[Sam Mallery]

I hear ya, Greg. Many people have gone out of their way to tell me the opposite, that the Microcats worked well for them. I’ve heard good things about the Rycote fuzzballs too.

Scott – there is also the option of using this Sennheiser adapter cable for your K6 and MKE2:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/310613-REG/Sennheiser_USCM1_XLR_Female_Microphone_Cable.html

This should work fine, as long as you don’t have the K6P powering module. The K6P needs phantom to operate, the K6 has a AA battery slot and should power the MKE2 just fine.

[Sam Mallery]

Whether you have a cardioid or an omni pick-up pattern on your mic, it doesn’t matter, wind noise is going to be problematic no matter what.

If wind noise on a lav is the issue, oddly enough a microscopic cat is the solution:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/385181-REG/Remote_Audio_MCAT_B_Micro_Cat_Lavaliere_Windscreen_.html

Yes, a Remote Audio Micro-Cat is essentially a little ball of fluff that costs $25, but, it fits on most lav mics and it really helps to diffuse wind noise.

That said, if you’re shooting video, 99 times out of 100 you will get better sounding results using an omni-directional lav as opposed to a cardiod. So it may be worth it to switch out for the ME 102.

You say you have the Sennheiser G2 system… do you happen to have the combo system that includes the plug-on transmitter? If so, you can use the plug-on transmitter to wirelessly transmit your MKE-2 + K6 powering module. You can use this case to attach the plug-on transmitter to your subject’s belt:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/513205-REG/Pearstone_UPOH_Universal_Plug_In_Transmitter_Holster.html

[Sam Mallery]

The adapter you need to use your Rode VideoMic with an XLR input is $8.99. I think it’s a no-brainer to pick it up so you can keep using it:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/387850-REG/Rode_VXLR_VXLR_Mono_Mini_Jack.html

You don’t have to think that hard about it. You are satisfied with the VideoMic. Keep using it.

As far as what mic to get next, you’ll just have to accept that there is no silver bullet solution. Get a good mic, be it a wired lav or a better shotgun. My advice is that if you decide to spend money on a lav, go all the way and get the best.

A few years ago I bought a wired Tram TR-50. It has served me well, but when I bought it I knew that the Sanken COS-11 sounded better. I really wish I had bought the Sanken the first time around.

Buy the Deadcat if you plan on shooting outdoors. Don’t even consider taking a shotgun outside without wind protection. If you are strictly doing indoor talking head stuff, you may not need it. If there is a possibility that you are going to shoot outdoors someday, you should definitely have the wind protection.

[Sam Mallery]

For an indoor group, you should have a boompole, someone needs to operate the boompole and wear the headphones that are plugged into the headphone output of the camera to hear what they are doing at all times. The boom operator must do their best to follow the sound of the person who is speaking by maneuvering the pole around and pointing the mic at them.

That said, most indoor shoots will sound better if you don’t use a shotgun style microphone on the pole, but rather you use a small diaphragm condenser with a hyper-cardioid pick-up pattern. Shotguns will pick up too many reflections of sound bouncing off of the walls and floor, where the small diaphragm hyper-cardioid will sound more like natural conversation, rather than sounding like an echoy room.

I use the Audio Technica AT4053 for the task of indoor booming. It’s an amazing sounding indoor booming mic that you should be able to find used for $300 or less. You will also need a boompole, and these can be had in the low end for around $150.

When you boom a group like this, you should put the wireless lav on the most important person in the room.

[Sam Mallery]

Maurice said it best:

“…we own some THAT2’s from JK and it’s nice for utility but NOT for program audio.”

I made some recordings with the QuickTap when I was writing that article and I still have them on my computer. I called my sister on her land-line at home and we had a goofy conversation. You can hear her voice fairly well, but I sound much more electronic, and the volume level of my voice is much lower than her’s.

Using the CellTap will likely provide worse audio than the QuickTap, 9 times out of 10. The audio in telephones is bad, and the audio in mobile phones is much worse.

It depends on what work you are doing. The conversation I recorded of me and my sister is fun to have around for “utilities” sake, but I would never present it on a broadcast or on a website. It would just make your enterprise look bad.

[Sam Mallery]

I’ve used the Quicktap. It’s decent, but you still may run into situations where one party can’t hear the other party well enough, and vice-versa. The problem is that when you’re making these calls, people will have different kinds of phones, and different kinds of phone systems. You can’t really expect an inexpensive passive interface device to be able to juggle all of these variables and deliver consistant, usable audio.

That’s why people spend over $400 and up on telephone interfaces. If you’re doing work where you need good results, you need to invest in a piece of equipment that can deliver the goods.

I wrote about this somewhat exhaustively in this article:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/newsLetter/Telephone-Interviews.jsp

The article explains the different interfaces available, and shows you how to record a call step-by-step with both land lines and mobile phones.

The long and short of it is… you need to buy the JK Audio Broadcast Host or better.

[Sam Mallery]

“Good xlr cords are pretty easy to manage. Measure off how much slack you need from floor to cam. Put a piece of gaffers tape at that point. Disconnect cord from cam run your length to subject. Gaffer tape the cord down to avoid tripping hazards. Leave plenty of slack for talent. Reconnect xlr to cam. Use a Velcro tie or more tape to secure cord to cam or tripod to prevent it being tugged and straining connection (particularly if you are plugging into a miniplug).”

If using a wireless lav isn’t true run and gun, what would you call this? 🙂

I agree that wired lavs are good to have around. But I think that handheld mics make documentaries look like journalism. Stick with the wireless lav and the Rode shotgun. You can get an XLR cable and a pistol grip for the Rode shockmount:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/529346-REG/Pearstone_GRIP_Universal_Microphone_Hand_Grip.html

That way if there is no one else there helping you, you can get the shotgun closer to the subject without getting the microphone in the shot. If someone is helping you, you can get the mic even closer. With a pistol you can also more the mic and point it at the person who is speaking.

Don’t fear interference. There is plenty you can do with a Sennheiser G2 to remedy it. Besides, the vast majority of G2 users I’ve spoken to (I’ve litereally spoken to thousands of them) have never had issues with interference. In fact, most of them open up the box and use the frequency that was set at the factory and never need to even learn how to change it. A more common problem is adjusting the output level of the receiver.

In the great spirit of going over budget, you should really get this:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/267890-REG/Rycote_033042_14cm_Medium_Hole_Softie.html

That’s the softie that fits the Rode NTG-1 shotgun. You’ll need it for all outdoor shots. With the softie, the pistol grip, and a 25 foot XLR cable, you can do a lot.

[Sam Mallery]

Based on this information, I usually find that wireless lavs are a good idea:

“…documentary making… video in general… looking for a basic audio setup… The doc will consist of many interviews in different locations: outside in a major city; on public transit; and in controlled, indoor environments. At this time, I can only afford one lavalier mic and one shotgun mic…”

Boompoles, wires, and pistol mounted mics are generally not such a great idea on public transportation, at least for run and gun no-budget documentary film making.

[Sam Mallery]

I firmly believe it’s better to have an inexpensive yet decent quality shotgun mounted on the camera, as opposed to just using the internal mic.

I would get a Rode NGT1 shotgun:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/400812-REG/Rode__NTG_1_Condenser_Shotgun_Microphone.html

That kit includes the shotgun mic, the shockmount you need to mount it to the camera, and the XLR cable. That mic requires phantom power to operate, and you have phantom power on your DVX100. For the money, it’s a surprisingly good sounding microphone.

That leaves us with $430 for a wireless lav. Well, if you can come up with an extra $70, you should really go for a Sennheiser G2:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/324242-REG/Sennheiser_EW112PG2_A_Evolution_G2_100_Series.html

The wireless lav kits that are cheaper than this really aren’t worth it. A lot of people who have a limited budget go with the equipment I’ve listed here and are happy with the results. A lot of the advice that gets dispensed on this forum is coming from a good place, but the perspective is squarely from the highest standards of audio production equipment.

You can still get decent audio with your budget, you just need to try a little harder and pay a lot of attention to what you hear in your headphones, even if you can’t afford a pair of $100 Sony MDR7506.

[Sam Mallery]

I don’t think it’s the recorder you have to worry about, it’s the microphones. If you have a good camera, chances are you have two XLR inputs. I would use the camera to record the audio, not Final Cut.

How is the interview being conducted? Is it just two people speaking? Are they at a table, or sitting in chairs, or on the street? Is there ambient noise? Are they moving around?

Answer these questions and we’ll recommend microphones for the job.