Boundary or PZM mics with XH-A1? at DVinfo.net

Colin McDonald · February 21st, 2009, 02:52 AM

Anyone used boundary or PZM mics straight in to the camera? I'm aware of one reference to using a Chinese Thomann boundary mic, but does anyone use a Crown, Shure or Sennheiser boundary or PZM mic without any mixer or preamps? Looking for recommendations for stage use for drama/musicals.

Daniel Epstein · February 21st, 2009, 10:18 AM

Having done many Theater Press kits etc I can tell you theatrical sound can be very hard to record consistently. Running right into the camera without a mixer between is not going to give you many control options to react to the dynamic situation. There is no one answer which will work for all occasions. PZM and boundary mics have their uses and on some things might be just the ticket but you may find it is better to rent a stereo pair of hypercardiods or just a couple of booms. If you can suspend them up over the stage instead of on the floor you are approaching a more typical recording set up. Also see if the theater has a feed of the program they can give you record that as well. Many theaters don't give you the set up time to do anything complex so you have to play with the cards they deal you.

Colin McDonald · February 21st, 2009, 11:17 AM

Thanks, Daniel. What you say is very true but this question was a sort of A1 focussed continuation of another more general question I asked on another thread:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/all-thing...eatre-job.html
I have several other mic options which I have used successfully in theatre recordings but the boundary or PZMs have been suggested in this case. I wanted to keep the setup as simple as possible (1 camera and audio), because I am have to rig and strike it in a very limited time repeatedly a few days apart.

Daniel Epstein · February 21st, 2009, 12:13 PM

Colin,
As long as you can power the mics from the cameras Phantom Power or from some other power supply you will be able to get a signal into the A1. The A1 doesn't present any unusual issues as far as mic level xlr inputs are concerned except for running the levels which means you are touching the camera while trying to ride the levels and shoot.
The reason I brought up the variety of Theater sound is sometimes floor mics are not the best way to get the sound based on the plays staging or content and if you don't know what is going to happen in advance you often want to have options to go to if you only have one chance to get it right. HTH

Terry Martin · February 22nd, 2009, 01:42 AM

Yes, I have successfully recorded from a Crown PZM into my A1 at a blues-rock music performance.

Given a long background in audio, and a short background in video, I have always tried to capture excellent audio to compensate for my amateur video. Every few months I record my friend’s band at a local club, and I did extensive audio recording experiments, recording up to 3 stereo pairs at the same time.

The experiments included the crown pzm mic, akg 451’s, and sure sm81’s, and recording directly into the A1, or into an apogee mini-me to m-audio microtrack combo….and of course the direct sound board recording.

The resulting sound tracks were reviewed with Apogee dacs and Genelec monitors.

Bottom line is that I now use X crossed AKG 451’s directly into the A1. The Crown pzm does sound good, but the akg’s do so as well, and with a slightly crisper high end.

February 21st, 2009, 02:52 AM	#1
Colin McDonald Trustee Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Glasgow, Scotland Posts: 1,546	Boundary or PZM mics with XH-A1? Anyone used boundary or PZM mics straight in to the camera? I'm aware of one reference to using a Chinese Thomann boundary mic, but does anyone use a Crown, Shure or Sennheiser boundary or PZM mic without any mixer or preamps? Looking for recommendations for stage use for drama/musicals.

February 21st, 2009, 10:18 AM	#2
Daniel Epstein Trustee Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: New York, NY Posts: 1,267	Having done many Theater Press kits etc I can tell you theatrical sound can be very hard to record consistently. Running right into the camera without a mixer between is not going to give you many control options to react to the dynamic situation. There is no one answer which will work for all occasions. PZM and boundary mics have their uses and on some things might be just the ticket but you may find it is better to rent a stereo pair of hypercardiods or just a couple of booms. If you can suspend them up over the stage instead of on the floor you are approaching a more typical recording set up. Also see if the theater has a feed of the program they can give you record that as well. Many theaters don't give you the set up time to do anything complex so you have to play with the cards they deal you.

February 21st, 2009, 11:17 AM	#3
Colin McDonald Trustee Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Glasgow, Scotland Posts: 1,546	Thanks, Daniel. What you say is very true but this question was a sort of A1 focussed continuation of another more general question I asked on another thread: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/all-thing...eatre-job.html I have several other mic options which I have used successfully in theatre recordings but the boundary or PZMs have been suggested in this case. I wanted to keep the setup as simple as possible (1 camera and audio), because I am have to rig and strike it in a very limited time repeatedly a few days apart.

February 21st, 2009, 12:13 PM	#4
Daniel Epstein Trustee Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: New York, NY Posts: 1,267	Colin, As long as you can power the mics from the cameras Phantom Power or from some other power supply you will be able to get a signal into the A1. The A1 doesn't present any unusual issues as far as mic level xlr inputs are concerned except for running the levels which means you are touching the camera while trying to ride the levels and shoot. The reason I brought up the variety of Theater sound is sometimes floor mics are not the best way to get the sound based on the plays staging or content and if you don't know what is going to happen in advance you often want to have options to go to if you only have one chance to get it right. HTH

February 22nd, 2009, 01:42 AM	#5
Terry Martin Regular Crew Join Date: May 2007 Location: Palo Alto, California Posts: 100	Yes, I have successfully recorded from a Crown PZM into my A1 at a blues-rock music performance. Given a long background in audio, and a short background in video, I have always tried to capture excellent audio to compensate for my amateur video. Every few months I record my friend’s band at a local club, and I did extensive audio recording experiments, recording up to 3 stereo pairs at the same time. The experiments included the crown pzm mic, akg 451’s, and sure sm81’s, and recording directly into the A1, or into an apogee mini-me to m-audio microtrack combo….and of course the direct sound board recording. The resulting sound tracks were reviewed with Apogee dacs and Genelec monitors. Bottom line is that I now use X crossed AKG 451’s directly into the A1. The Crown pzm does sound good, but the akg’s do so as well, and with a slightly crisper high end.