Comparison clip demonstrating good audio at weddings
 

I hope this before-after clip I made last night helps newbies to the industry:

Hi Richard

I'm sure that will be a useful comparison for those not using a wireless mic. However just one useful point is that if you have XLR channels on your camera, then assign just one channel to the wireless mic and the other to a shotgun gun on the camera..if anything does go wrong, then you at least have something you can salvage!! I had had a nervous groom rip the cable from the transmitter in his back pocket but the on-camera Rodes saved me from utter disaster!!!

Nice tutorial video!!!!

Chris

"However just one useful point is that if you have XLR channels on your camera, then assign just one channel to the wireless mic and the other to a shotgun gun on the camera"


Yep, that's exactly what i do too! thank god the XH-A1 has 2 XLR inputs :)

Richard, that's a great comparison.

The only thing I would add is that your on-camera sound is actually BETTER than what I would usually get, so the groom and podium mics are even more important than your comparison shows.

Also, in your video, you left in the on-camera channel, and just added the wireless track? I still hear too much ambient sound for my taste, but that's subjective.

Oh, and I'm in love now with that bride. She's beautiful, and has the most amazing accent I've ever heard...Too bad she's married.

I remember demonstrating the same thing to the photography company that often hires me. They don't know anything about video, and at one point the groom whispers to his bride during the ceremony "Okay, I guess you win" because they had made a bet he wouldn't cry. Without the mic I put on him, that would have been completely lost.

Also, the last wedding I edited, I also had a direct feed from the church system, but my mic on the podium sounded better than theirs because the readers kept popping into the church mic. The more sources, the better.

Thanks for posting.

Richard, whilst your piece might well persuade "newbies" not to rely on directional or on-camera microphones, I fear the varying levels between the bride and the priest go further than you might have intended and show why to get sound as good as your pictures you often have to mic the celebrant as well. The groom-only approach only works if the priest speaks up and also delivers the entire ceremony from in front of the couple. We find that for the homily he often has the couple sit to one side and then it's vital to mic him/her as well.

In your example we'd have piggy-backed a radio mic on to the church PA mic gooseneck but maybe you wanted to demonstrate a separate digital recorder.

Unfortunately the difference in levels is exacerbated by the intrusion of the music. I also agree with the previous poster that there's too much ambient echo for my personal taste but that is a very subjective quality and not a criticism.

Overall I commend you for encouraging "newbies" to give proper attention to their sound. It is still, too often, the poor relation in our business.

Hey vito, the bride is really lovely I totally agree. Beautiful person and adorable accent!
Re ambiency: it's fairly personal I suppose how clean/ambient/real you can make the audio. I don't even think there is a right or wrong, just not too clean and not too ambienty!

Philip: honestly, the priest barely allowed me to use wireless at all, let alone on him or through the pa system! But yeah, ideally all the key speakers would be crystal clear and audible.

For me the measure is whether it sounds right relative to the picture and when it is you know it. That sounds trite but isn't.

There's a scene in Charade when the characters are talking during a Bateau Mouche cruise on the Seine. As they pass under a bridge the dialogue, (recorded on a sound stage in Hollywood with back projection) sounds exactly as it does when you pass under a bridge, hugely echoey. It is exactly right.

Hi Guys

I know it's a trivial point but I always let the particpants know where the mic is placed and more often than not they will make a point of standing a little closer to the couple (ask the priest nicely) so the groom's mic in within range. True the officiant seldom wants to be wired up but they usually co-operate and will stand within range. Here we never film the homily!! it's normally way too long ..I explain that to the bride and she usually agrees!!!
If you have to film the homily then ask the priest to do it from the lectern and put a radio mic there so you get good audio and the readings will also be done from there.

Audio is one of the BIG reasons I go to the rehearsal!!! That way you can find out where people will be and ajust your plan accordingly or even ask for a minor change in the arrangements.

Chris

Chris, I agree very strongly about attending the rehearsal - it is invaluable for us and also shows the sort of commitment we're making. If the photographer doesn't attend or just drops in it also gives us a bit of separation from him/her.

Our experience of homilies is very different to yours. A couple of years ago a lady vicar (who I learned afterwards could actually have delivered the whole thing in Latin) gave a fascinating homily on sincerity (sincere: Latin "without wax" PM if you want the whole thing) to which people referred in our reception interviews. More recently, a vicar did a conjuring trick with a glass tube and three silk hankies in his!

The dude over the brides shoulder... staring into the distance. What is he thinking?

Maybe: "Wonder what colour those walls are... magnolia, maybe champagne. I like it"

or

"Colonels original recipe chicken, or spicy for dinner tonight. I just cant decide"

Audio is cosmic btw.

Hi Philip

Our homily's are dead boring so the bride normally is happy we don't film them. Here it's usually a long winded lecture about being a good husband then the wife gets the same treatment ...minimum 20 -30mins!!!! We also, out of respect, skip the Mass as well if they have a full mass. A lot of Catholic priests now are quiet liberal but we still have the old "do it by the book ones too" who insist on a proper full wedding ceremony.

By skipping the Homily and Mass I can get a Catholic ceremony down to around 20 mins total (bride arrival to exit) which is a watchable video time...the actual ceremony normally runs a full hour at least!!

Now in stark contrast I did a civil ceremony just before Christmas and from the brides arrival, the ceremony AND the register signing (but excluding the guests congratulating the couple) I filmed a grand total of 5 mins 15 seconds!!! I'm sure the bride felt cheated!!!
Have you had one shorter than that???

Chris

Chris

Chris, never. It sounds like our Registry Office weddings, the only alternative to religious ceremonies we had until the change to civil ceremonies which have everything a religious ceremony does except no mention of God. Most Registry Offices forbid filming or photography so we don't even get the chance of a quickie.

In fact, I was married in such a ceremony myself and it really was reduced to the bare bones of are you legal, OK then you're married. In those days the Church of England wouldn't consider divorcees.

<Most Registry Offices forbid filming or photography so we don't even get the chance of a quickie.>

Not our experience over a good many years, Philip. We have recently been filming more Civil Ceremonies than Church ones. Many have readings and songs by friends and family of the bride and groom which pad out the 5 mins ceremony to a decent length. Perhaps Registrars are more relaxed in Yorkshire.

Mike, I've confused you. I am referring strictly to the very quick ceremonies in Registry Offices -- like you we do as many Civil Ceremonies in licensed premises officiated by Registrars but I wasn't referring to them. Sorry.

Yes, I thought that might be what you meant - after I had posted my reply !
Cheers.