[Adriano Castaldini]

Just one last very little question: assuming that I don’t use the boompole – only recorder + blimp – do you recommend coiled or straight cable? (Is there any quality difference between them?)

[Adriano Castaldini]

Good headphones… I have “classic” Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO (250 OHM). Do you think is sufficient?

[Adriano Castaldini]

Dear Mr. Crowley, believe or not, I completely agree with you.
In this matter I am an autodidact, it’s evident: my schools are the forums, with the advices and suggestions from all of you.
Anyway, as I said in my previous post, I abandoned the original idea of capturing the real sounds from the actual place of the scene. The example of the walk was intended simply for capturing a generic sound of steps on the grass (certainly not exactly THE steps of THAT walk of THAT specific scene). My only question was simply: could it be interesting to capture a stereo sound of steps, or is bettere a mono sound of steps? Simply that!
On the other hand, it’s true that I’ll use my talent for many of the sounds I’ll need to capture, but the reason is not for capturing the actual world of the scene, but simply because my talent is also my only assistant ☺
Obviously I’ll start shooting MOS (but with the in-camera mic as reference). Then, once I’ll have finished with the camera, I’ll start with foley recordings. I haven’t a studio, so I can image I’ll capture many of the sounds in the actual place of the scene, and not for realism, but simply because the location is also my home ☺ The walk on the country road (for the steps) is where I usually do jogging ☺
I’m trying to explain that I think I’m following (with all my limits) the same method you described.
Obviously I’m obsessed by the gear! Because it’s all new for me! And because it’s all so expensive that I try to know everything about pro’s opinions to make my own idea of what I’d actually need (I’m not in a school where I can try gear and make experiences).
Said that, what is your advices for capturing steps of the grass? Using a mono or a stereo mic? And with boom or without?
Thanks

[Adriano Castaldini]

First of all you are very kind helping me with your replies.
I changed a little my mind (thanks to your help!) but I unfortunately remain a one-man-crew ☺ Let me explain: I decided to maintain the “day in the life” style, but only for video, not for audio. Infact I finally decided to record all the sounds a part, in other days, during off-camera sessions (as a foley/field recordist) and then edit and mix the audio takes in post.
The good thing is that there aren’t dialogues! Only sounds and ambient. I suppose that the only sounds I’ll need to capture will be:
1. tiny sounds from the talent indoor;
2. tiny sounds from the talent outdoor;
3. ambient sound indoor;
4. ambient/field recordings outdoor.
I suppose that for almost all the tiny sounds (both indoor and outdoor), the hypercardioid should be sufficiently appropriate.
Similarly I suppose that for all the ambient/field recordings (both indoor and outdoor), the stereo mic should be appropriate.
For being as close as possible to the talent with the hypercardioid – both indoor and outdoor (avoiding wind) – I thought a pistol-blimp should be the right solution.
For ambient/field stereo recordings I’d adopt the same solution: an anti-wind pistol-blimp for the stereo mic.
As a recorder I will use a MixPre-6 in a shoulder bag.
Here a question: for connecting a handhelp pistol-blimp to a shoulder recorder, is more silent a straight or a coiled cable?

Now the boompole… I thought that in some situations a boompole could be useful to record mainly the talent sounds at distance: for example, for recording the talent’s footsteps during a walk on a country road – in that situation I think I’ll need to be at a distance from the talent (to avoid recording my footsteps too), so I think a boompole could be the solution.
I suppose that most of the times I’ll use the boompole with the hypercardioid, but I have the doubt (perhaps I wrong) that sometime I could use the boompole with the stereo mic too: for example, the same country road walk described before, do you think that recording the footsteps in stereo is a silly option?

Thanks a lot.

[Adriano Castaldini]

[Eric Toline] “you’ll see more & more cableless poles with transmitters…”No, I will surely not ☺ That’s a super-exclusive gear for my limited budget.
The necessity of changing the cable (5-pin, 3-pin) move me toward the external cable solution.

Anyway I’d have three very basic questions (I’m sorry for the low level of the questions):

1. Considering the wrapping of the cable around the pole, which is the ratio of pole/cable length? (i.e. how conveniently long must the cable be for a 1/2/3mt pole?)

2. Is it convenient to wrap the cable around the entire pole, or it’s better to leave an uncovered segment of the pole for the hands? (i.e. can I put the hands directly on the wrapped cable, or not?)

3. When I’ll shorten the pole, there will be a lot of free cable. Is there a specific way to arrange the cable in order to avoid noises?

Thanks a lot.

[Adriano Castaldini]

Thanks Mr. Crowley

[Adriano Castaldini]

Anyway, going further, I’d like to know what is in your opinion the most silent cable rig to connect the mic to the recorder in a run&gun situation (for example following the outdoor footstep of the talent during a long walk):

1. A single external straight cable wrapped around the boompole, directly from the blimp plug to the recorder: this means having a dangling last segment of the straight cable (the segment from the end of the boompole to the recorder);

2. A single and totally dangling long coiled cable directly from the blimp plug to the recorder (not wrapped around the boompole);

3. Two cables: a straight cable well wrapped around the boompole, with the male plug fixed to the end of the boompole, where it’s connected with another cable, a coiled cable this time, dangling from the end of the boompole to the recorder.

My questions simpy are:

A) Which is the most silent solution for my run&gun situation? And Why?

B) Do you recommend another cable rigging?

Thanks a lot for your help.

[Adriano Castaldini]

Thanks for the replay Mr. Crowley. I used the wrong word: I’d use the stereo-mic to capture the ambience indoor, of course, but also the stereo image of the sounds outdoor, for that reason I thought to use the blimp also for the BP4025 (5pin).

[Adriano Castaldini]

Thanks Mr. Toline for your answer.
I will not use BP4025 for dialogues, in fact I will not record dialogues at all. My purpose is just to use a couple of mics for only foley (AT4053b) and field (BP4025) recordings.
I absolutely agree with the fact that most of the noise comes from the op handling, but I’ve read that joints of the cheap boom can produce creakings.
But the main doubt is the cabled solution (boom with internal cable): I don’t know if it’s true, but someone in an Adorama’s youtube tutorial says that a rapidly moved cabled boom can cause noise because the cable slamming internally in the boom. If it’s true, is it right to say that in a run&gun condition it’s preferable to use a boom with an externally fixed cable?

[Adriano Castaldini]

Dear Mr. Crowley, thanks for your reply.
The two mics are AT4053B (3-pin) and BP4025 (5-pin).
I agree with you on everything, expecially the fact that a boom can’t cost more than the mic, it would sound absurd!
I don’t worry about weight (even if I must admit I’m a bit skinny), I think only about the sound quality, so my questions are:
1. Can an aluminium cheap boom make the sound quality worse (perhaps squeaking), or the material concerns only the weight?
2. Keeping the cable internally (in the boom) can avoid capturing noises and pops, or it is simply ergonomic facilitation?
Thanks a lot for the help.