External Light/Mic During Concert?
 

I will be filming a concert tomorrow, and had a question about what equipment to bring. The concert venue holds about 400 people, and I will be filming with one camera, from right in front of the stage. The venue's sound system is quite loud. I will be filming with one HV40. This will be my first concert of this type (rock and roll). I have a Comer 900 light and a Rode NTG-2 shotgun mic, but would these be beneficial for a concert of this type? Even if the band did not mind me using the light, would you recommend I just stick with the house lighting? And for the shotgun mic, would the onboard omni-directional mic be more appropriate? The HV40 doesn't have any manual audio controls, so I would be at the mercy of however it is captured, I suppose. I'm trying to contact the venue to find out if I could hook up an mp3 recorder to the sound board to capture the audio that way. This isn't a paying gig, just for personal use, and I don't expect the lighting or audio to be perfect, just trying to get it as good as I can with the equipment I already have. Any suggestions?

Michael

I always try and encourage people to try and get by with what equipment they've got but unless you merely want a record of the event (as opposed to a video of the concert) then I honestly think I'd advise you to get some more gear.

There's reams of advice here and elsewhere about taking sound at a concert which ideally involves splitting the inputs on the band's mixer, possibly rigging additional mics of your own for un-mic'd instruments and feeding the split lines and the extra mics to a second mixer for the video soundtrack.

To do a rock concert video you need as many cameras as you can afford, ideally identical but certainly set up by a camera tech who knows his craft, ideally genlocked but at least synchable for a multicam edit.

My suggestion would be to do the shoot with your existing camera and the on-board mics, neither the light nor the rode will add anything significant and get a feel yourself for what you need to do the job properly.

Please don't be discouraged. All learning is useful and has a value, but don't be too ambitious at first.

A final thought; why not plan your programme to be a study of just one of the players? Concentrate on his demeanour, his musical style, his acting/stage presence and maybe mark the changes as the concert progresses? That might be an angle the band hasn't seen before and could lead to something else for you. Sounds as if you have a great location for such an approach. Just a suggestion, but do remember to run your camera constantly to get a complete sound track.

Thanks for the great advice. I actually have three hv40s, but since it is just me going to the concert, I really don't think I could keep up with all three during the concert with one getting stolen. I'll stick with the onboard mic.

Michael, after I'd posted that reply it occurred to me that if you could do a post-concert interview with the featured player you could use the new footage to cut into the concert material. With three cameras it would be a very simple multicam edit if your editing software offers you this option. Best of luck.

Thanks. I think my best bet may be to bring two cameras and keep them right next to me. That way I can keep a close eye on them and not worry as much about someone bumping into me a running off with a camera. I'd have one on a tripod for a wide shot, and use one as a hand held for closeups. I was thinking of using the Rode just for the sake of diversity? If so, I am sort of new to concert audio and am unsure which "step" I should use on the two step high pass filter?

On a completely different note, I just wanted to share that while I use only royalty free music for my wedding videos, I recently contacted the publicist for a Top 40 artist and requested to use one of their songs. They agreed, as long as proper credits were given of course. Just wanted to share a happy story that keeping everything out in the open can sometimes pay off! Hopefully I didn't just hijack my own thread with a different topic!

I hate to be a damper on enthusiasm, but could I recommend you check with someone in your area about the copyright rules?

Here in the UK the artist (or his publicist) can't give the mechanical copyright ie the right to copy the actual recording. In your shoes I'd have to also get a release from the company that owns the recording and maybe also from the writer/composer. Happily we also have a very simple way of clearing music for weddings but don't get me started because it'll make you very envious.

Best of luck.