I'm shooting a short this week in a church near times Square. It's an improvisation (documented another time, below), between dancer and bassist. Shooting with 5D2 and 60D, H2 audio recorder, variety of lenses (Canon 24-104L, 10-22, 50mm 1.8).

The bass player who will pluck, bow, and make other sounds with his bass while interacting with the dancer. This is a church near Times Square that has theatrical lights, and I will have lots of problems with car street noise which will possibly be edited out.

Unlike the documentation below, this will be a creative short that will be shot in many takes at different perspectives with two cameras, then edited together creatively. I'll have to find the best position to place the recorder, without it being seen on camera.

YouTube - In the Shadows (part 2) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYuFfW13Jzg)

Any helpful ideas about audio and video would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I have two suggestions, get a cheap tripod, and put your h2 on that, place it cleverly aimed at your victim, as close as possible without being seen by either camera.

Or, if you have a sibling or friend that wouldn't mind, place your h2 on a monopod, to hold over your subject or under. I've done this with great results with the h4n zoom.

Thanks for the suggestion. If you look at the video, you'll see that a tripod or person would be in the shot.

I do have a tiny, tabletop tripod that might be small enough, however.

Look at using a Zoom H1 instead, much smaller and could be hidden on the bass player.

maybe a shotgun mic at a reasonable distance? results would depend on the acoustics of the space.

putting the recorder/mic on the musician might make for some undesirable handling noise...
...they will 'interact' with the dancer? depending on what you mean, that could be a problem if they have a mic on them for the same reason.

does the bassist have a pickup on their instrument? then you could just patch that direct in to a recorder and they could keep it in a pocket. an alternative the a pickup would be to tape an omni-directional lavalier under the bridge of the instrument.
this kind of thing would certainly benefit from (need) another mic to get the sound of the instrument in the space. using 2 recorders might not present any sync problems... but to be sure, with a wireless, you could transmit the lineout of one recorder to a spare channel on the other as a reference.

Look at using a Zoom H1 instead, much smaller and could be hidden on the bass player.

As stated, any mic on the player would emit much noise as he is moving a lot, interacting with dancer.

maybe a shotgun mic at a reasonable distance? results would depend on the acoustics of the space.

putting the recorder/mic on the musician might make for some undesirable handling noise...
...they will 'interact' with the dancer? depending on what you mean, that could be a problem if they have a mic on them for the same reason.

does the bassist have a pickup on their instrument? then you could just patch that direct in to a recorder and they could keep it in a pocket. an alternative the a pickup would be to tape an omni-directional lavalier under the bridge of the instrument.
this kind of thing would certainly benefit from (need) another mic to get the sound of the instrument in the space. using 2 recorders might not present any sync problems... but to be sure, with a wireless, you could transmit the lineout of one recorder to a spare channel on the other as a reference.

I will ask him about a pickup. I know he does electronic live "looping" in performance, so he must have one. Good idea!

Ah, well, here's a strange suggestion that may just be exactly what you need

Wildlife Sound Recording Society - Amberwood reflector (http://www.wildlife-sound.org/equipment/amberwood.html)

http://www.wildlife-sound.org/images/roger_open_parabol.jpg

I haven't tested it, but now that I've just thought of doing this, I will give it a shot as well.

I mentioned the H1 as a cheaper option, well placed it could work and be discretely hidden. If I was doing this I'd use a TRAM TR50 taped under top layer of clothing or hidden in lapel / clothing fold etc and wired to a radio mic TX worn on a belt at the back of the talent, the RX could then be input to Zoom or similar recorder within TX distance. These mics have an excellent pickup, can be used reversed and hidden under clothing, they give virtually no "clothes rustle" if the talent is moving around and are widely used in the film and TV industry for difficult sound situations

...if the acoustics are nice, you might get away with a single, stereo recording from a well placed microphone.
if you can get a nice balance between the musician and the hall you're set. (i'm a big fan of m+s recording for this.)

I will have lots of problems with car street noise which will possibly be edited out.

not much you can do about that, except accept it i suppose (remember the words of John Cage! it is NYC after all). but do get lots of room-tone recorded.

far worse than exterior noise, i think, are ventilation-systems within buildings. even when you can't hear the motors, the air pressures can be a real pain.
lighting grids are another one as sometimes the dimmers will buzz pretty loud.

I mentioned the H1 as a cheaper option, well placed it could work and be discretely hidden. If I was doing this I'd use a TRAM TR50 taped under top layer of clothing or hidden in lapel / clothing fold etc and wired to a radio mic TX worn on a belt at the back of the talent, the RX could then be input to Zoom or similar recorder within TX distance. These mics have an excellent pickup, can be used reversed and hidden under clothing, they give virtually no "clothes rustle" if the talent is moving around and are widely used in the film and TV industry for difficult sound situations

I spoke to the musician, he said he didn't feel he could be encumbered by receivers or cables, and that his bass pickup wasn't very good quality.

Think I'll stay with Zoom recorders (have two), and deal with background noise in post. Thanks!

...if the acoustics are nice, you might get away with a single, stereo recording from a well placed microphone.
if you can get a nice balance between the musician and the hall you're set. (i'm a big fan of m+s recording for this.)



not much you can do about that, except accept it i suppose (remember the words of John Cage! it is NYC after all). but do get lots of room-tone recorded.

.

I agree. I have two Zoom recorders (H2 and H4), I'll place at two locations behind pillars so they will be out of sight of cameras. Hopefully all will work out in post.

Thanks!

Any ideas about video that I may not have thought of?

Any ideas about video that I may not have thought of?

hmmm.
maybe set the white balance of both cameras to some fixed temp. (not auto)
the more you just 'keep it rolling', the easier it will be to sync sound to image in post.
...have fun!

I've never heard of a live show that wasn't mixed, and I've never seen a mixing board that didn't have a master channel stereo out. red/white stereo to stereo head phone jack cable for $6 from radio shack, chat with the sound guy who likely wouldn't care, and you're in business plugged directly into your H2!

This is not a live show, and there is no mixing board. All A/V must be provided by me.

hmmm.
maybe set the white balance of both cameras to some fixed temp. (not auto)
the more you just 'keep it rolling', the easier it will be to sync sound to image in post.
...have fun!

Do you recommend a custom WB, (white or grey card) or just set to a temp that looks good?

Do you recommend a custom WB, (white or grey card) or just set to a temp that looks good?

well i really don't know, i suppose it might depend on how well the cameras match.
i'd say just try to get them to look decent right then and there and hopefully not need to colour correct later.
but that's just my opinion.

60D and 5DII should match pretty well, I hope. Should be correctable in PP anyway - thanks.

Shoot went well - material from 5D and 60D match up perfectly, and everything looks clean as we were able to shoot mostly at 640 ISO, 1/60, f4, 30fps. We did seven takes, most with two cameras.

Sound was recorded with Zoom H4N and H2 as backup. Levels ended up a quite low, but I'm hoping I can raise levels in post. There was lots of truck noise, I'm hoping I can pick and choose from different takes and maybe eliminate traffic noise.

Thanks for everyone's help - I will post this short when finished.