Not happy with my audio

[Ian S Lewis]

Here is a link to a recent film. http://is.gd/KtUDb2
All audio recorded on old Sennheiser EW100 kit - works fine still.
Normally I am very happy with the sound but I think the V/O bits here sound very muffled. Lav mic we placed within 2 feet of speaker, omni mics, pointing down.

Should I be thinking of upgrading and to what?

Thanks.

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Ian S Lewis

Here is a link to a recent film. http://is.gd/KtUDb2
All audio recorded on old Sennheiser EW100 kit - works fine still.
Normally I am very happy with the sound but I think the V/O bits here sound very muffled. Lav mic we placed within 2 feet of speaker, omni mics, pointing down.

Should I be thinking of upgrading and to what?

Thanks.

What I hear in your sample is the characteristic sound of a mic placed too far away from the sound source. The officiant is shown wearing a lav but it doesn't sound like that is the mic you were recording with ... was that mic for the PA feed only? When you say you were using a lav 'within 2 feet', that sort of implies you had another mic you were using for your own recording. (Another clue is the crowd reaction is actually clearer than the speaker's voice!) If that's the case, lavs are designed to be on the body of the speaker, not just within 2 feet but within around 6 inches of the speaker's mouth. A rule of thumb - make a fist and hold it on the subject's upper chest with your pinky finger touching the base of his throat. Your thumb will rest on the sternum at about the right place to pin a lav for best performance. The mic the officiant is wearing isn't too far off, if that actually was the mic for your radio, then you need to investigate the problem further.

[Greg Miller]

Originally Posted by Steve House

What I hear in your sample is the characteristic sound of a mic placed too far away from the sound source. The officiant is shown wearing a lav but it doesn't sound like that is the mic you were recording with ...

Absolutely! The predominant audio here is the sound of a few girls laughing. The mic used for recording had to be located within a few feet of those girls. The recording definitely was not made with the mic shown on the officiant in the first few seconds of footage.

The voice of the bride, reciting the end of the vows, was clear enough. How was she miced? Are you sure that wasn't the mic that recorded the officiant's voice, also?

I might also mention that the sound of the lisping girl singer, superimposed over the video of the middle-aged male chorus, was a bit out of sync. :-)

[Ian S Lewis]

Just realised that I had in my rush to get my backlog of editing clubbed, used the Rode vid mic mounted on the 7D and not synced my lav mic at all (la mic was on the groom (i.e. much closer and far better audio.) Will be fixing this today and replacing the film on the blog. Thanks for the feedback all.

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Ian S Lewis

Just realised that I had in my rush to get my backlog of editing clubbed, used the Rode vid mic mounted on the 7D and not synced my lav mic at all (la mic was on the groom (i.e. much closer and far better audio.) Will be fixing this today and replacing the film on the blog. Thanks for the feedback all.

Your original version should become a sticky because it demonstrates perfectly why one should not even THINK of recording dialog with an on-camera shotgun. :)

[Ian S Lewis]

Quite right Steve - I could not agree more - I blame weeks of late night editing for it even leaving my desk without being spotted. For reference it was a Zoom vid mic mounted on the 7D (direct feed) at about 15 feet on the original clip.

I have managed to fix it with the audio from the grooms lav mic which I thought was playing up. It is much improved now I think.

http://danavideoproductions.co.uk/blog/

[Greg Miller]

It still sounds the same to me.

[Steve House]

Have to agree with Gregg ... I don't hear any improvement.

[Ian S Lewis]

You guys don't think that the brides vows are much clearer? I defer to those with more experience than I, but to me it is much better. Anyway, Bride is happy and that makes me happy. Thanks for your time everyone.

[Greg Miller]

I didn't even bother listening to the bride on the new track... she was acceptable on the old track.

I'm commenting about the officiant, who still sounds as if he's a mile away from the mic (unless you've since posted a third version of the track).

[Warren Kawamoto]

I just took a look at both clips and discovered that they are the same clip! Look at the date and time stamp of your linked videos. That's why everyone is saying they both sound the same...because it is.