video 2 zero

There are two considerations: where the mic is positioned and how well it was built.

Having the mic on the camera is invariably problematic. It is always too close to the camera and often too far from the source. To mitigate boomy audio you need to get in close to the subject.

If your sound is not good enough you are not close enough. Take a tip from Robert Capa - lose the tripod.

The camera motor/handling noise can be reduced by using an external mic isolated from the camera.

But which mic? Most often people go with shotguns - the Sennheiser me66/k6 is the popular. But there are several problems with using shotguns.

Using a shotgun outside: - shotguns are very sensitive to wind noise. Shooting in any sort of breeze you need a wind fuzzy. 9 times out of 10 that fuzzy will be in the shot. If you can’t see it in the viewfinder don’t worry - get the footage on to a monitor with underscan it will be there.

Using a shotgun inside: - shotguns are directional - they “reject” sound that comes in off-axis. If there as little sound coming in off axis they work well - but in an acoustically live environment with a lot extraneous and reflected noise - the “rejected” sound is colored, and the reflected sound more noticeable.

Generally speaking the on-camera mics in prosumer cameras are cheaply built. This results in a higher noise to signal ratio. When you can’t reduce the noise the only way to change the s/n ratio is to boost the signal. You do this by setting the audio levels manually to as high a level as possible without allowing the audio to clip.

A $50 mic placed close to the source with levels set properly will blow away a $2000 mic placed 10 feet away set on auto.

How to leave the audio levels as high as possible and still avoid clipping? Use a stereo mic. Leave one channel cranked up as high as you can get away with and set the other 8db lower. If channel one clips - channel 2 is there as a safety.

Professional stereo mics are very expensive. Some cameras will allow you to send a mono mic to both channels, and still maintain discrete control over the gain - but not Canon (XLH1 anyway).

Just about all prosumer cams ship with a stereo mic, and there are many circumstances where that mic used intelligently will yield more than adequate results.

The other half of the picture - for more detail on camera audio settings.

Alternatives to shotgun mics - B&H tutorial

Trackback URI | Comments RSS