Recording Techniques for a micro-budget film

[murphyd311]

Hi,

Some friends and I are making a micro-budget horror film in the woods. My character dies first (yay!) so I'm going to be doing a lot of the camera and audio work. I will be shooting mostly with my Nikon D3100, which does not have an input for an external mic . Other camera's we are using (all budget, borrowed from various sources) do not have inputs either. So basically I'm either dealing with the built-in mics, an external audio option, or something I hadn't thought of.

I was looking at the Tascam DR-40, because it has XLR inputs, is cheap and takes SD cards. Any other suggestions? the DR-40 stretches the budget as it is. We might have a shotgun mic, if the guy can find it. Other than that I have an assortment of mics. SM57s / 58s, a bunch of other cheap dynamic mics, 2 Nady R5 ribbons, and a MXL990/991 combo. So if I can't get that shotgun mic, I'll have to pull one from my locker and build (or buy) a windscreen for it. Looking for help here too.

I'll be importing the video / audio into pro-tools 8 to edit and add all of the eerie extras, add music (our band's originals), and tighten up the audio track. Any suggestions or tips in this area are appreciated as well.

Another challenge, is that we are filming near, and in a small creek. That coupled with wind noise will present some interesting audio challenges. On the video side, we built a couple of budget steady-cam rigs, and practiced with them (the video looks great). But I'm going to be more concerned with the audio side of things.

Any help, tips, tricks, or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Anything else I hadn't thought of would be great too.

 

[xbxrxixtx]

I would look into that Tascam mic or a shotgun mic. I've seen posts online about building a cheap and easy diy shotgun mic. The quality may be poor, but with a horror movie it may fit.

Whatever you can get your hands on should work. Then because you have a few mics yourself you can go back and do some ADR and clean it up. Most modern movies do quite a bit of ADR. Something like that will help when it comes to the mic picking up the water while recording the voices. The problem will come with trying to sync up the audio with the lips. It probably wont be as easy as it is in Hollywood but you should be able to do it. Also when it comes to mixing you'll want to make sure that it all sounds the same rather than half of the scene you can tell its recorded live, and the next half you can tell its dubbed later. You will want to make sure you get it all as close to the same as possible.

Good luck.

 

[murphyd311]

That's some good advice. I was going to try to avoid ADR, but you're right, I should keep that in mind for an option. I looked at cheap shotgun mic's but they get pretty shitty reviews (hisses, hums, breaking). The guy who wrote the script says that his Dad has a shotgun mic that was being tossed out by the college he works for. He has no idea what kind, but I would imagine it is decent quality. Hopefully he still has it.

 

[Bobbsy]

I strongly recommend that you don't even think of relying on the mics in the camera. Your results will be seriously disappointing--you'll either get discouraged or have to do ADR on the whole production. The trick is to get the mic (or mics) as close as you can out of from--your shotgun (if you can find it) on a fishpole actively operated by somebody is essential.

If there's any way to rethink your plans and find one camera with an audio input, you could seriously consider buying THIS KIT. It's surprisingly good for the money and very well built--I used to use the Lindos test set to align all the audio gear and transmission links we had!

Failing that, if you go the DR 40 route, build yourself a clapper board and pedantically mark every take. You'll thank yourself when you're lining up material in the editing.

But, if nothing else, DON'T rely on getting anything usable from the on camera mics. Or dynamics. Or the MXL. You need a shotgun on a fishpole inches out of frame.

 

[murphyd311]

I strongly recommend that you don't even think of relying on the mics in the camera. Your results will be seriously disappointing--you'll either get discouraged or have to do ADR on the whole production. The trick is to get the mic (or mics) as close as you can out of from--your shotgun (if you can find it) on a fishpole actively operated by somebody is essential.

That is pretty much the conversation I had with the director, unless we want to hear nothing but wind noise and the stream, we need an external source. He understands that so we're investigating the best route possible with little-to-no money.

If there's any way to rethink your plans and find one camera with an audio input, you could seriously consider buying THIS KIT. It's surprisingly good for the money and very well built--I used to use the Lindos test set to align all the audio gear and transmission links we had!

Failing that, if you go the DR 40 route, build yourself a clapper board and pedantically mark every take. You'll thank yourself when you're lining up material in the editing.

But, if nothing else, DON'T rely on getting anything usable from the on camera mics. Or dynamics. Or the MXL. You need a shotgun on a fishpole inches out of frame.

Thanks for the link, I'll look into that but it might push us over budget. We discussed a clapper board, and we are definitely building a boom for a mic. We are going to split the DR-40 5 ways (about $30 each), but the director / writer says he is buying another camcorder. I will try to steer him towards one with a mic input. I've been reading up on how to operate a boom/mic and will probably have to take on that task myself, when I'm not in front of the camera. At least I'll have nobody to blame but myself when it comes time to mix the audio .

 

[Bobbsy]

Sounds good. If you do a home made fishpole, make sure it's as light as possible. It's amazing how heavy they get on a five minute take!

One big hint I meant to put in the previous post: even at the expense of becoming unpopular, yell at the cast and crew to shut up for a bit on every location and record at least a minute, preferably two or three minutes, of atmos. Once you start cutting together multiple takes and camera angles, it's a real advantage to be able to have a continuous background loop playing, be it the aforementioned stream--or traffic or even just room noise.

 

[wheelema]

I'd hit IndyMogul and beat that site to death. They have a build for a boom pole using a extensible painter's pole.

Through the end of May (or whenever they sell out) Sweetwater has the Richard Monroe recommended AKG D 3800M super-cardioid dynamic mic for $99 (normally $350). It's not a shotgun but it's extreme off-axis rejection when coupled with a dead cat should keep ambient noise down. If you don't keep it aligned properly of course it'll keep the dialog down too.

I've heard that no-budget productions use the Zoom R16 as a poor man's field recorder but if your budget is $200 it's out of your reach.

I'm sure you know that the D3100 sensor heats up fast and limits the length of video it can record. Hopefully your director plans for that.

Don't skimp on your mic cable. Personally I'd require Mogami or Canare touring cable

Luck.

 

[wheelema]

I'd consider selling some of your crap gear to kick up the budget a bit.

 

[murphyd311]

Sounds good. If you do a home made fishpole, make sure it's as light as possible. It's amazing how heavy they get on a five minute take!

One big hint I meant to put in the previous post: even at the expense of becoming unpopular, yell at the cast and crew to shut up for a bit on every location and record at least a minute, preferably two or three minutes, of atmos. Once you start cutting together multiple takes and camera angles, it's a real advantage to be able to have a continuous background loop playing, be it the aforementioned stream--or traffic or even just room noise.

That's some great advice. I'm writing this down because there is so much little stuff like this to remember.

I'd hit IndyMogul and beat that site to death. They have a build for a boom pole using a extensible painter's pole.

Through the end of May (or whenever they sell out) Sweetwater has the Richard Monroe recommended AKG D 3800M super-cardioid dynamic mic for $99 (normally $350). It's not a shotgun but it's extreme off-axis rejection when coupled with a dead cat should keep ambient noise down. If you don't keep it aligned properly of course it'll keep the dialog down too.

I've heard that no-budget productions use the Zoom R16 as a poor man's field recorder but if your budget is $200 it's out of your reach.

I'm sure you know that the D3100 sensor heats up fast and limits the length of video it can record. Hopefully your director plans for that.

Don't skimp on your mic cable. Personally I'd require Mogami or Canare touring cable

Luck.

I did not know that about the D3100. I know you can only shoot continuously for 10 minutes, so that is some good information there. We have some other camera's in the mix as well, but I think the D3100 will be the main camera. I don't know how the weather will effect the sensor. We're filming in Maine, later this month, so it should actually be pretty cool outside (it's barely in the 60's now).

I'd consider selling some of your crap gear to kick up the budget a bit.

That unfortunately isn't an option as almost everything is borrowed. Otherwise, I would probably take your advice.

Also this is a first production for everyone involved, so we're not expecting it to be high quality. That is not to say we are not doing the best we can with what we have.