external scene - mic setup
 

Hi,

I am still a relative newbie in the field of sound recording for film, so bear with me if I ask some "obvious" questions :-). I have found this forum a great way of learning, and any help/advice people can give me is appreciated.

I am interested in doing a shoot outside, in an open space, with little or no noise. It's by water, with some trees, and a road near by. The scene has two girls in bikini's whose dialog I need to capture. The actors won't be stationary, they will be doing some walking.

Also I would like to capture some ambient sound as well.

I don't own any mic's at the moment, and have a limited budget, lets say approx $600.

My basic question is what mic or mic's would one recommend, and how would they use them. eg.

1. Would I be best with a AT897 on a boom to capture the dialog? and also use the 897 for ambient? or
2. Would I be best getting some lapel mic's for dialog? With Lapel I am concerned that if the girls are wearing bikini's, would they be visible? If Lapels are the go.. what brand/make or
3. Should I just use a shotgun mic on the camera (I doubt this option is very good).

Any help would be great !

Thanks

Robert

In that price range I've been told that the Audio-Technica AT4073a (which I own, but haven't used in that type of scenario yet), is great for external/outside boom/fish-pole recordings.

*though the fact that they're wearing bikinis could change all that so I'll have to defer to the real pros who can assess the acoustical ramifications of the sound being exposed to all that flesh! ;-) (sorry, had to throw that in there as the bikini part was an interesting detail that you added, at least it helped with the visual!)

Also, here's a thread that I've been participating in recently that might add some additional info for you: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...hlight=AT4073a

Well, obviously, they couldn't wear lapel mics. Unless the girls were topless, too many people would spot the mics. If they were topless, you wouldn't have anyplace acceptable to hang the mics.

On with the serious answer. I agree with Shawn, the shotgun would be the way to go... if you have a good boom guy. The other thing to do, is to get several angles, and re-record the dialogue to be added in post- ADR is what they call it in Hollywood.

You'll probably find more ambient noise than you imagined.

You may need a windbreaker for the 897. That in itself could eat your budget, but if you'll be shooting outside at any time in the future, it would be a handy thing to have in your kit.

Ty Ford

Two additional questions are, how wide or close do you plan to shoot this and which camera do you plan to use? Both of these answers will influence our advice.

It's even possible if they're topless or even nude. There are flesh-coloured submini wireless lavalier mikes available that can be hidden in a hairdo or taped at the inside edge of a bra cup with the cable to the transmitter run out of eyesight of the camera if you're very careful in shot setup. A bit pricey to buy but possible to rent if it's critical to your shoot.

Steve- Thanks for the heads up on those lavs... I hadn't heard of them. I'll have to keep them in mind for future reference. Any links to their website?