Field Sound Recording Equipment

[Gino Papineau]

The CMC641 is 2000$, you can get an Oktava 012 for 400$ with 3 capsules or the film edition with 1 hypercardioid capsule and a lowcut filter for less than 400$.
If you need more from this mic, you can send the mic to Oktavamod or others for an upgrade modification of the electronic for around 90$, you will end with an 500$ very very descent kit.

So the CMC641 is a Mercedes or a Ferrari!

more info on the Ken Stone site:http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/right_mic_brockett.html

Regards

 

[Lonzo N]

I'm sorry and don't mean to be rude, but do yourself a BIG favor and hire a professional audio person that knows this stuff!
Or at least Talk to one in person rather than trying to gleam the internet over what I consider to be a issue of HUGE Importance, Your Sound!
After all, Who is actually going to be using this gear? You certainly don't seem to be qualified. Does an audio professional even fit into your picture? If so why not involve them on the front end!

I understand where you are comming from. I am actually setting up my studio now and obviously will be using a professional for my audio in this initial stage. I just wanna have the right gear which I can always use down the line in my productions.

 

[Arnold F.]

Here's a nutty idea: hire a Production Mixer (aka sound guy). He or she can take care of that half of your production and you won't have to worry about whether a 416 works well indoors or not. It takes as much skill, knowledge and equipment to do the sound on a project as it does to do the picture. If someone asked, "I have a Sound Devices 702T and I want to know what camera will work best with it" then you'll understand. Hire a Production Mixer.

A.

Looking to buy a good professional sound recording gear to be used in shooting independent films. Can you guys recommend something good. Budget is between 2 to 3k. I already have a Rode NT2

 

[Lonzo N]

My intention is to hire a sound guy and provide my own equipments to do the job at this stage. Down the line, I would be doing it in- house with my own crew.

 

[Yousuf Abbasi]

Let's get a summary here. What for interior, what for exterior, and how to best keep timecode?

To hire a sound guy or not to hire a sound guy, that was not the OP's question.

 

[David W. Jones]

Let's get a summary here. What for interior, what for exterior, and how to best keep timecode?

To hire a sound guy or not to hire a sound guy, that was not the OP's question.

Sometimes the correct answer is not what people really want to hear!

 

[Bill Strehl]

A $3k budget is not much for film work, as a good mic can run that much.
My suggestion would be to contact someone like Trew that carries used pro gear.
You might be able to stretch your budget a little farther going with top of the line used gear.
Good Luck!

Thanks for mentioning this company! I had never heard of Trew Audio before. Their website has a lot of great information.

 

[David W. Jones]

No problem!

 

[James Brundige]

thanks for all your input. I ordered the SD 702T and also a sennheiser 416. Now quick question, i heared thatr the 416 is not that good indoors. I'm not sure about this. If so, which Mic is best for interior shoot.

416 is fine, if it is used well. Mike placement is more important than mike selection.

You will spend less on a good soundman than you will spend fixing audio in post.

From cameras to edit systems, to sound gear, prices have become so low (relative to when I started 30 years ago), everyone can afford the equipment. But there is a real learning curve in using the gear, in all departments. If your purpose is to learn, go ahead. If you want to make a high quality product, hire people who have already made all the mistakes of inexperience, and can optimize whatever gear is available.

ps a good sound person will prefer his/her own equipment. If you just need ambience, any mike will do. If it's critical dialogue, get someone who has done it before.

 

[Dave Blackham]

416 is fine, if it is used well. Mike placement is more important than mike selection.

You will spend less on a good soundman than you will spend fixing audio in post.

From cameras to edit systems, to sound gear, prices have become so low (relative to when I started 30 years ago), everyone can afford the equipment. But there is a real learning curve in using the gear, in all departments. If your purpose is to learn, go ahead. If you want to make a high quality product, hire people who have already made all the mistakes of inexperience, and can optimize whatever gear is available.

ps a good sound person will prefer his/her own equipment. If you just need ambience, any mike will do. If it's critical dialogue, get someone who has done it before.

Completely Correct.

 

[JonathanF]

for lower budget indie stuff:

buy a used 416 and plug it straight into the camera... or at most run it through a small field mixer, and then into the camera. you could also try a sony wired lav or a sennheiser wireless lav... both very cheap used. don't get sucked into wirelss though, you can run a wired lav more times then you think. don't waste your time recording separate sound. It will be a nightmare in post & you'll be surprised how much location sound you will replace in post anyway. If you know a budding sound person, try to get them to work on the film, but still record straight into the camera

I too could not disagree more. Good quality sound is almost as important as the picture.

Finally, James is correct, a good sound guy (usually with about 20K in gear) will cost you less $$$ than fixing some sound screw up in post.

We're going through the process of investing in a field recorder now after buying a set of great mics over the past year. Perhaps you should consider spending some of that $ renting a bunch of different mics and testing them with a Cantar or some other top notch recorder and pic out a set of 2 or 3 mics you like and start there. Rent a great field recorder till you can afford the one you really want. That's what we did and we have no regrets.

My $0.02.