Gear Talk > EOS Bodies - For Video
Video & Audio
jasonmillard81:
Hello all,
I am using my 60D to record sporting events, documentaries with my students, etc. I wen to BH Photo yesterday and the very nice sales associate pointed me to the NTG-2 combo. When I arrived home and set everything up I realized that I may be deficient in what I need.
The level of the recording and the quality is complete rubbish going into the camera. I've read elsewhere that people plug their Rode Mics into an H1 or H4N, as well as a Tascam product of similar capabilities.
Does anyone have a good link/video that can clearly outline a nice "workflow" for audio when using DSLR.
Best,
jason :P
paul13walnut5:
The NTG-2 is a good mic, I use this and the much more expensive Sennheiser K6/ME66 combo.
The Sennhieser is about 10% better (down to modular construction, power switch and perhaps slightly better sound) but costs more than double the Rode.
There are a few issues to tackle here:
Mic placement.
A mic placed in the hotshoe is going to have the same lousy perspective and pick up the same handling noise as the built in mic. Also the Rode is a hyper cardiod mic, it is extremely directional. Not really much use for general ambience audio. So..
You need to mic close. You need to boom it above or stand it below your subject, as close as possible and just out of frame. This means a cable run, which I'll come back to in a minute.
Power supply.
The Rode can accept phantom power or an internal AA powercell. I use the latter, you'll need a pre-amp of some sort to provide the fomer. I find the mic hot enough off of an AA, but then I'm tweaking my levels in post, I'm not necessarily expecting stellar results straight from the camera files.
If you would prefer to try phantom power then a zoom or tascam will provide this, but it means file synching and an extra device to hit record on etc. Another option is to look at a beachtek, the DXA-SLR model provides phantom courtesy of a 9v PP9 battery. You also get a headphone socket, the mic does not hear anything like we humans hear. If you are serious about sound, you really really need to monitor. You wouldn't shoot video with the LCD switched off. Same thing. I like the beachtek solution as it keeps everything in the one file and mounts on the camera in place of a grip.
Connection quality / stereo layout.
If you are taking the mic straight into the camera then you must be using some kind of XLR-minijack converter, this may be of poor quality, or is trying to make the mono signal from the mic into a much weaker linear stereo track (comes up on both tracks, but at half the level) The mic is a mono mic, so you really want it to come up on just the one channel, broadcast convention dictates this is usually the left (for ancient tape based reasons) which you would then mix and tweak in post-production.
The Beacktek and Zooms/ Tascam will accept XLR input and you should link the mic to just one channel for the best level (less hissy pre-amps)
In short, the mic is only only part of the chain, the camera another, there is a missing link in there, be it a portable recorder, or my preferred method, a beachtek (juiced link do similar products)
HurtinMinorKey:
Hey Paul,
Do you use soundforge or anything like it to process the audio in post? I found that proper compression and noise reduction are essential.
paul13walnut5:
By micing close and keeping the vu level as trim as I can i minimise any preamp hiss, so i rarely feel need to apply any nr. If i pick anything untoward up at the recording stage I'll record a wild track. When thereis a problem i'll go into soundtrack pro which has a sample / remove feature and used with restraint this can work well. Before final render I'll go over my timeline with normalise audio gain fcp filter, usually to -8db, then finally i'll raise levels or keyframe out spikes as required. If it's a big job i'll do very little on the audio other than a cut, the export omfies with handles to go to a local dolby studio, who'll mix in protools. Not sure what filters they use.
The preamps in dslrs are crap, no doubt, but proper technique goes a long long way. Folk bemoan mp2 and aac, but sidestep the issue that the picture is h264!!!
If its a big job audio is recorded seperately by soundman, if its not then on camera is fine. I think the zooms are for folk who like trinkits for their rigs.
Lloyd:
--- Quote from: jasonmillard81 on June 04, 2012, 06:38:11 AM ---Does anyone have a good link/video that can clearly outline a nice "workflow" for audio when using DSLR.
Best,
jason :P
--- End quote ---
Jason, it might help to know what video editing software you are using. For example, I am using Final Cut Pro X and, as a beginner, I found it rather easy to synch audio from external sources to the audio taken from the camera. Therefore, I can get a quality recording on a Zoom H4n, using its internal mic, and then use the lesser quality audio from the camera to sync it to the video. Since you indicated you were working with students and therefore I assume that price is likely a consideration, you might be surprised at the sound you can get from an inexpensive digital voice recorder attached to an inexpensive lapel mic for an interview. I also like having the sound isolated from the camera as I don't have to worry about adjusting the camera (or having some other camera sound such as image stabilization) and have the noise transfer to the on-board audio recorder. Plus you can use multiple cameras and sync them all together using the on-board audio, but rely on the external audio for the final output. It also keeps the sound consistent, instead of it changing as you edit between different cameras.
I am just an amateur (who apparently likes trinkets per the post above :) ) so take all of this with a grain of salt.
Kindest Regards, Lloyd
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