Question about getting a type of microphone.

[harmonica44]

I want to shoot a fight scene indoors but a cardioid (at least the kind I got), can only record sound from about two feet away, and even then the quality is better if you can get the mic closer. Is there any type of mic that has a good sound for indoors, that can reach about say 15 and still sound good, but sound further away in the room as well? I don't wanna use lav mics since the sound is not as good.

 

[gpforet]

None of these recorded channels relate to 5.1 surround. They are separate channels recording boom1 (and possibly boom2), each lav being used, and plant mics if used. Typically the only thing being recorded is dialog, and possibly some wild fx, room tone. Each is a mono track, with the exception of ambience, which is recorded in stereo and often done either before or after the day of the actual shoot since typically it's pretty hard to get the entire cast and crew to stop talking and moving while I optimize levels and position for ambience recording.

I am not equipped to mix 5.1 in my post studio, so therefore can't speak from any experience but my guess would be that a 5.1 mix would be done very late in the post process, likely after a decent stereo mix is performed, but that's only a guess. On location, my main focus is getting dialog captured as cleanly as possible and getting tone. That in itself is quite a challenge. If the project has the budget for a 5.1 mix, then it is typically handed to a post house that specializes in 5.1 work. The facility requirements to perform 5.1 mixdown properly are quite high, and costly to implement and if you are wanting a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, prepare to spend big bucks.

Okay thanks, that's good to know. So when you are done recording, how do you turn it into 6 channel surround sound? Do you actually need to record 6 channels separately on 6 mics possibly, or can you just turn it into surround in post?