Recording dialog from far away, shotgun mic

[Steve DiMaggio]

I have al the good wireless stuff, but am looking for a good solution for capturing dialog from about 50 feet away for wedding receptions, something very directional I can mount up on a stand, if it can be double duty for close dialog thats great but doesn't have to be

maybe something like this with my sennh shotgun?
https://soundsharkaudio.com/shark-shop/

steve

 

[Marc Wielage]

What you describe unfortunately is not how a shotgun mic works. People get the mistaken impression that a shotgun mic is like a flashlight shooting a beam of light; what it really does is it tends to reject sound from the back and sides and take in more sound directly in front. But it can't reject the vast amount of room noise in a wedding-type situation. In fact, the artifacts from a situation like that may actually cause comb filtering and other issues.

90% of getting good sound boils down to "get the microphone very close to the subject." A short shotgun 6' away can get far better sound than a $5000 microphone 50' away. If you're looking for decent sound at an event like a wedding, I'd run a wireless lav on the groom and a wireless lav on the bride all day and just iso everything they say and use it as required.

 

[David Peterson]

Indeed, very much simplified basic rule of thumb for sound recording: GET CLOSER!

 

[Steve DiMaggio]

I understand audio as I have designed and owned professional recording studios in the past (from home studios to Russ Burger designed). What I haven't used is any type of parabolic set up. I understand the basic physics of how a dish works and have a complete understanding of polar patterns but have never used them together. Was looking for someone with first hand knowledge on using parabolic set ups.

steve

 

[Robert Hart]

Parabolics have their place, nature documentary and the clandestine arts perhaps being the more popularly known. As for a wedding reception, if the people move, you lose. Parabolics also need their own vigilant operator. The audio from a parabolic is going to be fairly tinny. A shotgun mike pointing into a parabolic reflector is going to reject some of the reflected sound. I understand omni-directional mikes work better. I have had some reasonable results using lavalier mikes mounted in foam blocks on the focal point of old satellite receiver dishes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY0M8dhcWwA

 

[Steve DiMaggio]

yeah for the parts of audio I am talking about there is about a 24" window, its just not pratical or reasonable for me to mic a bride up, I always try to inhibit the least amount possible, especially if I don't know the couple so I was looking for something for vows if they don't speak into a mic, which usually only happens at masses, I might need to just set up a mic close to the pulpit

steve

 

[Steve Sherrick]

Are you trying to capture speeches? Or just random bits of dialogue happening in room? If it's speeches, then I would stick to traditional sources of audio.
- Line feed from DJ
- Mic mounted to podium fed to recorder (if they are speaking from a podium)
- Something like the Tascam DR-10C (can mic up a couple of people giving speeches/toasts perhaps).
- Wireless feed back to camera/recorder (I can understand why this is not ideal)

Anything else is going to either be difficult to manage (parabolic often needs to be operated) or sound bad. So I think your options would be limited. The only other thing I can think to do would be to hang some mics throughout the room (mics that have recorders built in. I suppose if you placed them strategically you could pick up conversations if that's what you are going for. But receptions tend to be noisy places so you might still struggle to get anything worthwhile if the room is buzzing with activity.

 

[Steve Sherrick]

yeah for the parts of audio I am talking about there is about a 24" window, its just not pratical or reasonable for me to mic a bride up, I always try to inhibit the least amount possible, especially if I don't know the couple so I was looking for something for vows if they don't speak into a mic, which usually only happens at masses, I might need to just set up a mic close to the pulpit

steve

For something like that I would go with the DR-10C. It works great on the groom and officiant.
http://tascam.com/product/dr-10c/

 

[Steve DiMaggio]

Everyone answered my questions on parabolic, they normally are thin and cumbersome to use. Like I said I never used them before so I will just plan to run some extra audio, my main sources are so good dpa>l series lectro>sound devices that I was hoping to capture the un miked stuff better from a distance, but I am looking at just adding a couple more wireless for church scenarios. Other receptions dj feed always works best for me wireless to my pix e5h/pix xlr

steve

 

[David Peterson]

A few Tascam DR-10 strategically scattered around the place will certainly be more effective (& with less hassle) than dealing with a parabolic setup.

 

[Marc Wielage]

A few Tascam DR-10 strategically scattered around the place will certainly be more effective (& with less hassle) than dealing with a parabolic setup.

Good wireless systems are better still, because you can actually monitor them while they're recording, so you know immediately if there's a problem, if they need to be adjusted, or if they need to be turned off. The problem with running a recorder for an hours-long event is a) they're going to drift out of sync, and b) it's a monstrous amount of unnecessary material. If you just roll sound when the camera is recording, you're a lot better off. 2 hours of camera material, 2 hours of sound.

 

[B_Carter]

Totally agree with Marc. The easiest and less intrusive setup is to simply put a lav mic on both of them (possibly even the pastor). You can still place a recorder somewhere in the room - it may be perfect to get some natural sound from the audience but the dialog from the lav mics will in the end sound the best.