Audio recording for documentary

[Nonlinear Nonfiction]

I'm going to be filming a documentary in a Pizzeria, a very busy one (Ian's Pizza in Madison, Wisc.). I want to capture audio from multiple sources while I film. What equipment do you suggest with the following in mind:

 

I don't have a lot of money.

It will need to sync up with video captured on Mini DV.

I only need to record about 2-3 simultaneous sources (ie. one at the cash register, one at the pizza-making counter).

[socbret]

- Is the camera going to be moving around or stationary?

If your cameraman is going to be moving around handheld or steadicam you could do a left channel recording with a shotgun mic and place a lav on one of the cashiers or cooks if you felt nessisary. Your soundman will be able to follow the action with his boom and you will probably have a better idea of what you are capturing.

 

-Do you need to be discreet or will they allow you to move around the workers and customers with your equipment? If they will let you move around, you might be best off with what I mentioned above. If not, you can place 2 mic's around the room and record them on the L and R channels. Since you say you don't have much money, your gonna need some long XLR cables, a few mics and a camera that has built in XLR or a beachtek box. If your doing this for a film program you should be able to rent their equipment for free, in that case you could get some wireless going and a DAT recorder for more audio options. You could even bring along a laptop and hook straight into your DAW or NLE.

 

For this type of thing, getting an extra guy to hold a boom and renting a wireless reciever and a lav would be best. Unless you have multiple roaming cameras, or you strictly have stationairy ones, placing microphones around the room isn't going to do you much good since your going to need a visual reference for whats going on. You could easily do this type of project with 1 decent microphone mounted to your camera if you wanted, don't make it harder on yourself. Keep the questions coming so we can figure out what would work best for the project.

[Nonlinear Nonfiction]

Hey thanks, that is REALLY helpful. I'm waiting to meet with the guys at the Pizzeria and I'll have a much better idea of exactly what is going to happen. I have access to multiple XL1s and GL1s and mics etc. Definitely going to try and keep it simple though... please keep your eye peeled here and I'll keep you updated as I go along!

[socbret]

Hey thanks, that is REALLY helpful. I'm waiting to meet with the guys at the Pizzeria and I'll have a much better idea of exactly what is going to happen. I have access to multiple XL1s and GL1s and mics etc. Definitely going to try and keep it simple though... please keep your eye peeled here and I'll keep you updated as I go along!

 

Great, make sure to find out if those XL1's are going to have the XLR mounts w/ them.

[Nonlinear Nonfiction]

Great, make sure to find out if those XL1's are going to have the XLR mounts w/ them.

 

They most certainly do.

[a.miller]

For a senior project in college, I (and three others) had to shoot and produce a 15 minute film over the course of a year. I have a pretty good amount of experience in post-production from doing that. So, if you need some help when you reach that stage, I'd be happy to help.

 

With your audio - Really make sure to not go from a mono microphone to a stereo in on the camera. I had a group member do this via an xlr to 1/4" and then a 1/4" to headphone (3.5 mm) adapter and we got so much hum from the line that we had to redo ALL of the sound with overdubs, which I would not suggest. Two mono microphones would work into each of the two stereo channels (L and R), as was suggested above.