Best mic for wedding reception?
 

I have a HVR-Z7 & I'm not happy with the sound using the mic that came with it. The only time I use the on-camera mic is for dancing. Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Allen

Re: Best mic for wedding reception?
 

I think the reason you're not getting any responses is that your question is a bit vague. Whenever someone asks for a 'best' it has to be qualified with a 'for what purpose'. Can you be more specific about what you would like to improve? If you say 'overall sound' that won't be of much help either.
The topic of audio has come up on these forums often, you might want to do a quick search regarding specifics like 'techniques for toasts', 'recording from DJ', 'recording a band', etc.
As for me, I'd rather have a $50 mic 1 foot from my source over a $500 mic 5 feet away.

Re: Best mic for wedding reception?
 

Oren,

I see your point, I use a wireless mic for a majority of the reception (intros, toast etc.) I use the camera mic for the fun dances. My on camera mic seems very directional ( the dj's music get very hollow sounding when I'm not pointing at them) and I was looking for a mic that would give me an even sound no matter which way I'm shooting.

Thanks

Re: Best mic for wedding reception?
 

You can use a wireless handheld mic on a mic stand and place it front of the DJ's speaker, and the receiver to your Z7u, this is what I do during reception to get constant audio level anywhere I pan, also wear a headphone, for sometimes the DJ crank ups the volume. Just my 2 cents.

Re: Best mic for wedding reception?
 

While I agree 100% about using a wireless mic in front of the DJs speaker here is a cautionary note...

Be very careful which mic you use. I have been using this type of audio capture sytem for about 5 or 6 years and it works great HOWEVER (here is the cautionary note) I use a Sennhesier E604 DRUM MIC which is made to take the hard sound coming from the speaker. Most other types of mics while they may work OK have a limit as to the amount of SPLs they can take. For instance, I tried Shure SM58, SM63, various shotguns and even a hypercaroid. BLAH! As soon as I went to the drum mic I knew I had found the answer. First it can be placed close to the speaker within a few inches. Second, it handles even the most non professional of DJs meaning when they crank to 11 (on a scale of 1 to 10) all I have to do is pull the mic back another inch or 2 and it's all set.
Also keep in mind that I use a plugin transmitter which I can adjust the DB on so I set it to minus6 and can also adjust the level at the receiver. I also use an AKG Blueline Hypercaroid on the camera which is generally set to -10 (a switch on the mic) to get the ambient room sound and to fill out the high end of the spectrum since the Sennheiser drim mic gets the low and not so much of the high end.
I can honestly say that since I have been using that system I have 1) not had any clipping of any reception audio 2) my post time sweetening audio has been cut down a lot since by and large I do npt have to do anything to my reception audio and 3) I have 2 chances to get the music should I have an equipment failure which knock on wood I haven't had.

Once again if you are not using a drum mic be very careful about mic placement and watch as well as listen to your levels thruout the reception. Good headphones are a must.

Re: Best mic for wedding reception?
 

If you want good music, just take a feed from the DJ.

I swear by Lectrosonics & have a XLR adapter for my belt pack. Plus I'm always packing a nice little bag of every type of audio adapter I can think of (attenuator is item #1, if there is a line out & the wireless transmitter needs a mic level, you need to cut down the feed to prevent clipping). This way, just about no matter what I can get a clean feed directly from the DJ's system be it out of their mixer aux out, splitting one of their RCA outputs or a pass through on the speaker.

Mix that with the on camera mic & you might be all set.

Just remember what is best for you, isn't always best for the next guy.

Re: Best mic for wedding reception?
 

Thank you everybody for the great advice. You all gave me a lot to think about.