HV30 Audio

[Scott Schueppert]

what exactly is suitable for all things audio on an hv30? total price range is 1.7 not including camera.

overall i need wireless mic's, boom, and a mixer if recommended.

just need some good recommendations for that budget, and if so what products would be good quality for the price ranged budget.

[Terry Lee]

What sort of things are you going to be recording? That will have a huge effect on what sort of things you will need to accomplish the sort of job you are after. Will you be recording on location? Things to consider are will it be indoors or outdoors. Will you be recording dialogue, or doing interviews. This will greatly effect the choice of your equipment. I will state this here. There is NOT a general use microphone that can achieve everything. You must first determine what you are trying to record and choose your equipment accordingly.

Terry.

[Scott Schueppert]

looking for good audio quality for hv30/40 documentary being filmed in clubs/bars/festivals. if i could get options on how to do multi recordings at one time and how to layer them on that would be great!

indoor and outdoor are going to happen. driving in cars, malls, bars, etc.


my price is about as stated 1.7k and i need the following:


boom/shotgun mic , probably thinking a shotgun with a boom, which sennheiser/ bang for your buck would you recommend. im also looking at the Sennheiser Evolution G2 100 Series. im shooting on an hv30, so it just has a mic jack, what else would i need for 1 wireless G2 going on and a boom mic.? sound mixer? or would i just have to shoot one at a time?
i also i plan on having an evenly distributed audio level for the entire flick.


thanks appreciate it.

[Terry Lee]

If you are going to be doing your recording on location you definately want to boom the sound. In most any case you want to boom the sound unless you are shooting a wide shot where a boom will be obvious then of course you want to use a wireless system.

Serious professionals use a portable recorder. A good mid range recorder is the Tascam DA-P1. Higher end recorders such as a Sound Devices 702 have higher reviews as well as a higher price. However there are digital portable sound recorders that cut out the conversion from analog to digital. I would suggest looking for one of those.

I reccomend the Audio Technica 875R short condensor microphone. It works wonderfully and is phantom powered. A think to consider is phantom power vs battery power. Battery powered microphones are cheaper, but you get what you pay for. With phantom power you will need a power source which will be your recorder.

I have my HV30 rigged to a juiced link preamp and boom my sound. The only problem is that the juiced link is not portable and you can only go so far from the camera. Also you are recording in camera, but is better than using the on camera mic.

Another thing to consider is a good pair of cans. Audio technica has a good pair of headphones, the ATH-M50's.

If you like Sennheiser, I suggest the MKH-416. Make sure you get a good shock mount and wind buffer.

Those Sennheiser Evolution G2 100 are fine. However you will need a preamp. The audio jack on the HV30 itself is not sufficent.

Terry.

[Battle Vaughan]

If your needs are simply two tracks of audio on your video, not music-critical recording (of which, imho, the hv30 is not capable) you might try what we issue some of our still photographers who also shoot occasional news video: hv30 (well, ours are the earlier hv20, same principle); a Sennheiser MKE400 shotgun mike, which fits in the accessory shoe; a Sennheiser G2 wireless kit with lavalier mic and also an xlr transmitter for a hand mike (EV RE50), which is available as a kit from B&H; and a BeechTec DXA-2S mike adapter. There are similar products from Juicedlink and SIgn Video, but this particular one fits the HV30 especially well and doesn't interfere with changing camera batteries. The mixer can accept two xlr inputs or one xlr and one 1/8" miniplug, and the mixer itself plugs into your external mike terminal.

The Beechtec and the others are passive mixers -- the don't amplify the signal, but can attenuate one or the other mikes to balance between them. They provide switchable line/mic inputs and mono or stereo mix. All very compact, works fine for general video purposes. Again, if you have critical recording needs, you may want a more elaborate double-system setup with a mixer and a digital recorder, but this probably requires two people to operate. For the kinds of video people are likely to do with an HV30, the system above provides a lot of flexibility and works a treat for us. BTW -- as Terry advises, headphones are essential. Best wishes / Battle Vaughan/miamiherald.com video team

[Elvis Ripley]

I use a Zoom H4n to record a Rode NTG-1 or NTG-3. I also have a Rode blimp. Whatever mics you end up getting the Zoom H4n is really great. You have two XLR inputs with phantom power but you can also use the built in stereo mics to get ambience as well as your close sound from the lavaliere or boom

[Ty Ford]

The HV30 is an HDV format camcorder. The audio spec for HDV is 384 kbps stereo MPEG1 layer 2. Quite a bit less data than a standard def camcorder that records at 16-bit, 48 kHz (about 1500 kbps).

Regards,

Ty Ford