Perfect Thank you! I guess I need to break down and buy a C stand, all I have are regular light stands and roll around Mole stands. Any recommended sources for the C stands?

Thanks!

Bill

Steve House's mention of hiding mikes on the set got me thinking ... since the actors have no place to hide a wireless, here"s a thought (I've never done this, so somebody correct me if this idea is crazy!)

How about hiding a number of very small mikes---Tram, Countryman, Beyerdynamic, Voice Technologies lavs come to mind...around the set where their tiny size would probably pass unnoticed. Say eight. Run them to a firewire mixer, such as the MOTU 896 Mk3, which is capable of outputting an 8-channel signal to a computer audio program. (I use Sony SoundForge, which accepts the signals as a multichannel .WAV file.)

Drop the file on your timeline, and pick the channel that has the best audio for a given time and place, minimizing or muting the ones that don't work as well at that point. Never done this particular application, but it just might work...you can output a zero-latency analog 2 channel mix from the MOTU to your camera for synch purposes... the multiple mikes give you a choice of tracks, you just pick the best one...comment? / Battle Vaughan/miamiherald.com video team

Forgot to mention -- the MOTU can slave to or from SEMPTE timecode and can take word clock in or out if you have a camera that can supply synch...I just use mine as a digital recorder, basically, but it has a lot of ability for it's size and price.../bv

Wouldn't know about Vegas but a source in LA that ships almost anywhere is Filmtools: Hollywood's source for grip, electrical, lighting, sound, video and film supplies

About the c-stand: Samy's Camera in LA or b&H, take a look: Century Stands | B&H Photo Video

/bvaughan

Hey William, to answer an earlier question of yours about treating your location: Start with the ceiling. You want to put some kind of material up there that will diffuse the sound. Deciding what's best to use is basically a question of cost, and worth its own thread really. I'd also put hooks in the ceiling so you can hang sound blankets and remove them as needed. They should be a foot out from the wall. Either buy sound blankets with grommets along the edges or get moving blankets and put the grommets on yourself. You really need to cover two perpendicular walls for them to do much good. If you do all that, you'll have better luck with a camera mounted shotgun, although it's still not recommended. It would be a good idea to do this regardless, actually, as you have described very reverberant locations.

For the distances you need, I'd consider going with the short shotgun module for the blueline. A little better reach than the hyper.
But the shotgun pattern will pick up reflections from 180 degrees behind the mic, so baffles behind the camera are important indoors.
Furniture pads are OK but eggcrate foam is better. Can you make up some 4' X 4' or 4' X 8' panels with the eggcrate foam to place over and behind the camera? Put the furniture pads on the hard floor surfaces.

The point of the hanging blankets is that they can be removed for the reversals and put on the other walls.

16 wide 10 deep..That is close enough to put you into the audible flanging range and if those walls are hard and parallel, to create flutter echos. You need to deaden as much as possible at least one of those parallel walls (curtains, wall hangings, etc), and either deaden or break up the flatness of the other wall (book case with books at random depths, pictures on wall, junk on wall).

Since the ceiling is out of shot, deaden as much as possible. These are small sets from an audio point of view.

Plant mics seem like a very good idea, as already mentioned.

15 feet is WAY to far away to mic unless you are in an anechoic chamber. ;-).

There are sites with good acoustic treatment info on the web - mostly geared for sound studios but all applicable to your situation.

Acoustic Treatment and Design for Recording Studios and Listening Rooms

Acoustics Forum • Index page

John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum • Index page

Type into google:

small home studio acoustics design

to get many more.

You don't need expensive products to do this...

It is possible to make acoustic treatment look like something else. For example I am buillding in wainscotting here that looks old fashioned. But it is actually a mix of thin panels to absorb low frequencies, and absorbtive panels to absorb highs and mids.

Acoustic 'clouds' can double as indirect ligting fixtures. 'Columns' can actually be hollow bass traps. You can't tell they are not solid on video...


-Mike