mic to use with a camcorder / portable mic preamp

[ron82]

hey, i have kind of an off topic question, sorry for posting it here but i dont know any place for "homefilming" lol

a friend of mine and his mates recently tried themselves on doing short amateur films and stuff. and well the audio of the camcorder obviously sucks for picking up voice, so they asked me about what mic to buy.

i was gonna say that they should buy a sm57 (they're far from doing anything professional so that would be enough for their purposes) - but then of course they'd need a preamp before plugging it into their camera.

can anyone recommend me any preamps for this kind of business? or cheap mics with "built-in" preamps, if there is such a thing
or links to sources for this stuff would be great, thanks alot and sorry again for the off topic.

 

[dwillis45]

You might try posting at the 2Pop Digital Video/filmmaking forum:

http://www.uemforums.com/2pop/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?Cat=

They have sections for audio (pre and post) and general equipment like lighting, mixing boards, mics, etc.

As far as specific mics, you might look at a shotgun mic that would be useful for a variety of filming situations. I use an AT835 (?) coupled with a Beachtek adapter that allows the xlr mic to plug into my DV camera's mic in jack. The AT 835 runs off phantom power or a AA battery that fits into the mic's housing. I think most good mics rely on xlr cables and most camcorders use 1/8 mic jacks. So some type of adapter is usually required if you want to use a quality mic. Unless, of course, you are lucky enough to have something like Canon's XL-1s which has xlr in.

 

[grahamware]

Here's something you may want to look at

http://www.shure.com/accessories/a96f.asp?PN=Problem Solvers

Plugs an XLR mic into your camcorder. Kind of like the Beachtek thing dwillis is talking about. I think this one's cheaper (bit more than 50 clams). I don't think it provides phantom power, however, so a dynamic mic or self-powered condenser would be necessary.

 

[ron82]

thanks guys!

i knew there had to be gear for this kind of purpose