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Sound Advise for the budget challenged

Hi.

I know there are way better tools that can do what I want, but budget and time restraints have tied my hands. So like most of us in here I have to make due with what I have - I just want to get the best out of what's avaiable to me at the moment. So without further disclaimer stuff, here's the scenario...

I am creating a video of a presentation at a meeting - an indoor shoot in a large caf with high ceilings (at least 20 feet. There are speakers at varios places at ceiling level. My presenter will be static at a podium, thus I will have a static camera set-up. I can be anywhere from 3 to 20 feet away from the presenter.

My tools? A Canon GL2 with a MA-300 XLR adapter (yes there are better alternatives, but see my opening paragraph), a Shure Beta 58A dymanic supercardiod mic and an Audio-Technica AT8035 Line + Gradient Condenser Shotgun mic (it uses batteries). I do not have a mixer or pre-amp or a phantom power source.

So I am leaning towards to dynamic mic because of no mixer or pre-amp - I was planning on going mic to adapter to camera. I know there is a risk of introducing noise, but at what safe distance can I pull this off without severely compromising the sound? If I go with the dynamic mic, I will place it at the podium.

If I go with the condenser shotgun mic, it will be camera mounted. In that case, how close must the camera be to get great sound and not have the camera shoved in the presenter's face?

Finally, what will be the impact or my ricsk of impact of the speakers placed at ceiling level? Sorry for the 20 questions, but I'm desprate. Thanks in advance for your help.

Kosh
 
Hi.

I know there are way better tools that can do what I want, but budget and time restraints have tied my hands. So like most of us in here I have to make due with what I have - I just want to get the best out of what's avaiable to me at the moment. So without further disclaimer stuff, here's the scenario...

I am creating a video of a presentation at a meeting - an indoor shoot in a large caf with high ceilings (at least 20 feet. There are speakers at varios places at ceiling level. My presenter will be static at a podium, thus I will have a static camera set-up. I can be anywhere from 3 to 20 feet away from the presenter.

My tools? A Canon GL2 with a MA-300 XLR adapter (yes there are better alternatives, but see my opening paragraph), a Shure Beta 58A dymanic supercardiod mic and an Audio-Technica AT8035 Line + Gradient Condenser Shotgun mic (it uses batteries). I do not have a mixer or pre-amp or a phantom power source.

So I am leaning towards to dynamic mic because of no mixer or pre-amp - I was planning on going mic to adapter to camera. I know there is a risk of introducing noise, but at what safe distance can I pull this off without severely compromising the sound? If I go with the dynamic mic, I will place it at the podium.

If I go with the condenser shotgun mic, it will be camera mounted. In that case, how close must the camera be to get great sound and not have the camera shoved in the presenter's face?

Finally, what will be the impact or my ricsk of impact of the speakers placed at ceiling level? Sorry for the 20 questions, but I'm desprate. Thanks in advance for your help.

Kosh


Audio isn't my strongest point, but what the hey :)

I swear by Shotgun mics myself, but I don't do much in the way of presentations. If there were a way to take both and test before hand, you could answer the question about the speakers. I would think the condenser may be betterso you can be a little further away camera wise, and the speakers shouldn't affect them much(I would think). Otherwise, provided the acoustics are pretty good, a shotgun at 4-5 feet shouldn't be a problem I would think.

Again though, if you can get in early and try both, you'll get a better idea.

Now, I'm sure someone with big time sound knowledge is going to come and blow my ideas out of the water ;)

Hope this helps.
 
Is there a possibility of taking a feed off of the house mixer? That would be your best option. If not, and as long as you are positive that the speaker will not be leaving the podium, go with the Beta 58. If the speaker will be moving around you could rent a wireless lav system.
 
Or, if you can't feed off the mixer, but the presenter is already mic'ed and the room speakers are decent quality, just place your dynamic mic at the speaker nearest your camera. Less cable for people to trip over, plus you can be at the back of the space and not obstruct views. Keep the mic a foot or so away from the speaker so it isn't overpowered. I do it all the time for presenters, works great. Of course you'll need a stand tall enough to reach or a clamp mount.
 
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First off, thanks for the help and replies. I really appreciate it. I love this site.

Sorry for the late response - the call of the 9 to 5 took me off line there for a tad.

Spoke with my contacts today (this meeting is at work by the way) and I am guaranteed that the presenter will not move from the podium. Plus the feed will be into the cafeteria system so I may not be able to work with their mixer, or whatever it is they have going on there. So I am going to go with the mic (Beta 58A) to adapter to camera approach.

One more question though, without a mixer or amp in between will I lose sound, pick up noise or anything like that. It's a poorly structured question, but I am a sound novice in every sense of the word.

Thanks again for all of your help.
 
One more question though, without a mixer or amp in between will I lose sound, pick up noise or anything like that.

I'm not sure if I understand the question correctly, but you should be able to run enough cable to reach the podium - if that's what you intend to do - without the need for amplification. I record stuff with Shure 58's in an auditorium that has a cable run of more than 100ft without a problem. Since you're running XLR balanced cable there shouldn't be any interference type noise, unless the cable is bad.
 
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