Sound recording straight to a Mac

[gorillaonabike]

Chaps, chapesses and Alcove Audio... (if ever I meet Alcove, I will have to buy him a small crate of beers...)

I was wondering about sound. Specifically, if it would be appropriate to record from a shotgun straight to a souped up Macbook Pro running FCP 7 Soundtrack Pro. Or do I need a DR100?

The first short requires very little movement, the scenes that require sound will be indoors and in the scenes where there is movement, it is pretty limited.

The second short being shot in Q1 of next year - probably Feb - will require significantly more movement and a sound guy who can walk around a bit but the first is extremely static.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Alcove Audio]

Chaps, chapesses and Alcove Audio... (if ever I meet Alcove, I will have to buy him a small crate of beers...)

You can just ship me a small keg if stout. My address is.........

Plugging into the mic input of any computer will yield noisy results; as always, sound gets short shrift. There are quite a number of relatively inexpensive XLR to USB convertors out there; the Blue Icicle ($60) is popular but be forewarned, it only records 16bit/44.1kHz (film/video is 16/48). The Shure X2u ($100) does 16/48, has gain and volume controls, and can supply phantom power. I've never used it, nor know anyone who has, but Shure has a solid rep. The Alesis iO2 Express ($100) may be another option; 24/48, two channels, USB powered, monitoring options... Again, I've never used it, nor know anyone who has, but Alesis also has a solid rep. After that you get over $100; lots of options there.

 

[gorillaonabike]

You can just ship me a small keg if stout. My address is.........

Plugging into the mic input of any computer will yield noisy results; as always, sound gets short shrift. There are quite a number of relatively inexpensive XLR to USB convertors out there; the Blue Icicle ($60) is popular but be forewarned, it only records 16bit/44.1kHz (film/video is 16/48). The Shure X2u ($100) does 16/48, has gain and volume controls, and can supply phantom power. I've never used it, nor know anyone who has, but Shure has a solid rep. The Alesis iO2 Express ($100) may be another option; 24/48, two channels, USB powered, monitoring options... Again, I've never used it, nor know anyone who has, but Alesis also has a solid rep. After that you get over $100; lots of options there.

Ah, so a DR100 is only a few hundred dollars more. At that price difference, I am happy to buy a DR100. And I should find a mic as well, I suppose. Even better would be a really good sound recordist. How many kegs of stout to get you on a plane so that you'd fly to the UK...?

 

[Muddy_Wizard]

Ah, so a DR100 is only a few hundred dollars more. At that price difference, I am happy to buy a DR100. And I should find a mic as well, I suppose. Even better would be a really good sound recordist. How many kegs of stout to get you on a plane so that you'd fly to the UK...?

Well If you prefer going portable yes, good idea to grab the DR-100. If you prefer to be stationary with your computer, at that price range you can get better sounding pre's than the Dr-100. Or even a good pre with a line in firewire/usb interface.