Brian Reynolds
Forum Replies Created
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Boom mics don’t work well in videos like that as the camera is often very wide for good sound and often the person is facing in the wrong direction, like talking to the floor when they are lying down.
Over the ear / headset combination is a good choice.
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In both the first and second video the instructor is using an ‘over ear microphone’ lots on the market by Sennheiser, DPA, Rode’ and other ‘generic’ makers. That sort of mic is often referred to as a ‘Madonna mic’
This sort of mic is used for theatre type productions. Note in both videos the cable runs down the talents back to a transmitter which then sends it to a receiver (small black box near her shoulder blade) unit then to the camera / recorder.
You can actually see the mic hooked over the talents right ear and it wraps around her right cheek.The wireless system that is best for you totally depends on your budget, if you start top end think Lectrosonics, Zaxcom, the next level down would be Sennheiser, Shure, Sony. I will not recommend anything below that as with a decrease in cost comes an increase of problems.
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Firstly (I assume) the lav mic is a wireless system rather than a hard wire cable mic, if thats the case then mic up the adult that is asking the questions and put this to one track of the recorder (camera or H4n).
Secondly NEVER mic a child without the parent present (a teacher isn’t good enough)…..NEVER yourself, ideally get the parent to do it.
In these time and dates never touch a child….. So the suggestion is to group the kids together and boom it with the shotgun mic closely and feed this to the second track of the recorder.
It would be good if the sound was also on the camera but not essential as long as there is a way to sync the 2 together (clapper board or hand clap)
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Keep in mind the Sennheiser units have 20 groups of 12 preset frequencies, so which ever group is selected the scan is done only on those 12.
So to do a full scan of ‘preset’ frequencies in the receiver unit [select group 1 >>>scan], [then select group 2 >>>> scan],[ then select group 3 >>>scan], etc, etc. To do it all it needs to be 20 times.
To find frequencies ‘manually’ go to U (user) group and then select / scroll up or down to find a frequency that shows no RF on the frequency indicator.
For a one system setup its easy but when you need multiple systems you need to be aware of intermods of the RF that will cause problems.
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The scan features of wireless systems are VERY BASIC……. Sennheiser, Sony and Lectrosonics do have that facility but there is a better option and that is a scanner.
For just over a 100$ you can get a very useful tool that will show you what is happening.https://rfexplorer.com/models/
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You have to select one signal as a ‘standard’ and therefore every other signal is adjusted either +/- time from that. (Normally a wide shot or main camera) The ‘standard signal’ is NEVER adjusted… every thing else is referenced to that signal.
How its actually done in your actual programs I don’t know, but it should be in the program somewhere, do a search in the help section for timecode controls. -
I was involved in Car Rally & other motor sport productions several years ago up to 6 cameras were used all running time code. Time of day in 24hr setting was used and yes there were errors in all the cameras with ‘offsets’ (but they WILL remain constant)
Its nothing to worry about at all, I find it interesting how much effort people go to these days to get ‘exact’ time code to all recorders at the same time…. with the use of an offset (which remains constant) is easy to work with.Time code is just an embedded ‘clock’ as a reference to the recorded material, If 24hr time is used even a basic digital wrist watch can be used for Data logging.
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It’s called an ‘offset’ it’s very common and somewhere in the system you should be able to enter an offset number it might be a +/-
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There are some interesting groups on FaceBook like ‘Freelance Sound Mixers & Recordists for TV/Film’ that might be worth a look.
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What sort of ‘gear’ are you using (as you mentioned) If you are using a H1 as a recorder I assume you are using a DSLR or similar as a camera…..
For one person shooting a DSLR + separate audio recorder is the VERY hard way of doing things,….. OK lots of people are doing but that doesn’t make it any easier….. Just ask yourself why don’t TV news crews do it that way?
If you were using a VIDEO camera and a wireless mic system what your wanting to do is actually quite easy to do, even to monitor the audio as well (which needs to be done)