer, Image is what I do).

As for the mic, I would venture a guess the lav would get you better sound than the pin mic, but I haven't listened to any high quality samples to see which carries the voice better...specific voices are at different frequency ranges as well, so one may do better with the pin, and another may do better with the lav.

Is the difference between them the mic itself, or just the mount?

For a demonstration of the differences the mics can make, I used 2 different types of lav mics at equal optimal distances from my actors mouths in the beginning driving scene in the short I just linked in the Car angles thread "Stream, Cave, Jim and Dave"

The two actors voices are much different, and knowing what I do now, I'd have switched the mics as the actor in the passenger has much less bass in his voice than the actor in the driver's seat and I'd now mic them so the mic with the better bass response went to the actor with less bass in his voice and vice versa to get a more even sound between them... I'd also test before hand to make sure I was right about that Ideally, I'd have two of the same mic, but I got a mixed bag of them and one of the two that match has bad wires that I have to track down.

 

[dr stilly]

ive been doing a bit of audio research myself and i watched a video with only one guy wears a omni-directional lav and it picks up his friends voice who is standing like two feet away. maybe also turn the lav facing out. Now excuse me gotta go, Eden lake is on tv...awesome flick...

 

[Alcove Audio]

ive been doing a bit of audio research myself and i watched a video with only one guy wears a omni-directional lav and it picks up his friends voice who is standing like two feet away. maybe also turn the lav facing out. Now excuse me gotta go, Eden lake is on tv...awesome flick...

Sure, but was it in a packed, noisy bar with the music blasting? That's the point. I've used mics that can pick up things at 50 feet - but they are very noticeable (a parabolic, as Knightly mentioned) - and others that can pick up at 20 feet - also fairly noticeable (a long shotgun). But they also pick up a lot of the ambient noise as well. My understanding is that you want intelligible speech in stealth mode. That is a very difficult undertaking. Is it possible? Yes, but it takes some skill, a lot of planning and a decent investment.

 

[knightly]

Perhaps you can prep the tables with plant mics, then have a wireless switching system to get the mic you need to get the other person's audio... or suspend them from the ceiling disguised as something else?

 

[dr stilly]

i'd say find a quietish bar and face the lav outward and get him to stand as close as possible (maybe he wears a cap and the lav goes under the visor). i can see it working. I done something similar with a zoom h1 in my pocket. I had a meeting and wanted to record it. the zoom was in my outer chest pocket, totally covered by the pocket flap it picked up both our voices in a busy room full of chatter. so with a well positioned lav and a quiet bar (one without music be better) id say go for it.