I need some help figuring our my audio setup

Hello all...

I'm just getting into digital video and am really pumped. This week I'll be starting on a mother's day video for my church.. basically just quick little interviews with people about their moms that will then be pieced together in different ways.

I'll be picking up a t2i this week, and setting up a room that I can shoot in and keep a consistent setup. Basically just a chair against a white wall with some lights set up around. What I'm trying to figure out is my best option for audio. I know the built in microphones are not great, and I've learned about a lot of different options here. As much as i'd like to be able to use a lav mic, I don't think that is going to be practical. We've got a spare one in the church, so cost isn't the biggest issue, but I don't see it being a "fast" option. I'll need to video as many people as possible in a very short amount of time. I'm thinking I'll have the room setup and have some pre-set questions for the kids. Then I'll just bring them in one at a time and get the footage. So, stopping to set each kid up with the lav probably isn't going to work.

I'm thinking I should get a field recorder and try to put it as close to the kids as possible, without it being in the shot. Then setting it to record and spending a lot of time in post to cut up and sync the audio with the clips I record. I'll be a one-man show when this is going on, so I can't be futzing around too much with too many variables.

What do you think.. is this the best way to go? What would be the best way to keep my audio quality good? Any pointers?

-jon

if not a lav. just grab a zoom hand held.

thanks flea... would you suggest just mounting in on a mic stand, getting as close to the people as I can, and then hitting record, hoping for the best?

kids are tough because they can't sit still for more than 1/2 a second. An H4n as close as possible while still out of shot might be your best bet. "Under" the shot looking back up might be easiest, but over top and aimed back down could also work well. You probably want to mix down to mono in your post processing, though.

No lav, I'd say shotgun. Even with something like the H4n, you're going to end up with incidental reflections, giving you that "in a box" sound. Go with something fairly directional, and keep yourself mic'd as well. What I would do is bring my laptop with me, and my usb audio interface, keep myself mic'd with a lav, use a shotgun for the kids, and then a lav for the adults.

You may want to look at something like this: http://www.presonus.co​m …/Detail.aspx?Pr​oductId=60

Makes for a good all around solution, gives you the flexibility to use the mic you want for the situation. M-Audio will give you a similar solution for a little less cash.