Concert Audio

[Brandon Puet]

I'm going to be filming a concert soon and will be stationed about 20-30 feet away from the stage. I know that an XLR feed would be the best way to capture the acoustics, but unfortunately that won't be an option for this event.

I did some testing and it sounds like the XF-300's on-board stereo mic is better at capturing the highs while my NTG-1 is better at capturing the lows.

Just curious to hear what people's thought are as to which mic to use.

[John Gardiner]

Seems like the obvious choice of using both would be ideal. Then mix out the weak frequencies in either signal.

[Kirk Candlish]

What's the music and what's the space ?

Can you record the board sound to a separate recorder and a scratch track on the camera and then sync in post ?

[Steve Maller]

Originally Posted by Kirk Candlish

What's the music and what's the space ?

Can you record the board sound to a separate recorder and a scratch track on the camera and then sync in post ?

This is exactly what my Zoom H1 is great for. Just get a 1/4"-1/8" adapter. Then toss the audio onto your Final Cut Pro timeline next to the video and run PluralEyes on it. The more audio sources from which you can choose, the better off you are.

[Nicholas de Kock]

On-board audio is never going to give you good results. For concerts you need some sort of mic at the front of the stage. A stereo mic placed in the middle combined with "Levelator" in post does a good job at bringing out voices.

[Colin McDonald]

Depends so much on what you are recording. Orchestral/choral concerts have entirely different needs from rock/electric stuff and if the latter, house mix and recording mix are different again. One thing in common - on camera mic will not give you good results for either.

[Stephen Sobel]

Does Levelator work with Vegas Pro? Or would I use it ande then bring the audio tracks back in to Vegas?