Sound for the Fixed Lens Scarlet

[Felix K.]

Hey everybody, what kind of microphone would you buy if you wanted your Scarlet fixed ready to shoot handheld without much gear around it (like rods, handle etc). Just the way it will (assumingly) be sold.

How expensive are the miniXLR to XLR cables?

(Also assuming that the camera will have phantom power, of course)

Please take into account that people might have maxed out their credit cards with the Scarlet pretty much :Angel_anim: So the mic should not cost like 1/4 of the camera.

 

[Harry Lipnick]

Hey Felix,
Might want to check out the AT897. (I think they still make it...) I bought it with my DVX five years ago, and while camera mounted audio never gives great sound, it lived on top of the camera about half the time for run-n-gun kinda stuff. Now that I've moved primarily into DPing since I got to school, I let the audio guys do their thing. But that AT short shotgun is nice because it's light, phantom powered, but, if I'm remembering correctly, can also take a AA battery for power. Hope that helps!
Peace,

-Harry

 

[jimhare]

Hey Felix,

If you're asking about the cost of the cable, sounds like cost is an issue. :sifone:

Check out the RODE NTG-2. Only about $250 but a really nice shotgun mic. A good feature is it can run either on phantom or a double-A battery.

Great value for the money.

They also have a very affordable blimp and pole.

Best of luck,

Jim

 

[Joshua Brown]

An adaptor or cable will cost abot 20-25 for an ok one.

-Josh

 

[Felix K.]

Thanks everybody for sharing!

Hey Felix,

If you're asking about the cost of the cable, sounds like cost is an issue. :sifone:

:blush: Kinda :blush:

Also, I was astonshed how much you pay for all these "Lemo" cables or whatever they are called. I had no clue!

So you wouldn't refrain from such a long mic on the scarlet body? I thought that it might actually end up in frame. If not all the better for me because I have a shotgun mic similar to the rode. Thomann.de is the biggest online music store in Germany and about 20 min from my place and they have their own brand. The mic cost 79 Euros and is really ok for onset dialog.

I just thought that maybe a stereo mic would be a good idea

 

[Andrew Gentle]

I don't think that the fixed lens Scarlet is going to come with mini XLRs. The I/O boxes have full size on them now, I think. At least one variant does.

 

[Eki Halkka]

I don't think that the fixed lens Scarlet is going to come with mini XLRs.

3.5 mm balanced plug with 48v phantom is what i've heard.

 

[Gerald Menclik]

right, that's what they announced .... but everything is subject to drastic changes - as we know .....

 

[Ameer Azari]

RODE NTG-3...It's the first and only mic I've ever purchased, and it's damn good!

 

[Felix K.]

Thank you for all the contributions so far.

So you are ok with recording mono in the field? How would you attach the mic to the Scarlet body?

 

[Ameer Azari]

I/O Module anyone?

 

[Felix K.]

P.S.: I'm always curious what you think about these noob questions.

 

[Denis Haineault]

...what kind of microphone would you buy if you wanted your Scarlet fixed ready to shoot handheld...

Assuming by "handheld" you mean the mic will be mounted on the camera, you will not get good sound this way.

The golden rule is to have the mic as close as possible to your subject (we're talking inches). You might get away with camera-mounted audio for a live news type of thing, but for anything else, you will likely sound like you're using your grandma's camcorder, even with a pretty good mic. If you're planning on shooting films (features, shorts, etc.) then forget about camera mounted mics.

Also, you typically use a shotgun mic for outdoor recording, and hypercardioid mic for indoors. Check out the audio section of DVXUser.com...there's plenty of info there.

 

[Pietro Impagliazzo]

Anyone care to elaborate why CARDIOID (not hyper) are not used indoors?

P.S.: I'm always curious what you think about these noob questions.

Everyone was a noob once in their lives.

 

[Stephen Gentle]

Thank you for all the contributions so far.

So you are ok with recording mono in the field? How would you attach the mic to the Scarlet body?

Why would you want more channels? You would need more mics or a stereo mic (basically two mics in one enclosure, as far as I can tell) to do that. But there's not much point... I mean, the only times I can see when you'd want that is for concerts and orchestras and things like that, but you're more likely to be using a multi-channel recorder or a computer interface straight out of the sound desk than anything on the camera.

I have a question though - does anyone know if I bought a kit like this one from B&H, which is the same price as the NTG-2 by itself but with a shock mount, do you think there'd be a good way to mount it on the Scarlet? The shockmount seems to be designed to fit in a shoe, and Scarlet doesn't have one of those... It doesn't seem to have many other mounting points except for the screen one either, and I'll be using that...

 

[mike filippov]

Anyone care to elaborate why CARDIOID (not hyper) are not used indoors?

Well... cardioids are at times used indoors as they present a more natural sound than a hyper... but because of their wider pickup pattern, they will pickup more of any noise that may be present.

In a very quiet location the choice between a cardioid, hyper-cardioid, or shotgun would come down to which one captures an actors voice best... (not to mention how wide the shot is). As everyone has a different voice and projects their voice differently, I know that many boom operators will keep a choice of (mic) capsules on hand... for even a close-up in a quiet room (where a cardioid might be first choice), a hyper may be a better match to a particular voice.

This being said, some sound mixers prefer to use one mic only under all circumstances to maintain audio "continuity"... In this case, a hyper would be a safer bet.

mike

 

[mike filippov]

How would you attach the mic to the Scarlet body?

I get the feeling that some (if not all) of those holes on top of every module might be threaded... there was a post somewhere that alluded to that... anyway, if so, there would be lots of options as to where one might be able to screw in a mount for something like a microphone.

That being said, I would really want to listen to all of those air intake and exhaust holes on the 'brain' before deciding where a microphone should go.

 

[Gerald Menclik]

you bet that RED knows, where they suppose to mount a mic an a scarlet brain .....

 

[Felix K.]

you bet that RED knows, where they suppose to mount a mic an a scarlet brain .....

They will. Would be nice if they showed it in some renders.

I know that for filmmaking an external boomed mic is the way to go. I'm asking more in the kind of "documentary", ENG, "one-man-show" kind of shooting-style.
You would have to have in on-board there.

I'm curious how loud the Scarlet will actually be. What is the RED ONE like?

Stereo I ask because that is, what the prosumer camcorders do. I have one on my XL-2 and it works really fine.


P.S.: I hate mentioning my XL-2 all the time. Don't wanna come across "Angenieux"-style...

 

[Gerald Menclik]

well I think the noise will only depend on how loud you are - thinking of handling the cam and the lens etc. I personally think, that the brains will not have active cooling. For run and gunstyle shooting, eng work, etc you will need a mounted mic, for shure with a shockmount. But I prefer not to have a stereo mic, because if there are only two channels of sound recorded (just supposing at the moment) you will need a free channel for another mic (f.e. a wireless one) for ohter purposes in eng.