All Things Audio -- topics from 2002 thru 2004

[Michael Best]

Anyone have any experience with Vega wireless lav systems?

[Bryan Beasleigh]

Yes, it's called a shockmount. You can either buy one with the shoe or buy a separate shoe attachment.

kcam mount(click)

The camera shock mount adapter by itself

The PSC camera mount (cheapest most simple of the bunch)

There's more info on this thread (click)

This has been discussed many times, for more info run a search on this forum. Use brief descriptions like "shock" or "shock mount".

You could also have a peek at B&H, jusr use the link I've given for the other shock mounts.

[Sean McHenry]

Shooting all day last week with my companies (my day job) borrowed Lectrosonic UM 200b/200d kit and the thing was poping and swooshing for the first presenters piece. Lasted an excrutiating 55 minutes that I couldn't stop. Speaker was only about 35 feet away behind a podium with nothing odd going on, no 2-way radios, no cell phones or other transmitters nearby. It was a golf club setting.

For the second through fifth speakers I dug out my new spare Azden 100LT mic and it was flawless. No noises at all. Crisp and clean.

I will say this is not the smallest mic capsule in the world and in fact, since the wind screen is glued on, it's pretty big. It may not have the best tone but all I can say is, it did the job quite well and rescued me from a disaster.

Using it with a Sony PDX10 and the shotgun for room noise.

I think I'll keep it.

Sean

[Kevin Girard]

I am going to be filming tonight for a school project on an Optura 20 and i dont have any sort of mics. I figured I could monitor what they are saying through some headphones. (It's a one shoot opurunity so I wanted to make sure I could hear them since there is no time for a reshoot) Upon testing some headphones I Heard a loud buzzing sound similar to a blown speaker in the right headphone. I was really mad when this happened beacuse they are kind of expensive headphones. Then plugged them into my stero adn they worked fine. At this point I plugged in another pair and I got the same problem. anyone know what is up?

[Jonathan Stanley]

I am looking at some Rode microphones. Would the "broadcaster" work for this? http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=186048&is=REG

Or is it more for Voice Overs? I am looking at the $400 range. Thanks for the help!

[Jay Massengill]

The Broadcaster really is tailored for broadcasting. If I was choosing a single Rode mic at this price point for foley I'd pick the NT1000 for $299 and get the optional shockmount. Foley requires a very low noise mic because often these sounds are faint to begin with and then you have to mic at a distance to make them sound natural and believable.
Alternately you could get the NT1A and an NT3 and still be within your budget. Some sources sound more natural with a large diaphragm mic and some sound better with a small diaphragm. This would give you a choice.

[Troy Tiscareno]

It sounds like the headphone jack isn't making proper contact with the plug on the headphones. Those 1/8" jacks are pretty fragile, and having long headphone plugs plugged into them means you have a big ole bar that, if hit, has a lot of leverage to bend the little contacts inside the plug. Ideally, you'd want a right-angle plug, which doesn't stick out very far to be hit and has much less leverage if it is. They do make short (6" or so) extension cables with a right-angle plug for just that reason (B&H has them).

If you're having this problem with several sets of headphones, then your cam needs to visit a repair facility (hopefully under warranty!).

-Troy

[Marco Leavitt]

This may be old news to a lot of you, but I think it's hysterical. This is a Web site on film sound production that has an entry on a sound effect called The Wilhelm Scream that's been used in over a hundred movies, including every Star Wars film (even the new ones). It's named after a cowboy who gets killed in an old Western movie. Scroll down to Language and Voice. There's a downloadable clip showing it's use in everything from the giant ant movie "Them" to a Goofy cartoon. Once you hear it, you'll recognize that scream immediately. We've all heard it hundreds of time. I'm already trying to find a way to work it in to our next movie.

http://www.filmsound.org/cliche/


NPR article on The Wilhelm, (linked to from site above).

http://tinyurl.com/m4c8

[Michael Bernstein]

Yup, as mentioned in this thread, Peter John Ross used it in his upcoming feature. See also this history of the Wilhelm.

(The film cliche page you cite is pretty darned good.)

Go Wilhelm!

Michael

[Ron Quizon]

Hello All,

I already know about the Azden 503 omni lav mic - that seems to be the best value and seems to work well with an md/digital recorder. I'm looking for one with a 1/8" plug.

Are there any other budget lav mics that you would recommend? I'm looking for one that would pick up the bride's voice, if the groom were wearing it. Say for under $75.

If you think the Azden will work fine, please chime in - that would probably be my cheapest option anyway.

Thanks

[Michael Wisniewski]

Audio Technica ATR35s would work. They're around $35.

[Allen Nash]

Ideally I'd pay 200 or maybe 300, for a pair of good radio lavelier mics. what do you guys recommend? Also, another question: why can't I theoretically just radio mic my actors all the time (instead of using a boom mic) and then add the boominess and echo in post? would the result be drastically different than using a boom mic? thanks.

[David Ennis]

The GL2 owner's manual rates the mic jack at -55 dBV with MIC ATT OFF and -35 dBV with MIC ATT ON. But what does that mean, really?

I'd love to know what signal level of, say, a 1000 Hz tone is being applied to the GL2's mic jack when the level meters are at the ZERO dB mark at various settings of the channel level controls (e.g., quarter, half , three quarters and full).

If I had a scope and a signal generator I'd find out. Might someone be willing to do this?

[Mitch Buss]

Can someone direct me to a site where I can get quality audio recording equipment. I am looking to use something other than my cameras audio.

Mitch

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

All sorts of them, but my fave is B&H. They have EVERYTHING.
FVESCO.com in Denver has a pretty good selection, and Performance-audio.com in SLC has a monster selection.