Best Mic for XL1S
 

I am going to be conducting around 30-40 interviews and do not want to use the stock mic as it has been giving me problems lately.

What would you suggest for a mic. I would like to record the audio right to the camera while filming.

Are you going to be working by yourself or will you have an interviewer on-camera as well as the subject? Are you asking about a stick mic in the interviewer's hands, a boom overhead, or lavs on the talent? Do you have a sound person working with you? Or are you thinking about a replacment mic that will mount on the camera in place of the stock mic?

No sound person on this job, though I should be considering it considering my lack of knowledge.

Essentially I am going to be filming a race from the air...after every leg we will land and have an hour or so before the next race leg starts.
It is during these short breaks that I need to conduct interviews of the drivers and navigators.
I think a hand held would be fine as long as it plugs into the canon. An overhead boom would be fine as well.
I am flexable and inexperienced with sound. I just find the audio on my xl1S has been unreliable lately and I can not miss screwing up an interview especially near race end.
suggestions

thanks

I have had the best results in this kind of situation by using the MA-100 XL1s attachment and two XLR microphones. If I am doing it solo, I put a lav on me so my questions can be heard on the recording as well as providing some ambient sound to work with. The second mic is a handheld "reporter" mic. Being a dynamic mic, the handheld cuts out the distracting background noise better than any shotgun I've tried.

Always monitor both channels in headphones. I spent 10 minutes once trying to figure out why I was no longer getting audio from my handheld. I discovered the previous interviewee had turned the mic switch off. If I hadn't caught it, I'd have lost all the subsequent interviews.

Oh Yeah ! That's no fun. We gaffer tape those switches just so the in and out of the bags doesn't move the switch.

Interview audio
 

Hi Vince,

I recommend you use a tripod (and assembly) to hold a boom mic. For the price, the Octava MK012A does an excellent job. Use the typical boom arrangement - just above the respondent's head, maybe 2 feet up and pointing toward's the responent's chest. As you may know, you should be uncomfortably close to the respondent for the ideal audio (inverse square audio/distance issue). FYI - I use a lavalier wired to the respondent for the second audio channel. I'm not too worried about myself; I know to speak up and could always do a voice over in post if necessary.

BTW, I assume you'll be using the standard interviewer-offset seating arrangement so you're providing the camera a profile shot. Thus, the camera cannot see your ear opposite the camera, right? If so, I highly suggest you feed the audio monitor out of your camera and loop it back to you with an earbud in your unexposed ear. Thank goodness you caught the mic off problem last time, but you really want to know what's going on throughout the interview. Just today I heard my respondent rustling a piece of paper while monitoring the interview so I was able to stop the interview ASAP and coach him not touch the paper until he needed the prop. You'll also be surprised how much off-set audio noise you'll pick up, etc.

Good luck, Michael

PS - check here for the associated gear (just posted)
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...833#post617833