Professional quality Microphones and Audio Recorders

Professional quality Microphones and Audio Recorders


Basically you need professional quality microphones and audio recorders. These can be lavalier microphones (small mics that can be hidden under actors’ clothing) usually one per actor, a boom or shotgun mic (a long mic attached to a pole to get closer to actors) and a recorder that can record each microphone separately (mixing sound is usually done in editing so as to have most control).

Additionally, professional cameras like Arri Alexa, Red and others can synchronize to the audio recorder with timecode which is a generator that has discrete numbers for every frame of picture, since image and sound are recorded separately and have to be the same or else sound and picture won’t match.

As Milan said there are many options and opinions among professionals. However for recorders in the US on most higher level productions Sound Devices is used. Zoom, Tascam and others for smaller budgets. Microphones are often Sennheiser, Schoeps, Countryman (high end) or Rode, Audio Technica, Azden and the new Aputure Deity shotgun mic.

It all depends on your budget and how important sound is to you. As someone once said, he could watch a dark, shaky film as long as the sound was decent. However the best shot film in the world won’t work without decent sound.

There are many options here. Make sure your equipment has timecode and make sure that the recordings do not trail off when making large recordings. Some sample equipment for mixers are Sound Devices 788t, Aaton Cantar x2, Tascam (many options), Zoom, Marantz, etc.

A field mixer will be needed to mix the tracks. A digital recorder, like those mentioned above, will be your recording device, and then you will need microphones. There are many types of mics for all kinds of reasons so this will vary. It is wise to have a nice selection of mics to use when you find yourself in unfamiliar recording situations.

The sound equipment you need for recording a documentary project can vary.

Typically when conducting one on one interviews in a studio or similar setup, I would use a Lavaliere microphone, typically hidden under the subject's clothes or clipped neatly to a jacket (but facing downward to stop nose breathing noises from being heard), alongside a shotgun mic either on an operated boom pole or on a boom mic stand. The combination of both microphones gives you greater control when it comes to mixing in the final edit.

There are two ways of typically recording audio for video. Either you hook up the microphones to the camera or to an external sound recording device.

Most high end microphones use XLR adaptors as their connections as this allows them to be powered by the audio capturing device and the connection is pretty solid. If you're recording straight into your camera you'll want to ensure that it has an XLR input, if it doesn't then you'll need to go with an external recorder.

When using an external recorder, most sound engineers on documentary shoots use something called a 'field recorder'. This can be something on the low end, such as a Zoom H4N or on the high end with the Sound Devices 788T. Both do very good jobs at capturing audio but to different tracks. I really wouldn't recommend recording directly to a laptop.

A field recorder has additional benefits, such as allowing your sound recordist to move around if needed. It allows them to be free from the camera, so if you're using a boom mic, you can get in nice and close without being in shot.

When using external recorders, separate from the camera, it's recommended that you use a Clapper Board, or something similar, to allow you to easily sync the audio and video later in post. When the clap stick makes contact with the board, you'll see and hear a familiar 'clip' in your sound file, this acts as your sync point.

If you're starting out on your first project, the gear I'd recommend investing in would be as follows:

·         Shotgun Mic - Rode NT2 on the low end - Sennheiser 416 on the high end. The Sennheiser ME66 is a good middle ground. - Make sure that the boom is always pointing at the sound source.

·         Boom Pole - Rode's boompole's are lightweight and fairly cheap.

·         Mic stands - any generic boom stand should be fine, but make sure you've got something to weight the feet down with when fully extended.

·         Field recorder - Zoom H4N is a decent enough 2 track recorder that will allow you to phantom power your XLR mic, but it drains the batteries like hell. Something like the Tascam DR-70D should be fantastic for what you want to do.

Hope all of this helps!