Boom Mic Recommendation for Two Subject Interview?

[Peter Moretti]

Some of my indoor interview setups will be two (or possibly more) people sitting within a few feet of each other.

I have an MKH-60 for single person interviews. But will it's short shotgun pattern work well when recording two (or even more people) sitting a few feet apart?

I'm trying to the audio as first rate as is reasonably possible (SD 302 and SD 702T recorder are on their way) so up to ~$1,400 for another mic, if necessary, is possible.

BTW, I'm intrigued by the MKH-418S, wondering if it would add a nice stero effect to the recording.

Thanks for all the help!

[Greg Boston]

Take that money and hire a soundie to run the boom mike. A good soundie will be able to move the mic and follow the conversation as well as running the mixer feeding the camera. Having a pair of lavs on each person is good insurance also.

-gb-

[Peter Moretti]

Greg,

Thanks for your advice;). I do intend to lav both people, but I still want a boom track.

Unfortunately, there will be times when I'm going to have to mount a mic to an overhead boom stand. In these instances, there will be no moving the mic from subject to subject.

That's why I'm asking about which mic and pick up pattern would be best to use in this situation.

I know it's best to have someone holding the boom, but that isn't always going to be the case.

[Brooks Harrington]

If you are using the MKH60 for 2 people and hanging it on a stand, aim it more at the softer voice, the louder voice coming a little off axis. Listen for this on headphones when setting up. MKH60 is very forgiving, with good off axis sound IMO. For get about the stereo mic for dialog or adding ambience.... you usually are trying to get only the dialog as clean as possible.

[Petri Kaipiainen]

If the people are not moving why not hang a stationary boom above with two hypers (Oktava 012 come to mind, cheap and good enough)? A matched stereo set of two Oktavas with omni, cardioid and hyper capsules is about $600 or something. Depending on the framing you could put the boom below and aim the mics up.

[Wayne Brissette]

Originally Posted by Peter Moretti

BTW, I'm intrigued by the MKH-418S, wondering if it would add a nice stero effect to the recording.

The MKH-418S is indeed an interesting mic. Really to use it you need to understand booming though, and if possible, make sure you record both channels separately. Most mixers will allow for the MS decoding, but what's nice is keeping them separate, then adjusting the MS decoding in post instead of mixing them down on-the-fly on-location. It is in post that you get to fully adjust the stereo spread, and tweak it so it sounds awesome. However, this is not the microphone to use if you're not good at booming. I like this mic a lot, enough to own one. However, it's not something I recommend to novice boom ops because you have to know where to get the best coverage and you really need two channels. That's why I only will use it when I'm placing both channels on separate tracks on the Deva.

Wayne

[Steve Oakley]

Originally Posted by Petri Kaipiainen

If the people are not moving why not hang a stationary boom above with two hypers (Oktava 012 come to mind, cheap and good enough)? A matched stereo set of two Oktavas with omni, cardioid and hyper capsules is about $600 or something. Depending on the framing you could put the boom below and aim the mics up.

or just a cardoid roughly centered. might need to move it away from one of them if they are consistantly louder. this is exactly when a shotgun is the wrong mic. a sound blanket or rug on the floor will also help a lot

[Peter Moretti]

Originally Posted by Wayne Brissette

The MKH-418S is indeed an interesting mic. Really to use it you need to understand booming though, and if possible, make sure you record both channels separately. Most mixers will allow for the MS decoding, but what's nice is keeping them separate, then adjusting the MS decoding in post instead of mixing them down on-the-fly on-location. It is in post that you get to fully adjust the stereo spread, and tweak it so it sounds awesome. However, this is not the microphone to use if you're not good at booming. I like this mic a lot, enough to own one. However, it's not something I recommend to novice boom ops because you have to know where to get the best coverage and you really need two channels. That's why I only will use it when I'm placing both channels on separate tracks on the Deva.

Wayne

Wayne,

I just changed my recorder order to SD 744T, which would give me four channels. So I should have enough channels to use a mic like the MKH-418S. I AM a novice boom operator and will be mounting the mic on a stand sometimes, but I would like to have the option of creating a stereo effect and do need wider coverage than a normal shotgun provides. Would you recommend using a 418S or a cardiod?

Sometimes the subject will be a couple sitting close to each other, and sometimes it will be a family sitting in a group on a couch and the floor.

My concern is that the 418S may not have a wide enough coverage, especially for the second scenario. But I really don't know.

Thank everyone for all your help ;).

[Peter Moretti]

Just wanted to add that I WAS able to change the recorder order, so for an additional $1,775 I get to become the proud owner of a 744T. I'm pretty psyched.

[Ty Ford]

Hello Peter,

You have a truly great piece of gear. Enjoy it. You can set it to record poly wav files that combine all four tracks into one file. Many non-linear digital video editing systems will import the single file and split them out once in side. FCP will.

Regards,

Ty Ford

[Wayne Brissette]

Originally Posted by Peter Moretti

Wayne,
Would you recommend using a 418S or a cardiod?

Sometimes the subject will be a couple sitting close to each other, and sometimes it will be a family sitting in a group on a couch and the floor.

My concern is that the 418S may not have a wide enough coverage, especially for the second scenario. But I really don't know.

It depends. If you are going to follow the talking, and not allow the mic to be static, the 418s will work, but if you intend on it being more of a static mic and hoping the stereo lobes will cover everybody, I would suggest you instead go with a cardiod mic that might sound better when people are not on-axis.

Wayne

[Stelios Christofides]

I use this mike and the results are excellent.

http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/wi...276/index.html


Stelios

[Peter Moretti]

Originally Posted by Wayne Brissette

It depends. If you are going to follow the talking, and not allow the mic to be static, the 418s will work, but if you intend on it being more of a static mic and hoping the stereo lobes will cover everybody, I would suggest you instead go with a cardiod mic that might sound better when people are not on-axis.

Wayne

Wayne, are there any cardiods that come to mind? I'm trying to stick with Sennheiser, FWIW. Also is there some rule of thumb for estimating how off axis a subject can be with the 418S? The stereo effect is intriguing to me. Thanks much.

P.S. Stelios, I tried the link but it took me to AT's main page. Piecing it together, I believe you're talking about a boundary mike. Is that correct?

[Jimmy Tuffrey]

Hi
For this sort of thing I would of thought that if you can't get a boomed hypercardioid bang on then you would be better going with a lav on each interviewee. Shotgun aint really the choice as mentioned above.
Hanging a cardioid above and hoping for good sound recordings a bit of an ask in my book.
A well placed lav mic will get you a closer sound that is well fine if done well.
Boom mic's are only best indoors when they are not compromised.

[Ty Ford]

Originally Posted by Peter Moretti

Greg,

Thanks for your advice;). I do intend to lav both people, but I still want a boom track.

Unfortunately, there will be times when I'm going to have to mount a mic to an overhead boom stand. In these instances, there will be no moving the mic from subject to subject.

That's why I'm asking about which mic and pick up pattern would be best to use in this situation.

I know it's best to have someone holding the boom, but that isn't always going to be the case.

Peter,

Don't get hung up on using the boom in this situation. If you had two booms and put one on each track you'd be OK. You either have to dynamically boom the pair or use two booms...or just go with split track lavs.

Regards,

Ty Ford