Just returned from first paying gig. Pro advice needed!

[Hulk]

I've been working on a project for a local school district on and off for a few months. Up until this point a friend working with me has been shooting clips that I have been editing. The culminating part of this video is the end of the year production which was tonight. Of course I had to shoot this one.

I have a Canon Optura Pi camera and ordered a DM-50 microphone. I did not want to be stuck with the quality of the on-board mic. I have owned a semi-professional studio so I do know something about sound. Of course the DM-50 mic didn't come in today!

I quickly grabbed two mic stands and two Sennheiser MD421 mics and was off. I managed to get them connected to the mini jack in the Pi. I brought headphones and noticed that the level from the external mics was rather low. I was thinking either the headphone out on the Pi is weak and/or the mic pre's in the Pi can't drive the 421's. What do I do? If I go with the internal mic the sound will be poor but it will be there. If I go external it could come out really good or really bad. I only had one chance at this and decided to roll the dice and go with the external mics.

I set the external mics up in an x-y pattern in front of the stage. I know the x-y is a good failsafe position. I decided to go with the external mics.

Well, the levels are a bit low but the sound is good by pro standards.

Since this was my first shoot, here are some things I was wondering while the night wore on.

Where should I have been located?
I decided to put my tripod about 8th row center. It was a tight squeeze between the isles and people were complaining about me blocking their view but I could get the whole stage on wide and zoom in if need be. Man it was tiring standing there for 3 hours. I had my friend roving around with another camera as well. Should I have been off to the side? All the way at the back.

How about mic position? I just ran my cables under the seats to the camera. Problem is that the mics were pointing at the stage, great for stage sound but not so good for the pit band. I was thinking that another stereo pair pointed at the pit band and a mixer to switch between them would have been the way to go.

Limitations of my camera.

I need a camera with audio levels I can set manually. A strong headphone amp. Also XLR inputs. Are there any cameras in the $2000 range that have these features?

What an experience!

[Dr Mordrid]

One thought from a primarily still photographers standpoint:

When I'm setting up for center-aisle altar stills at a wedding its always the medium format Mamiya RB67 (6x7 cm negative = high quality) with a long zoom lens, and preferrably located in a slightly elevated position at the back of the church with a trusted shooter manning it.

That way the cams not in the way, the shooter can zoom into a fly's eye and, unless there's an NBA player in the crowd, the crowd won't get in yours either.

This setup also gives the advantage of being able to pan to another part of the stage without too much of a change in perspecive. It should also be easier to do in a theater than most other arenas.

At neighboring communities high school theater, which also hosts the community theater group, such a setup is built into its design. They even have mixers so you can tap into the stage and pit mic's radio channels (not a wire to be seen in that place) from the theater control center, which is centered behind the back row. Cam and light positions are a few yards either side of the control center and directly in front of it. Not too bad a setup for a high school.

A cam like the Canon XL-1 on a solid tripod should be suitable for such work (in fact the XL-1 is what the media arts class uses in that theater). It also has audio level controls.

Dr. Mordrid


[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 25 May 2001).]