Audio for Mk2 at DVinfo.net

Harry Simpson · October 24th, 2010, 12:43 PM

After (deservedly) being tarred and feathered over in the All Things Audio I return to my brethren here.....
I've got an interview this afternoon and one Wednesday. Todays is a quick before the show almost red carpet type of thing. One interviewer and two talent standing. I've decided to mount a wired RODE SVM mic on a mic stand low pointed at center up just out of frame. I turned off AGC and did a test and it sounded good to me.

That said, I've also got a ZOOM H4n and two wired XLR lav mics. But I suppose ideally I'd have as many lav mics and I had talking heads but then I'd need a mixer cause the ZOOM only takes two balanced XLR inputs.

Another Idea was to set the ZOOM on a stand near the interviewer and lav the two talent back to the ZOOM and not record with the RODE at all.

Any Mk2 users that have figured out a good way to mic more than two people for audio with the MK2?

Sean Lander · October 26th, 2010, 04:21 AM

Well the only thing I can think of with the H4N is to plug your LAVs in to the back and use your Rode plugged in to the external mic input underneath the H4N. It's a mini jack though. (unbalanced)

But at least you could give the Rode to the interviewer and mic up your talent nicely.

David W. Taylor · October 26th, 2010, 05:01 AM

It's a pity that you only have the Rode stereo Videomic, which I believe has only has a minjack output...best to change that for something that can provide an XLR into the H4N. There are lots of cheap but good hand mics or short shot guns around now, preferably with a suitable windshield.

I'd then give the lav to the interviewer and get then get the interviewer to use the hand mic to cover the two 'talent'. Tell the interviewer to only use the hand mic for the talent, as that reduces the 'phasing' that will occur when both mics are picking up the same audio.
You still might have to duck the 'unused mic' when mixing the final edit to reduce any phasing as well.

I always use Tramms 'Magic Lantern' and return the audio from my recorder back to the camera, as this often gives useable sound and if not at least it's the same as the recorder...which helps syncing.
Magic Lantern can drop the camera's gain down to about -20db, which is the audio output from my Edirol recorder, but you might have to experiment if you only have a 'headphone' output from the H4N.

Harry Simpson · October 26th, 2010, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David W. Taylor

It's a pity that you only have the Rode stereo Videomic, which I believe has only has a minjack output...best to change that for something that can provide an XLR into the H4N. There are lots of cheap but good hand mics or short shot guns around now, preferably with a suitable windshield.

I have the two XLR lavs - My main drawback with the minijack input is that it won't accept the two extra XLR inputs but am looking at a Rolls 2 channel mixer XLR input to minijack output and feed that into the Zooms minijack and record 4 channel that way

Jay Massengill · October 28th, 2010, 02:06 PM

I believe David meant you should use just one of the XLR lavs on the interviewer, and then the interviewer uses a single hand-held XLR mic to pick up both interview subjects. That way you don't need the rear mini-jack on the H4n at all. You only need to obtain a good hand-held interview mic.
There are plenty of that kind available, both in traditional low-sensitivity dynamic types, as well as battery or phantom powered medium sensitivity mics like the AT8010 omni. Having a battery or phantom powered mic with greater sensitivity would be helpful with the H4n, especially if you wanted to adapt it into the rear mini-jack for 4-track recording.
The AT8010 is about $145 online.

October 24th, 2010, 12:43 PM	#1
Harry Simpson Major Player Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Nashville, TN. Posts: 581	Audio for Mk2 After (deservedly) being tarred and feathered over in the All Things Audio I return to my brethren here..... I've got an interview this afternoon and one Wednesday. Todays is a quick before the show almost red carpet type of thing. One interviewer and two talent standing. I've decided to mount a wired RODE SVM mic on a mic stand low pointed at center up just out of frame. I turned off AGC and did a test and it sounded good to me. That said, I've also got a ZOOM H4n and two wired XLR lav mics. But I suppose ideally I'd have as many lav mics and I had talking heads but then I'd need a mixer cause the ZOOM only takes two balanced XLR inputs. Another Idea was to set the ZOOM on a stand near the interviewer and lav the two talent back to the ZOOM and not record with the RODE at all. Any Mk2 users that have figured out a good way to mic more than two people for audio with the MK2? __________________ Nashville TN using Canon 5D MK3, Canon 550D, RODE SVM mic, 70-200 f2.8L II IS, 24-105 f4L IS, 50 and 85 f/1.8, Vegas Pro 11, Zoom H4n, Blackbird, Lilliput Monitor, Lightroom

October 26th, 2010, 04:21 AM	#2
Sean Lander Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Melbourne, Victoria. Australia Posts: 39	Well the only thing I can think of with the H4N is to plug your LAVs in to the back and use your Rode plugged in to the external mic input underneath the H4N. It's a mini jack though. (unbalanced) But at least you could give the Rode to the interviewer and mic up your talent nicely. __________________ Final Cut Pro Editor and DSLR-HD Shooter www.rednail.com.au Last edited by Sean Lander; October 26th, 2010 at 04:53 AM.

October 26th, 2010, 05:01 AM	#3
David W. Taylor Regular Crew Join Date: May 2009 Location: Pinewood Film Studios, Bucks, United Kingdom Posts: 80	It's a pity that you only have the Rode stereo Videomic, which I believe has only has a minjack output...best to change that for something that can provide an XLR into the H4N. There are lots of cheap but good hand mics or short shot guns around now, preferably with a suitable windshield. I'd then give the lav to the interviewer and get then get the interviewer to use the hand mic to cover the two 'talent'. Tell the interviewer to only use the hand mic for the talent, as that reduces the 'phasing' that will occur when both mics are picking up the same audio. You still might have to duck the 'unused mic' when mixing the final edit to reduce any phasing as well. I always use Tramms 'Magic Lantern' and return the audio from my recorder back to the camera, as this often gives useable sound and if not at least it's the same as the recorder...which helps syncing. Magic Lantern can drop the camera's gain down to about -20db, which is the audio output from my Edirol recorder, but you might have to experiment if you only have a 'headphone' output from the H4N.

October 28th, 2010, 02:06 PM	#5
Jay Massengill Trustee Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Burlington Posts: 1,976	I believe David meant you should use just one of the XLR lavs on the interviewer, and then the interviewer uses a single hand-held XLR mic to pick up both interview subjects. That way you don't need the rear mini-jack on the H4n at all. You only need to obtain a good hand-held interview mic. There are plenty of that kind available, both in traditional low-sensitivity dynamic types, as well as battery or phantom powered medium sensitivity mics like the AT8010 omni. Having a battery or phantom powered mic with greater sensitivity would be helpful with the H4n, especially if you wanted to adapt it into the rear mini-jack for 4-track recording. The AT8010 is about $145 online.