Nikon D4 / D3s Audio Recorder (Beachtek vs Zoom H6)

[Brian Hirschfeld]

Can someone please help me make a decision about getting one of these items to get better sound? The Zoom h6 looks like the better option but seems like its a pain since its not camera mountable. Further to that point, I think I would like to be able to record ambient audio via seinheiser shotgun I have as well as use my wireless lapell mic, so maybe the h6 is better? I'm looking for the easiest experience which requires the least effort from me because I want my videos to be as good as possible in the most passive way possible. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but I want it to be as good as possible without forcing me to learn more then my basic understanding of video and final cut. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you,

Best,
BH

P.s really the issue is the wireless mic receiver needs to be mounted somewhere, and the shotgun mic needs to be mounted somewhere, is there a zoom h6 hot shoe adapter that will let a hotshoe mountable item sit on top of it? I see the h6 itself can be on top of a camera....

[Morgan_Moore]

You want "better" sound but don't describe what is wrong with your sound right now.

The cams in question have a mic input HF for monitoring, adjustable levels and VU meters do they not?

Given that toolset and good mic placement you should be able to do good sound.

Now the beachtek is just a preamp and the zoom a separate recorder, if it has an o/p to the camera I would suggest that a recorder is a more versatile solution than a preamp.

In general dual sound is a bit sketchy (unless you are a big crew who properly slates every shot) you need to think through what happens when links in the chain fail and the implications of those failures - For example I have got close to having no sound on the camera but a wonderful external record of the sound, but no way to synch it to the images

S

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

I'm looking for the easiest experience which requires the least effort from me because I want my videos to be as good as possible in the most passive way possible. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but I want it to be as good as possible without forcing me to learn more then my basic understanding of video and final cut. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you,

Best,
BH

P.s really the issue is the wireless mic receiver needs to be mounted somewhere, and the shotgun mic needs to be mounted somewhere, is there a zoom h6 hot shoe adapter that will let a hotshoe mountable item sit on top of it? I see the h6 itself can be on top of a camera....

The simplest is to have an external recorder and sync your takes via a slate, clap, etc. If you insist on going even simpler, which is using a mixer and routing it to the D4 via the 3.5mm jack, you will be 'forced' to learn a lot more because you'll always be fixing problems.

You start with the wrong tools, and you'll always compromise on something...but you know that.

[bcooter]

Can someone please help me make a decision about getting one of these items to get better sound? The Zoom h6 looks like the better option but seems like its a pain since its not camera mountable. Further to that point, I think I would like to be able to record ambient audio via seinheiser shotgun I have as well as use my wireless lapell mic, so maybe the h6 is better? I'm looking for the easiest experience which requires the least effort from me because I want my videos to be as good as possible in the most passive way possible. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but I want it to be as good as possible without forcing me to learn more then my basic understanding of video and final cut. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you,

Best,
BH

P.s really the issue is the wireless mic receiver needs to be mounted somewhere, and the shotgun mic needs to be mounted somewhere, is there a zoom h6 hot shoe adapter that will let a hotshoe mountable item sit on top of it? I see the h6 itself can be on top of a camera....

Before you get to the recorder or preamp/mixer, first get a good lav, body strap and friction pads for the lav, a stand and boom for the mic to get it as close as possible.

If your working a one man crew, make sure you get decent scratch sound to the camera and ALWAYS use a slate and ALWAYS say on the recording Scene __take___

Then make sure you organize your wav sound files with the same care you organize your clips and you will always be able to sync, but as you probably know, you can fix or edit around a challanged visual, but you can't fix bad sound.

Though this may sound like overkill, I'd get a good prosumer grade video camera with dual xlr inputs and set it up on a tripod to cover the entire scene and use it as you sound recorder because you can always visually find your sound clips and a lot of these prosumer sd and hdv cameras do a very decent job of sound recording and basic mixing.

If you work with a sound tech, make sure the person you hire can do exactly what you want, which should be very careful sound monitoring, scratch sound into you camera and organized sound files per scene and take.

iMO

BC