Reception Audio & Mics

[Victor Boyko]

Where do most of you place your zoom h4ns and shotgun mics during the reception? Is it best to place them near the speakers vs the actual source. I find that when I try placing my mics near the source, you constantly have to be moving the mic around and you get some distracting sounds (plates clashing, people talking, eetc) if I am even 10 feet away from the source. It seems that if I place a mic by the speakers, you ideally should get the best sound? How do you guys handle the reception audio?

[Chris Harding]

Hi Victor

I must admit that I just use Rode Videomics on the camera for general music and ambience so I capture the whole atmosphere and then during speeches I use either a lav clipped onto the lectern mic with a transmitter or a boundary mic on the table/lectern.

Don Bloom uses a clever idea by using a drum mic right next to the DJ speaker which can handle the high level (a standard mic would get blown away at that level)

Chris

[Don Bloom]

Yep I use the Sennheiser E604 with my plugin transmitter going to my wireless receiver and a Blueline Hypercaroid on the camera for room noise and the upper ranges. I works great but you are relegated to using the wireless which doesn't bother me but I know it does bother others.
Typically a shotgun isn't a great choice indoors but for most wedding receptions it can be done. One reason I don't use a seperate recorder is because I can't monitor it and if I can monitor it I can't fix it if there's some sort of problem and that could be bad IMO but to each his/her own.

[Victor Boyko]

thanks for info. Would the e604 work well plugged into the h4n? Syncing up in post is not a problem for me. And how many of you actually use the feed from dj. If so what equipment do you use because I've had some problems.

[Michael Liebergot]

Victor, while I used to use the e604 micing the PA stack, I have moved to another mic. The reasoning was that the e604 wasn't the best mic for medium to quiet source audio (like speeches). The e604 is a dynamic drum mic which is great for loud source audio but not quiet audio, unless you feed it through a good pre amp.

I now use a Rode M3 mic, which has worked great for me.
I simply place the Rode M3 at a slight angle by the PA stack and have a Sennheiser plug in transmitter, plugged into it being fed into my camera.

However I sue this audio as sync backup audio. As I also place a Zoom H4n ( the only preset I use if the "Concert" Limiter) by the same PA stack and either use the onboard mics, or even better I face the onboard mics out towards the crowd for crowd reaction and then use a matched pair of SM57 mics to mic both portions of the PA stack (woofer and horn).

This gives me a great 4 channel mix of audio which I sync up in post.

At times I have also just used the H4n and sent a wireless feed from the line out to my camera. This way I can monitor what's being recorded, as well as get the same mix to my camera for redundant, sync, monitor, backup audio.

BTW, I mount all of this on 1 mic stand with the H4n on top of the stand and the M3 clamped to the pole. This is easy and mobile with no wires.

PS if you get a board feed from the DJ board to your H4n, then use the 1/8 mini plug on the back or the 1/4 inputs, as they are line level. Don;t use the XLR feed as they are mic level, and you might clip easily. If you use the XLRs on the H4n then feed a simply attenuator (to pad your signal) between the two with the attenuator set to -20/-30.

[Don Bloom]

As Michael said the E604 is great for the loud pounding from the DJ or bands speaker but I don't depend solely on that mic. I run an AKG Blueline Hypercaroid on the camera and that gets me room noise (without some of that you might as well just drop in recorded tracks) and when the folks do speeches I have to depend more on the Hyper than the drum mic. When the MC (DJ or band leader) speaks generally the sound is good since most of them know how to use a mic and project their voices.
I've been toying with the idea of using my AT897 on the same stand as the 604 but facing it outwards toward the crowd to get some room and some music from the speakers as well but frankly I'm not ready to make any changes to my technique if only becaause the time I try it it would probably blow up in my face and I won't sacrifce the quality I get now. Maybe over the winter when it slows down I'll make some time to play around and see (hear) how it works. Like everyone, I'm always looking for a way to improve what I'm doing.