Audio interviews with Canon XL2
 

I am waiting to get my Canon XL2 and was wondering about interviewing.

When I hired the Xl1 last year I used an external DAT machine with pin clip-on mic for interviews then synced the audio to the DV footage and replaced it on Final Cut Pro in the timeline and deleted the DV audio and it worked fine..

If im at a shoot is this the best way, or can I have a good mic mic straight into the XL2 replacing the onboard XL2 mic?

Should I consider a better mic that will be ok for backgound sound and for interviews, what if the subject is far from the camera and I need to have clear audio for there vocals?

Thanks

...it's just a cheque book installation...
 

A nice transmitter/receiver kit beginning at the sennheiser g2 level will get you what you need. Add to that a shotgun to replace the full omni mic on the cam, and you can avoid the trouble of syncing your remote audio.

When it matters, your assistant will use the shotgun on a pole for outdoor work and again xlr back in to the cam.

Audio Technica will also offer you plenty of shopping options to round out your audio kit.

For the doc I am currently cutting, I used a lav, and shotgun for all the interviews. Didn't need wireless, because they were really your standard 'talking heads.' Sat them down, did a bit of lighting, ran the lav into the left channel, the shotgun on a boom stand into the right. Put the headphones on myself, and shot and asked the questions.

I DON'T recommend the one-man band approach if it can be avoided. Get a dedicated audio member.

Richard

can you explain to a newbie the terms "lav, and shotgun"

And yes i will be using another person for the audio

Cheers

Also, why a shotgun and a lav? What benefit do they give when running in tandem like that?

"Lav" is short for lavalier. Which actualy, is a term that originated as I recall, from the jewelry profession. It is a small piece of jewelry that hangs on a chain around the neck. In the early days of television... the lavalier mics were exactly that. Nowadays, they are tiny little mics worn clipped inside a colar or blouse. Hence the term "Lav". (Pronounced as "LAHV") Because they are worn close to the throat, the give a very 'personal' sound quality.

The shotgun mic, of course, is the long range mic with a very narrow field, that looks like.... a shotgun barrel. It's what you see on the end of mic booms, often covered with a wind barrier called a 'zepplin'... because, well it looks like one. (Clever where these terms come from eh?)

The shotgun will also pick up more 'ambient' sound than the lav. (Ambient meaning the sound of ambience around the speaker... some would say 'background' sound) But it is still more narrowly focused than an omni or cardiod.

The advantage of using both. Well, if one fails you have the other as a back up. Mixed together, they give a 'fuller' precense to the mix. Selectively, you can boost one, or the other... or simply eliminate one or the other. It leaves you with more options in the final mix.

Belt and suspenders if you will.

But audio is not my forte, even though I spent six years in radio, much has changed since the late '70's!

Cheers Richard great help..... sorry I only know theLav as a lapel mic but now I know what you mean Thanks!