Advise on interview mic

[Dale West]

Ron,
Unless there was absolutely no other option I’d never use the camera mic for an interview
that I wanted to use. Sure you can get nat pops and general nat sound but if you are going to use
the audio for interview purposes then you have to have another method. A hard wire lav is a good quick solution and another way might be to use your on camera mic with a short audio cable. Back when I worked local news we would put a coiled cable on the camera mic. It allowed us to use the mic on the camera for “normal” nat sound and we could quickly remove it and hold it in front of the subject for
better “interview” sound. If you dont have a short shot gun mic and your budget can stand it the Sanken CS-1 rocks but there are a bunch of others that are less expensive and work well. You might check out the consignment lists of places like Trew Audio, TAI Audio or Location Sound. There are other places but these are some that Ive purchased from in the past.

Best of luck

Dale West Video
North Miami, FL
305-588-2683
dale@dalewestvideo.tv

[Ron Darby]

Thanks
I like the idea of the coiled up cable on the camera mic. I usually use a wireless lav
I produce a pet show and sometimes we have a reality segment. Thats when I need to catch unexpected sound bites from a new person in the scene. We do not have the budget for a sound guy.
The CS-1 is a little to muck $. What’s in the $300 to $400 range

[Butch Henderson]

You might try a short shotgun type mic. The directionality helps reject background noise, and sounds natural. Here’s the two I have used for news.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/300615-REG/Audio_Technica_AT897_AT897_Short_Condenser.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/73100-REG/Sennheiser_ME66_K6_COMBO_ME66_K6_Super_Cardioid_Mic.html

[Ron Darby]

Thnaks

[Brent Dunn]

I use a sony wireless hand held for some interviews. I did some interviews in a noisy dance club environment. I was surprised how well it block out the ambient noise and the subject’s voice was very clear. Quick and easy to just hold up the mic.

Brent Dunn
Owner / Director / Editor
DunnRight Films
DunnRight Video.com
Video Marketing Toolbox.net

Sony EX-1,
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 7D
Mac Pro Tower, Quad Core,
with Final Cut Studio

HP i7 Quad laptop
Adobe CS-5 Production Suite

[Jim Masi]

The Rode line of shotguns are a good value, their short NTG-1 is a good camera-mounted shotgun if you can phantom power it with your camera, I think the NTG-2 is the same mic with a AA power supply, so it’s a bit longer. The coiled cable idea is a good one, but any solution to get the mic closer to the subject is worth the trouble.

Jim Masi
BearHand Production
http://www.bearhand.com

[Jim Masi]

The Rode line of shotguns are a good value, their short NTG-1 is a good camera-mounted shotgun if you can phantom power it with your camera, I think the NTG-2 is the same mic with a AA power supply, so it’s a bit longer. The coiled cable idea is a good one, but any solution to get the mic closer to the subject is worth the trouble.

Jim Masi
BearHand Production
http://www.bearhand.com