Microphone for interviewing?

Grant1990

Grant1990

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Hello people,

From January I will be doing some work with people ageing from 16-24 for a charity who helps them in to education or employment after a 16 week course involving sports.

Basically along the way I will be doing filming on trips and sports sessions to catch them improving confidence and teamwork etc. On the other hand I will also be doing some interviews some may be indoors and some may be outdoors.

I have just ordered a video mic pro and will be getting a dead cat so there will be no issues out side. But I noticed a comment somewhere stating that the shotgun mics are no good for inside??

How true is this and if this is the case what would you recommend for indoor recording?

By all means I will be getting my costs covered for this work so I want the footage they receive back to be of a good quality because the videos will be shown around to management of the charity and local councils.

Any help would be great cheers.

Grant
 
It's not that they aren't good indoors but that there must be space around them. So if you put it on a boom and hold it near a wall or ceiling you'll change its pattern and get very strange effects. Depending how big the room is you may be fine or you may have serious issues.
 
I'll try to be a little clearer as my previous post was rushed. The interference tube or shotgun mic relies on interference patterns to get it's narrow angle of sound acceptance.

The direct path goes straight through the tube. Off axis unwanted sound is cancelled out.

If you're in a room there will be echoes. So some of the unwanted sound will be on the direct path and be recorded. Some of the wanted sound will be reflected off axis and cancelled out.

http://www.tvtechnology.com/audio/0098/shotgun-microphones—-in-theory-and-in-practice/216873
 
Shotgun mikes like the Rode work OK indoors provided it's a small room with soft furnishings, and the subject is relatively close. In a largish room you can get very poor sound and lot of echo's. This is OK if you are filming activities as this sort of sound the audience expect to hear. However for interviews it really doesn't sound nice. Poor audio can ruin a good video. Lavalier mikes are probably the best option. Miking up all the interviewees including the interviewer , may prove difficult if you are running it as a one man crew . An alternative is to get a wired hand mike. This is usually acceptable in interviews and does look professional. If you can go for a proper interview mike. Vocal or stage mikes , especially the cheaper ones don't give a good sound. However your budget may define what you can afford. If you are using a hand held mike get wind shield as this will act as a "pop" shield.
 
Sorry never realised this thread had any replies thought I would come on and check tonight!

Thanks for the replies.

I like the look of the lavalier mikes but what happens in the case of using more then 1? I'm assuming with the 3.5mm jack it plugs directly in to the camera?

Are the handheld mikes the same? Straight plug in to the camera too?
 
Grant1990 said:
Sorry never realised this thread had any replies thought I would come on and check tonight!

Thanks for the replies.

I like the look of the lavalier mikes but what happens in the case of using more then 1? I'm assuming with the 3.5mm jack it plugs directly in to the camera?

Are the handheld mikes the same? Straight plug in to the camera too?
Click to expand...

In a 1 camera shoot, it's normal to shoot the talent answering, then the interviewer re-asking the questions, then the interviewer reacting to answers.

3 separate files, only one camera and mic needed.
 
Grant1990 said:
..... But I noticed a comment somewhere stating that the shotgun mics are no good for inside??
Click to expand...

That's not true. The Sennheiser 416 has been used by crews for decades - indoors and out.
 
For the past year my company have been using the rode lavalier mics for all our interviews, we use a tascam DR-60 to record the audio as when you use a direct plug into the camera you get far to much gain (noise). The mics will need the Micon 5 adapter (XLR) to work to the best of their ability, this is because the tascam DR-60 has very good preamps for it's built in XLR ports. You can setup multiple channels and control the levels of individual mics, which we find very useful. We do use shotgun mics outside but only if we really need to as it requires more effort in post to remove the BG hiss. Any other questions about the RODE mic or lavalier setup please get In touch :)
 
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