Wireless or boom for indoor interview?
 

Hi guys,

Im a bit of a novice when it comes to audio equipment but i'll try my best to explain my situation.
I had a search on the forum and couldnt find any conclusive answer to my query so here goes.....

Im shooting a doco in four weeks time which will have a fair amount of sit down, set up indoor interviews in it. The doco needs to have good enough sound to be aired on TV.

I currently own a Sony dsr250 camera mounted with an AT4073a shotgun on a beyerdynamic EA86 shockmount.
Ive got my creditcard out ready to invest in a Sound devices mixpre in the next few days also.

What my question is - what do i use for interview audio?

A good wireless mic (i think this is called a lav?) or my AT4073a on a boom or a different mic altogether?

I dont want the mic in the shot so if i go wireless i will proboably tape it to the inside of the talents shirt for a male or clip on the bra of a female talent.
Will this work ok?

I have about US$500 to spend - is this unrealistic?

I'd love your recommendations as it was this forum that pointed me in the direction of the 4073a and the mix pre. Im sure i would have gotten something substandard and proboably paid more for it without you guys :)

Any advice appreciated,
Nathan

"Lavalier" refers to the style of mic, a small unit intended to be clipped to clothing such as a lapel or necktie or otherewise hidden on the talent. Some are so small they can be concealed in the hairline, clipped onto a glasses frame, taped to the interior of a tee-shirt collar, or even taped directly to the skin. Lavs can either be wired, where there is a cable running from the mic to the mixer, recorder, or camera, or wireless, where there is a small radio tranmitter concealed on the talent sending to a receiver that is feeding the rest of the audio chain. Whether a lav or your shotgun will give you the "best" results depends on a lot of factors but I'd lean toward a lav. Shotguns are good for exteriors, not so good for interiors. With the shotgun on a boom you'll need to have an operator to keep the mic aimed properly while keeping its shadow out of the shot.

Unless you need to have the talent moving around where a cable would interfere with free movement, a wired lav would probably give you the most bang for your buck. Wireless is good and you could use it if you wished, but a good concealable lav mic and a pro-quality wireless setup would be considerably more expensive than just the microphone all by itself.

I'll add that a deficit to a lav is the unnatural removal of the ambient sound. This isn't a problem if your mixing in the ambient or adding music. I'm always fighting noisy enviroments so I willingly accept this. I stick to a lav because I'm a one man show and it cuts down on the wires and equipment.

quick pro/con of wireless lav:

pro:
no shadow
no stand
good isolation
easy setup
freedom of movement

con:
interference from other wireless devices
batteries
objects blocking bodypack transmitter
noise from body or cloth rubbing against lav

If your location is acoustically soft or your subject is soft-spoken, the 4073a on a boom or boom-stand can work very well. In a more normal interior (noisy, reverberent) a short shotgun, or even a low-budget hypercardioid if it must remain well out of frame, usually can't do as well as a lav can. Others have already pointed out these factors and their advantages and disadvantages.
Some other key factors are the acoustic problems of hiding the lav and whether the subject will move around any. Since you said "sit down" interviews I assume not moving, but it's rare these days that an entire interview segment is conducted totally static. And if it's a doco why do you want the mics hidden? A Countryman B3 or even smaller B6 is hardly noticeable and hiding them can lead to bad sound and terrible clothing noises.
If you have to go wireless lav with a good element, then $500 is going to be the minimum you'll spend and that doesn't include the mixer of course. If it's totally static and a soft, quiet environment you could get away with using the 4073a on a good boom and stand. About $375 for all the support equipment if you don't already have a boom pole.
You could also get a good wired lav and a less expensive hypercardioid like the Rode NT3 as back up and shoot with a tighter framing for situations with normal background noise. If you have a quiet set, an NT3 can be backed up just enough to cover two people and sound very smooth and even.
Or you can rent a better hyper like a Schoeps CMC6/Mk41 and the mixer too.
Unless setup time is critical I always double-mic interviews so there is flexibility later to fix or adjust. As always there's no perfect answer because it depends heavily on your location and planning.

Hey Nathan,

The guys here have already posted brillant advice.... But if you have only $500 and want to mic an interview through a new mixer, I would buy the mixer, use your AT 4073a as a hand held mic for you and buy a Shure ECM 44 or 55 as a wired lav mic for your subject. The mixer will always be invaluable if you have more than two people to mic or if you have to filter out lows. The Sony Lav is cheaper than a wireless system, presents fewer worries about RF interference, and can be used without a boom operator....

Please post again with further questions, we might be able to provide further help.

Good luck,

Steph

Thanks for the great advice
 

Hey guys thanks for the great advice :)
Some people have mentioned a mixer. I have an 8 channel sound desk for adjusting individual levels if this is what you mean? Im also buying the sound devices mix pre which i presume can be used to mix more than one input.
For my interviews my voice is not important as i will be just using the audio from the talent so only one person needs to be mic'ed at a time :)

From all of your great advice i think i will go with a lav. Any advice on exactly which ones are good bang for the buck for around the $500 mark?

I know i can get more use out of a wireles lav for future jobs as i do alot of weddings etc so im kinda leaning the wireless lav way.

Please reccomend any models that you think are good value.

Thanks heaps - Nathan

in this context the mixer that is most often used is a small simple 2 channel device that bolts on to the bottom of your camera. it has 2 xlr inputs and dials to control the level from each source. beachtech makes one that everyone swears by. desktop mixer are suited to a studio.

Thanks Pete,

Yes i will be using a sound devices mix pre as my mixer.
Any idea on mic recommendations?

Thanx :)

I haven't used a lot of brands of microphones. All I can tell you is, I've had good luck with Audio Technica and have stuck with the brand. The two AT lavs I use work fine. I do rough and ready field work so I really couldn't give you any detailed specs.

To add to that, it's not only that AT has a great line, but the more important thing (IMO) is the consistency of sound flow. Mix most any two, three, four, more mics from the AT line, they blend well together. Always. (unless you take something like the ATR 55 and try to blend it with a 4053, then you've got a big difference in consistency of sound)