I need URGENT!!! advice

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:17 pm

O.k thanks to all whos been helping me thus far. We start shooting tomarow and Ive run into a problem. My original plan to record Lav 1, Lav 2, Shotgun 1, and shotgun 2 on 4 separate tracks was killed when I couldnt get a hold of a 4track recorder. My next plan was to pan Lav 1 and shotgun 1 left and lav2 and shotgun 2 right (separating the voices of the two actors) NOW I find out that the mixer I have, the Shure M367 is multi mono and not stereo so I cant pan. Plus now I dont think that we will have 2 shotgun mics, only one.

heres what I got:

2 UHF wireles lavaleirs
1 Shotgun mic with boom pole
1 Shure six channel (multi-mono) mixer
1 Marantz PMD660 (stereo with 2 built in mic pre's) Field recorder
2 Actresses

We will be shooting in an apartment

HOW SHOULD I CONFIGURE THIS?

I was thinking I have 2 options. I could plug one mic into the recorder's built-in pre and the other two I can sum together in the mixer, and then exit the mixer mono into the 2nd channel of the recorder. My choices would be to separate the voices with the lavs and not use the shotgun mic OR sum the lavs together and keep the shotgun mic on a separate channel.

any other Ideas. Please tell me what you would do in this situation. Do I need to run to guitar center before we start? I want good results.

Thanks in advance, all coments are welcome

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:29 pm

Quote:

sum the lavs together and keep the shotgun mic on a separate channel.

I vote for this option, my reasoning being that if anything happens to the lav(s) (they tap it, they hug and click them together, one falls off, etc.) you've got a pristine dedicated boom mic track to fall back on.

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:51 pm

Yep. shotgun will sound better. Needs to be on a seperate channel by itself.
But, shotgun not good for interiors. Do you have a regualr hyper-cardiod or cardiod without the interference tube?

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:44 pm

I can try to get a hold of a rode nt5, is this good for this aplication?

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 10:00 am

Any other suggestians before we start? Thanks again

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 10:17 am

Any chance you can get an MK41? The NT 5 has a pretty broad pickup.

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 9:19 pm

So the first day of production came and went and I decided to sum the lavs and keep the shotgun separate. It turned out that the shot gun sounded much better then the lavs did.

the lavs sounded too echoey, any suggestions on fixing that? the only problem with the shotgun was the fact that there are 2 actors in the scene and when you move the boom, you can hear it. Any advice on that?

My Boom Op has never done it before and neither have I so I don't know what to tell him. He's not the greatest at folowing direction anyhow so I found myself wanting to just do it myself.

Any one with similar expieriences they could share with me, comments to what I'm doing so far, Advice for what I can do in ther future, or warnings for problems that could occur that I should prepare for, please respond.

Thank You.

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 10:06 pm

grizzzly540 wrote:

So the first day of production came and went and I decided to sum the lavs and keep the shotgun separate. It turned out that the shot gun sounded much better then the lavs did.

the lavs sounded too echoey, any suggestions on fixing that? the only problem with the shotgun was the fact that there are 2 actors in the scene and when you move the boom, you can hear it. Any advice on that?

My Boom Op has never done it before and neither have I so I don't know what to tell him. He's not the greatest at folowing direction anyhow so I found myself wanting to just do it myself.

Any one with similar expieriences they could share with me, comments to what I'm doing so far, Advice for what I can do in ther future, or warnings for problems that could occur that I should prepare for, please respond.

Thank You.

How are scenes shot? Usually they are done at least twice if there are two actors, one from each POV. I would only record one actor's dialog at a time. Wait until the second take when they shoot from the other actors perspective to move the mic.
There needs to be a talk with the director about compiling a scene's audio from multiple takes.

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 10:17 pm

Quote:

the lavs sounded too echoey, any suggestions on fixing that?

ADR

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 10:52 pm

Yes, the boom mic will usually sound better. Make sure your boom operator is booming during rehersals! Just like camera blocking. I've seen new boom ops just stand there during rehearsing and only boom during a take. Big mistake. Have him/her do a boom check with camera to make sure boom is not in picture and he knows where the frame line is, and what the script reads. Don't be afraid to get in close, but turn boom quitly to follow the script. And watch for boom shadow from lighting... be on the best side away from key lighting. One boom can handle 2 actors no problem. Also get 60 seconds room tone. Have Boom record a couple of extra takes of dialog without camera... wild.. in case you need to grab something later during post.
Handling noise.. If you have low frequency roll-off on mic or mixer or camera, use it. Don't move hands on boom during a take. Always have a windscreen on boom mic, even if not outside. Moving mic needs a windscreen. Always. Foam Ok inside. Good luck with the project. Production sound is alway better than having to get the actors back to ADR.

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:04 pm

Quote:

Production sound is alway better than having to get the actors back to ADR.

True. And if they can't get their lines spot-on then it's a waste of time and money...

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 8:47 am

Thanks a Lot

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 8:51 am

filmmusic2008 wrote:

How are scenes shot? Usually they are done at least twice if there are two actors, one from each POV. I would only record one actor's dialog at a time. Wait until the second take when they shoot from the other actors perspective to move the mic.
There needs to be a talk with the director about compiling a scene's audio from multiple takes.

What??!

It's called multiple camera angles and edited in post. Last time I checked, directors don't like running multiple takes if they don't have to.

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 9:28 am

What x 2

Charlie Chaplin didn't even do it like that.

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 9:31 am

OK, I looked it up (love trivia).

It was there for TV by 1928.
By the DesiLu days, it was there for films.

(It being multiple-camera setup)

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