OK so Ive got my D90 or 5dii or whatever and I want to record a 'message from the CEO' thats going to appear on a web based short on a company website

While the camera operator may ask questions they wont make part of the footage they will just prompt the CEO

The talking head and footage would be cut with other shots - so while he is talking about his investment in a fleet of trucks there will be footage running of trucks going down the road or whatever

Its quite obvious that the D90 records only the huffing and puffing of the camera operator - totally useless

Im thinking of some sort of mini digital recorder - I have seen radio journos with mics that have some built in memory or a Sd card or something

in terms of getting the mic near the CEO it could be..

A mini mic clipped onto his shirt

or

A mic probably gaffa taped onto a monopod and held over/under his head film crew style out of shot or maybe plonked on his desk on a mini tripod

(although hopefully the CEO will be somewhere slightly more interesting than his desk

Lets keep it easy and say the CEO is in his quiet office for starters..

Of course Im going to need to easily get that sound into Imovie or FCE and synch it up - being digital I reckon that will be easy

Any links/products/tips spring to mind...


SMM

Sam,

have a search for Zoom and Edirol products, they make a range of portable audio mixers that will allow the connection of various mike inputs, they also do recording onto flash memory. You might also consider a decent tie clip mike connected to the mixer rather than a boom pole setup.

Just did a quick search and these came up
http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/h4/
http://www.edirol.com/index.php?option=com...&Itemid=390

Cheers John

I used to make a lot of car movies and always found the sound disappointing, that was until my wife pointed me in the direction of the Microtrak from M-Audio.

It's an excellent device with lots of input options and a decent price. http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MicroTrackII.html

Sam, not sure if you want to consider digidesign their products are pro/top quality!!! Basically Digidesign is standard as far as the sound is concerned, at least that is what we use in our Studios pro tools/etc. You just have to see if there is something as portable as you want it to be to fit your requirements, but the quality is superb!!!

These days... it's probably affordable too!!!

Thanks for all links

I was thinking a bit more value through mass production - what about a mic for my Ipod : )

S

Sam, for sure not a Neumann U87 40th Anniversary Stereo Set... hehehehehe!!!

I dont know what one of them is but would probably sound good listening to some vinyl on my Linn Sondek

I mean for basic sound suitable for use on the web

S

I did a little test using a 'flash mic' from local BBC radio station

turns out it cost £1000

the sound was unsuprisingly excellent

synching in IMovie was possible but a PITA as the D90 sound waves didnt show up in the edti track

We got one clip right in half an hour

Sure I could do the next in 30s

but still seems pretty clunky in Imove anyway

S

Are you not using a clapper board? Easiest way to sync sound, it doesn't have to be a fancy time code one, just a basic blackboard + checker style.

I've got a 5dII on order and had also been wondering about sound.
I know I can plug in an external microphone, so that will sort out the in-camera sound quality.
However, there are several remaining problems.

1) I hate things dangling from the camera, including the strap. They easily get caught on things like the tripod and can be a liability. I can see working with a microphone deliberately placed away from the camera is going to be a real PITA.

2) I believe the 5D will not do sound-only recording; so I'll need to take movies just to capture sound for merging in when editing.

3) I've read the 5D wont allow audio annotations on images, which is a shame as I've used it successfully on some compact cameras. If the 5D did allow audio annotations then I guess it would also solve point 2!

To fix the above I'm currently looking at getting either a Pocketrak 2G or it's bigger brother the Pocketrak CS. They are very compact and reasonably priced; either of them ought to be plenty good enough for my needs.
There's an excellent review at http://www.musiciansfriend.com/document/ya...r?doc_id=103481

Tech and gear issues aside, just a philosophical view from an old audio & video guy, if it's of any help...

A good rule of thumb is to not cut costs on audio.

Professional looking, hi res video with consumer-grade audio (especially source audio like lip sync) tend to "disconnect" from each other in the viewer's brain, calling attention to each other in a distracting way.

All other things being equal, most audiences are bothered less by lower-res video than by lower-res audio. If the sound isn't up to the picture, the product can often feel more amateurish than if the picture isn't up to the sound.

FWIW.

So very true - scrappy picture quality can be stylish, add to the mood or help tell the story. Iffy sounds almost invariably sounds crap.
Good sound adds production quality like nothing else [and makes everything look better lit too!! ].