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Author Topic: Beginners Question about Audio  (Read 2113 times)

HSakols

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Beginners Question about Audio
« on: September 22, 2018, 10:29:38 am »

I teach in a classroom with a dozen 9-12 year olds who want to create their own talk show.  I even found an old clip of Johnny Carson and Steve Martin that was appropriate to show kids - believe me it took a while to find a suitable clip.  What would be an economical microphone I could use to connect directly to a Olympus OMD camera?  I don't think I want to use a seperate audio recorder because I don't want to have to bother with syncing sound.  I figure I will have three kids at a time sitting at desks in front of the classroom.  Sure would be nice to have Chris for a day.  :)




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Christopher Sanderson

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Re: Beginners Question about Audio
« Reply #1 on: September 22, 2018, 11:09:24 am »

For less than $100, you will not do much better than the Rode VideoMicro Compact On-Camera Microphone and Cable Kit. If the budget will stretch a little higher, their VideoMic Pro is great at under $300. With either mic, you need to be fairly close to the subject - say around four feet. Further away than that, you will need to cable a mic from set to camera. Check ebay for used.

HSakols

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Re: Beginners Question about Audio
« Reply #2 on: September 22, 2018, 11:29:27 am »

Chris,

Thanks so much for the advice.  I'll look at the Rode mics. Yes, I thought I would use an extented cable to get a little distance.  It would be interesting to see a video of how you work when making LULA videos.
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Christopher Sanderson

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Re: Beginners Question about Audio
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2018, 12:07:02 pm »

Most often I use lavalier mics either hard wired or radio.

Joe Towner

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Re: Beginners Question about Audio
« Reply #4 on: September 25, 2018, 07:47:56 pm »

One thing you want to look at is a basic mic mixing board - and a mic per kid.  That way you can turn their volume up and down as needed to equal out their voices.  Hard wired mic because they're cheaper and batteries are not your friends.  Having a monitor port on the audio is almost critical - you need to know if all 3 are being recorded - so either on the camera, or the mixer.
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Morgan_Moore

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Re: Beginners Question about Audio
« Reply #5 on: September 28, 2018, 05:48:31 am »

This is a talk show which kind of puts audio to the fore.

You have 12 kids, 9 of which are gonna be spare.

If I were doing this on a budget I would get a cheap shotgun on a boom (broom handle being the cheapest!) on a wire into the camera.

Id then have one of the other kids swing the boom to the one that is talking. (then you only have 8 unemployed kids fidgeting)

They need to get the mic about 18 from the speaker.

This may also bring some structure and stop them talking over each other.
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Joe Towner

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Re: Beginners Question about Audio
« Reply #6 on: October 03, 2018, 10:58:38 am »

Ya know Morgan has a point - some peddle bikes to power things thus occupying the other 8 kids may need to be looked into  ;D
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HSakols

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Re: Beginners Question about Audio
« Reply #7 on: November 17, 2018, 10:14:27 am »

Quote
If I were doing this on a budget I would get a cheap shotgun on a boom (broom handle being the cheapest!) on a wire into the camera.

Yes I have the mic on a 25 ft wire and that might be a good job for one of the students.  There presentations are pretty cute, but we are still working out some kinks. 
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shalimarphoto

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Re: Beginners Question about Audio
« Reply #8 on: December 20, 2018, 07:45:23 am »

I have the less expensive Rode mic and I often interview kids - this microphone has been perfect for me.
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MichaelEzra

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Re: Beginners Question about Audio
« Reply #9 on: December 20, 2018, 08:55:13 am »

Microphones sound best when they are close to the source, otherwise they sound ... far away:)
To get the best sound, I would use a lav mic for each kid and a shotgun mic as a backup, so you have 4 audio channels.

Excellent  PowerDeWise Lav mics $34 for a Y pair: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CHCSLVC
(if you need to connect to XLR, then have to use this $10 adapter Rode VXLR Plus XLR to 3.5mm Female TRS Transforming Adapter
With the Y adapter in the kit, two lav mics get mixed into a single channel.

You still need to mix a 3rd lav mic, so you need a mixer. Better yet, use a recorder with line out which can feed into camera.
Shotgun mic: https://www.deitymic.com/vmicd3 for $99 or better the Pro version with gain if camera preamp is noisy. This is a high quality mic.

Alternatively, you could use Taskam 70D 4 channel recorder, each lav mic on a separate channel, but connect shotgun into camera.
With Taskam 70D use XLR inputs, not 3.5mm jacks, as they are which are noisier.



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