I'm not sure if "very" directional is good when I'm shooting a wedding reception and at times I turn away from the speakers.

Folks, if you ever see a recording session for music, you won't see any shotguns in use. They are just the wrong tool for the job.

A cardiod (at worst) stereo or mono microphone out from the band will sound better than a shotgun in most circumstances.

I'd prefer a couple of microphones along the front of the band if I couldn't place microphones for each musician which would be my preferred method.

How about a wireless mic+transmitter taped in front of a speaker? :)

Still, sometimes within a song, an instrument is played on one speaker and the others are played on the other speaker, and I can't carry two wireless receivers for two transmitters+mics

Lucas

I have done that and I also made and use an instrument cable for a wireless transmitter and then just carry the receiver on the cam, the problem is I do interviews at a lot of the weddings and I need a plugin for the mic I use for that, be it wired or wireless.
I'm actually not in bad shape for the music as long as I keep the cam switched to MIC ATT and watch the levels. I've really only had 1 this year that was really bad audio and the B/G knew the DJ? was a moron and had no clue about levels. I even went to him and threatened to pull his plug. He was so loud that the people in the next room complained. Oh well 1 out of 30 is still too much but the B/G knew it and understood. I just keep my eye on the levels which really isn't hard, I know on the screen where the line should be so I don't even have to goto the audio menu.
Thanks for the suggestions,
Don

Very frequently, the DJ equipment is mono anyway. My PA system is mono. Stereo doesn't work too well in most large rooms anyway. I'd bet you could ask the DJ to hit the mono button and they would do it.

I use a Shure Beta58 on a Sennheiser plug-on transmitter and set the whole thing on top of one of the speakers with the top just peeking over the front of the speaker. I always have a fur-ball on the microphone so it doesn't experience any vibration problems.

I also use that setup for interviews as well. A little bit ugly but hard to damage, hard to mis-manage and during the interviews I want the music way in the background anyway.

For semi-serious band recording, I use three microphones. A Shure SM81C in the center on a stand and a pair of boundary layer microphones on either side. The three are fed into a mixer and the mixer is either then wired to my camera or if their is an audience, I use the plug-on transmitter to get the signal back to the camera.

Once in a while I get lucky and I can get a wire to house sound. Gotta have all the adaptors ready but that is normally the best in a well-managed sound environment.

I was reading through the excellent book "Producing Great Sound for Digital Video" by Jay Rose.
The author measured the s/n and THD of different camcorders (XL1, GL2, Sony...) with and without MIC ATT and also at different gain settings.

Here is the conclusion:
"In most cameras, you can't avoid the preamp entirely. But by keeping MIC ATT turned on, and the volume control at 50% or below, you can lower circuit noise to minimum.
Many of the electret mics used in DV productions have enough output to work this way, when used at proper distance".

Dany