The documentary I’m working on will be shot at lot a lot of night clubs with loud music. Shooting the DVX 100. Usually I just run and gun with my shot gun mic but was thinking of adding a regular hand held to get closer to people I’ll be grabbing for interviews. So I’d have the shot gun sound on one channel and the hand held mic in the other and mix it in post. Does this sound like a good idea? Is it unrealistic to have an xlr cable running from the camera to the interviewer's hand held mic.

I have very little experience with getting good sound, so any help would be appreciated.

Also is it realistic to find a decent mic for around $200? I've heard and seen people just using a short shotgun as a hand held?

Thanks for any advice

In loud clubs you should be able to get excellent results with the Sennheiser MD-46 Cardioid interview mic and it sells for less then $200

www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=223940&is=REG

www.sennheiserusa.com/pages/products/micro/md46.htm

Thereare all kinds of dynamics available. Some of the hotter ones are the AKG D230 ($135), Electro Voice635N/D($120) , EV RE50N/D ($155), all use the neodymium magnet which gives about an extra 10 db. I really like my D230, it sounds better than my sennheiser ME66.



I've also heard good things about the the beyerdynamic M58 is $197 These and a few other mics are tuned specifically for spoken voice and they won't break the bank. The Dynamic mic's response has been tailored for maximum intelligibility of close-in speech for these particular models.

I use the AKG with a sennheiser wireless transmitter sometimes, that gives me all kinds of mobility and no tether.

Hey Marty and Bryan thanks for the response.

Marty you mention the wireless mic. Is it realistic on my budget. If I could get a wireless system for under $300 I'd definitely do it but knowing nothing I'd wasn't even thinking about it.

Any other advice please let me know. Sorry for beign such a dork.

Thanks.

Nate,
If you are looking to go wireless with any of the above mics, the Sennheiser Evolution Plug-On system is your best choice (for under $300). The exact model is the EW101P (www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?ci=1&sb=ps&pn=1&sq=desc&InitialSearch=yes&O=SearchBar&A=search&Q=*&shs=seew101p)

Bryan,
The reason I recommended the Sennheiser MD-46 and not some of the more popular mics like the EV RE-50 etc. is because the MD-46 is the ONLY "interview" mic (that I am aware of) with a Cardioid capsule which is probably the best choice in loud clubs.

I've used the d230 in some pretty noisy environments. I don't think it makes much difference with a dynamic. At any rate there are cardoid and hypercardoid dynamics in all brands and price ranges.
That sennheiser that Marty mentioned is tuned for spoken word and is $170. I've heard good things about a Sennheiser cardoid ENG, i would imagine it this one.

The sennheiser wireless setup Marty recomends is the same on that I use. It works great. You'll be overbudget by $150, but you'll have quality equipment and some degree of flexability. The transmitter will plug into any mic or mixer.

Sometimes you can find the Sennheiser 500 system for about the same price as the 100 if you want both a body pack and a plug-on transmitter.

The 500 has a few more goodies including the ability to furnish phantom power to a microphone from the plug-on transmitter and the ability to transmit battery levels from the transmitters. May also have true balanced outputs but I don't exactly remember.

Hey guys, thanks for all the advice but not surpisingly I'm still a little lost. So I went to that link Marty and the price said $900.

Well backing a step. If you go wireless, what do you need? I assumed all you needed was

a mic
a receiver

does the receiver go on your belt or the camera? Or can you chose. It’d be okay to go on my belt because I’ll have a camera man, I’ll be doing the interviews?

can you use any mic? I assumed you needed a special kind of mic for wireless.

So it sounds like maybe it's not realistic to go wireless for under $300. Any more advice would be appreciated.

I tried a little bit of research but there's so many choices it's kind of confusing. Anyway, if you wanna humor me a bit more I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks

It does say $835, it also says "email me for a better price."


Had you foillowed the prompt you would have received an email that says:

Our current selling price for the:
SEEW101PA - Evolution 100 Series - Wireless Plug on Microphone System (A) is 299.95.

Like I said, that's a flexible setup that can be used on any mic that doesn't require phantom . It can also be used on a mixer

Yeah, any B&H items that have the "email me a better price" are listed much higher than they truly are, you can either have them email you, or just add the item to your cart to see the correct price.

Nate,
The choice of mounting is yours. It is supplied with Velcro as well as a belt clip.

You can use any "Dynamic" mic with an XLR connection.

The only thing that I am not sure if it is supplied with, is the output cable. If not, you will have to add the Sennheiser CL-100 cable.

For anything Sennheiser (and lots of other stuff), you're not going to find a better price than Northern Sound and Light (www.northernsound.net). Since I discovered them last year they have consistently been significantly lower than anywhere else. If you email them they will send you a descritption of their price codes, but to save you the trouble here it is: if there are planet or star symbols next to a price, take an additional 5% off the MAP per planet and 10% per star. Like with the Sennheiser mics that are listed for around $815, they have 5 or 6 stars, so the actual price is 50-60% lower.

Hope that helps,
(no I don't work for them, I just think their prices are great)