Audio question

hi guys. I have a quick question im haoping you guys with audio knowledge can answer.

I do alot of video work ( mostly interviews that involve 1 or 2 folk ) so the audio is pretty stright forward, i generally use my little H1 zoom and place it on the table. and sync the audio later in post.

Now, next week im filming a play ( school kids )
around 15 kids. What im hoping to do is use my H1 zoom, hopefully split the audio with a splitter and have 2 mics on each side of the stage. do you think this is the best way and is there pro's / con's to this method?

Thanks

that would be OK, hopefully you can get in during a rehearsal where there's no crowd to contend with

does a splitter like this exist then. so basically i'd have 2 seperate channels, and just convert them to mono in post.
I thought about placing the H1 zoom in the centre and record straight from the H1 but i dont think this would be any good? you also get ALOT of vibration off the H1 so i need to try and souce a shock mount in the UK, i cant see any though

So youd use some consumer mics that has its own power supply and a 3.5mm connector like the Rode VideoMic Pro into a cable adapter like this: LINKwhich will take two mono 3.5mm ins together into a stereo 3.5mm out.

Thanks pal. I will either pick that cable up, along with another rode mic ( already have one ) or buy an omni-directional mic and place it in the centre.

And you might need some 3.5 extension cables too to get those mics further apart.

I think the stereo separation will be much too great with the mics either side of the stage. If the main character is in the middle you could find both mics fail to pick him up satisfactorily.

A Zoom H1 should be relatively easy to shock mount as the body is quite slim. It should work with a conventional shot gun rubber band mount. Failing that the Rycote mounting is available from many sources in the UK.

^^^ Sorry, only mean to suggest separating the mics IF NEEDED to pickup the entire source, say like a band or orchestra. 15 kids might need a bit of separation to capture evenly. OP did say he/she was going to mix the two channels into a mono track in post too, so there wouldnt be any real stereo separation.

Perhaps rent some boundary mics? Though from experience school kids are not necessarily very loud and you might find levels to be lacking. Also depending on how the stage is constructed you may need to isolate them from the surface so they don't pick up too much foot noise.

http://www.soundinstit​ute.com/article_detail​.cfm/ID/81

Thanks guys. The stage wasnt as big as i expected so all i did was place my rode mic on the centre ( static ) cam ( Gh2. )

I then used my 2 5d Mark II's for different angles and some glide shots etc.
Im pretty happy with the sound.

Out of interest. What do you guys recommend for a sound recorder. I currently have the H1 zoom but want something a little better

jjmucker wrote in post #14016534
Thanks guys. The stage wasnt as big as i expected so all i did was place my rode mic on the centre ( static ) cam ( Gh2. )

I then used my 2 5d Mark II's for different angles and some glide shots etc.
Im pretty happy with the sound.

Out of interest. What do you guys recommend for a sound recorder. I currently have the H1 zoom but want something a little better

Get away from Zoom IMO. I highly recommend the Marantz PMD661. If you want the top of the line, buy anything Sound Devices.

Thanks man i'll check them out.