Mics for interviews, connected to camera – MKH 416, MKH50, Sanken CS-3e

[André Mascarenhas]

Thanks for sharing your experience with the 416, Todd! Like you, I’m mainly on the camera – so not a sound guy. But I’m interested in learning how to get the best of my audio.
I think for my situation, where many of my shoots are in office space, and the hard floors can reflect the sound quite a bit, I’m going for a supercardioid mic (the MKH50 – listen to some audio samples and you will be amazed like I was).
Still, I’m considering getting a 416 for outdoor shoots… Let’s see, for now I’ll keep my MKE600 as a shotgun.

Again, thanks for your input on the 416- just makes me more interested in using one!

[André Mascarenhas]

Hi Ty, thanks very much for all the fantastic information! I sure have read many of your very informative comments on the forum and also watched some of your videos – thanks for these as well.

Your input is very important for me, as a not audio professional, and I’ll sure learn a lot when researching about the bullet points that you listed why a mixer is essential and should not be considered as basic equipment for my shoots.

To be honest, my company is recently new – 2 years -, and I started doing small business videos with a 60D and a VidPro shotgun recording on a H4n. No assistant, just me. Fortunately I’ve rapidly grown and lately I have more and better gear (mostly for the visual results), and as I said, I can afford an assistant. Clients are also getting bigger, but it’s a long path. I’ll have a bigger project coming in August where I’ll be able to have a audio professional recording audio. I hope that becomes my new standard and I can always have amazing audio (and have to worry about that myself when shooting).

For the time being, for the shoots where I cannot afford an audio person, what mixer would recommend me using, when connecting to my Canon C100? (Or should I get an external recorder?). Craig Alan, in this thread, suggested a SD 302.

I do have to say that I’ve learned a lot just in the past couple of weeks, when I started searching for a new mic. I look forward to what I’ll learn in the future weeks.

Thanks!
Andre

[André Mascarenhas]

Thanks, Craig! Indeed I’ve learned a lot from Ty just reading his comments and watching videos in the past week, so I’m sure if I keep the pace I’ll be much more comfortable with the vocabulary and technicalities sooner than I’d imagine. I’m also learning a lot from you.
Your tips are very welcomed and I’ll apply them when shooting (some I already do, which is great to know that others also do).

I’ll list a Mixer as a next purchase, and I’m sure it will be a solid investment.

Thanks again for all your suggestions and tips!

Andre

[Ty Ford]

Hello Andre,

Thanks for the nice words.

Craig is correct. The 302 with three inputs is a good choice. I have a MixPre-D which I also like. It only has two inputs, but It has a USB connector which can be used to connect any XLR mic to a computer for recording.

Whether you need an external recorder at this point depends on how many people you’ll have mixed simultaneously.

Your camera has two audio channels. The 302 lets you pan one mic to to one track then the second mic to the other track, but since your camera only has two audio channels, what do you do with the third input unless you’re actively mixing?

I have a Sound Devices 664 with CL-6 bolt on faders that allow six mics and six line inputs. I use my Sound Devices 442 and the MixPre-D preamps to allow me to record 12 mics at a time. Think, 12 people sitting around a table all speaking extemporaneously. Record one to each track and try to do the best mix I can, sending that to another two tracks inside the 664, but also to the SD card.

I can import the audio from the SD card to the video timeline and use automation to “turn on” each mic as needed. The result is a very clean mix.

Welcome to the wonderful world of sound! I’m sure it won’t be long before you’ll be up to speed and helping others with what you know.

Regards,

Ty Ford
Cow Audio Forum Leader

PS: Craig, thanks for the compliment

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[Al Bergstein]

70D tascam is wonderful but it’s a bit hissy. I was comparing it just today and noticed that again. using even the mix pre-d will give you cleaner sounding audio if that is what you were after . The SD302 would be a fine addition at the price, if you find yourself needing more than two mics. A working pro will likely need more than two mics on some shoot or another during the course of a year. It’s not often that I find myself needing more than two, but it does happen especially on larger interviews. I’m lucky in that I have a sound engineer in town that I hire for those types of jobs. heck if you have two lavs, and a shotgun on a boom pole you’re already at three .

I hang my mix pre-D in a bag next to the camera, and the bright meters are much easier to watch the in camera ones .

Al

[Craig Alan]

The 302 is also better in many other ways other than the extra xlr input . For starters it has a more powerful preamp. On the mixpre I often had to turn it up to max.
They are both relatively quiet even turned up. But maxing out an amp will always add some noise.
The mixpre can be used in post as an audio interface so you can do voiceovers using a good xlr mike >usb into computer and does have the option to mount underneath a small camera (+ $100 accessory and only a one screw hole for quick release tripod plate so it tends to move from side to side).

I spoke to Sound Devices about the lack of power and they said they were aware of it and it is a concern that they have gotten a lot of feed back from end users. I think this is more significant on dynamics than when providing phantom.

I think for production the 302 is a very good investment that will last a long time.
If you are shooting with a camcorder that has poor audio with only a mini plug the mixpre is a step up but you’d be better off with an audio recorder than trying to improve a crappy recorder. You can also use the mixpre with an audio recorder. Modern NLEs sync sound very well and easily unless you are doing long continuous recordings.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Al Bergstein]

That’s good to know. Thanks.

Al