Complete audio kit

[Matt Favro]

I'm prepping a project that will be shot in Asia in early February that I'll produce and direct. I'll hire the sound man on location but I want to provide the audio equipment for him. So my question is, what would be the best complete kit I could buy for 5-7K? I was thinking about 2 Lavs wireless systems, 1 boom mic, a camera mic to pick up ambient sound and a recorder. It will hopefully be shot with the scarlet I ordered, if I ever receive it in January.

Any help would be great,

Thanks!

 

[Tom Visser]

Whatever kit your sound mixer wants to / is most experienced using.

 

[Marc Wielage]

What Tom said.

Be aware that there are frequencies and power ratings that are illegal in some foreign countries. If you're shooting in Asia and hiring a local sound mixer, I would rely on his or her experience to know what equipment works best. Renting might be a better option than buying.

 

[Mark Allen]

For what you describe, I think you seriously might want to consider renting because audio guys are very familiar with what they use and know their limiatations. As for gathering ambient sound. I think it's highly unlikely you'll get any sound while shooting worth using. It's just too hard. But you can have your audio guy record ambiant in any location if you have enough time to be quiet to allow for it.

I will mention one trick though we've been using to avoid wireless fuzzing and issues with interference. We've been hooking our OST TL40's right into a zoom h1. It's not too much bigger than a mic pack. Has worked incredibly well for us on our run and gun shoots as well as our interior location shoots. We've even shot two commercials where those were the only mics (though I don't recommend not having a boom, it's just we didn't have that option at the time of the shoot.)

As for a generically good go to mic the Sennheisser MKH60 is a great for most all situations type of mic when you can only have one.

None of latter comments change what I initially said though.

**In case people read back, Tom has a good point below and I should note that I'm talking about remote recording with the Zoom as a solution method not as a target method. If you can get solid wireless signal and a good sound mixer, wireless is clearly going to be your best bet.

 

[Tom Visser]

Hi Mark, I agree with you that the MKH60 is an excellent first "only one" mic to have. It is a bit wider than most shotguns, so easier for a novice to wield, not as unforgiving as many shotguns. It has exceptionally low self noise and a relatively hot output. It sounds great, especially natural, again a trait not shared by all shotguns. It is also very light weight and inherits much of Sennheiser's weather immunity and general ruggedness and durability, perfect for remote and challenging environments.

Using a handheld recorder for talent micing... is a real ingenious and out of the box solution. It is akin to suction cupping a GoPro to the hood of the car and saying "let's see what we get". It may actually be good and sometimes the best / only solution for a challenging situation, but not always, most always, not the best way of going about things. For one, there is no way for the mixer to monitor the recording, so it is impossible for him to qualify the quality of the recording and letting you know that you have good sound or not. It is easy for those little recorders to go out of record or never properly go out of record arm, because of the little toggle button and sometimes easy to forget differentiation between flashing / steady red LEDs. I've had recorders hop out of recording due to card issues. Again, cool way of handling the sound for what you did, just a lot of caveats and things to be wary of.

 

[Dave Blackham]

Whatever kit your sound mixer wants to / is most experienced using.

What Tom said.

And don't bother putting a mic on the camera. My stock answer to camera mics is try gaffer taping a GoPro to the sound recordists head and try to rely in it for cutaways, clearly its next to useless. Wrong place wrong device.......

 

[Allan Black]

Yes, hire a local audio location pro and I'd start looking for one now checking rates, resume and stuff. If you relocate to other Asian countries, check he has a current passport.

Check local regional a/c power ratings for your chargers. Include fresh silicagel for their very high summer humidity, mark it clearly .. so you don't feature on the news.

And I'd consider Fedexing your rigs to your first hotel stop, safer than many Asian airport handlers.

Cheers.

 

[Paul Russell]

which part of Asia?
Most of South East Asia is 210-240v, but any sound guy here should have his own gear.