My audio setup

[sh1209]

I’ve been experimenting for a couple months or so and have returned a couple items in the process to find a good solution for capturing environmental sounds. I am using a zoom H5, Rode videomic ntg, MagMod adjustable handle, a small portable nightstand and a shock mount for the recorder. I am recording with the x/y top microphones in conjunction with the shotgun mic. I’m contemplating adding a small omnidirectional lav mic on the 4th channel in the future. The recorder does 24bit recording and so far the setup has worked really well. It’s very lightweight and easy to hike with. A lot of times I go out just to capture audio only which is fun. I will normally always capture audio with the camera as well for redundancy which makes matching the tracks a breeze in post if needed.

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[Rudy Pohl]

I’ve been experimenting for a couple months or so and have returned a couple items in the process to find a good solution for capturing environmental sounds. I am using a zoom H5, Rode videomic ntg, MagMod adjustable handle, a small portable nightstand and a shock mount for the recorder. I am recording with the x/y top microphones in conjunction with the shotgun mic. I’m contemplating adding a small omnidirectional lav mic on the 4th channel in the future. The recorder does 24bit recording and so far the setup has worked really well. It’s very lightweight and easy to hike with. A lot of times I go out just to capture audio only which is fun. I will normally always capture audio with the camera as well for redundancy which makes matching the tracks a breeze in post if needed.

Nice setup Steve. You always produce very good audio IMO.
I use an old, but still very good Zoom H4 and do final sound shaping in Audacity, an audio editor and in Davinci Resolve.
Cheers,
Rudy

 

[sh1209]

Nice setup Steve. You always produce very good audio IMO.
I use an old, but still very good Zoom H4 and do final sound shaping in Audacity, an audio editor and in Davinci Resolve.
Cheers,
Rudy

Thank you. It’s amazing how much better the audio is when not using the in camera preamps. I was always under the impression that you could catch your decent audio in Camera, but that just doesn’t seem to be the case unless you’re going through a recorder into the camera or just recording the audio standalone it really is almost like another hobby capturing sounds at this point And a boatload of fun

 

[jeremyjohnsonphotos]

The onboard mic isn’t bad, we’ve used it for background in a pinch. I’d probably make the jump to XLR mics sooner than later - so many more options and qualities. It’s also a big price hike.

Audio is probably 70% of the delivery - people will forgive the worst video quality of your audio is solid. And yes, sound engineers are a thing and worth having on every shoot if you can afford it.

What you’ve got works well - I’ve a very similar setup for run’n’gun / minimal setup. My business partners have legit audio equipment though and I can tell the difference.

 

[Rudy Pohl]

The onboard mic isn’t bad, we’ve used it for background in a pinch. I’d probably make the jump to XLR mics sooner than later - so many more options and qualities. It’s also a big price hike.

Audio is probably 70% of the delivery - people will forgive the worst video quality of your audio is solid. And yes, sound engineers are a thing and worth having on every shoot if you can afford it.

What you’ve got works well - I’ve a very similar setup for run’n’gun / minimal setup. My business partners have legit audio equipment though and I can tell the difference.

Hi Jeremy, I just had a quick read of a bit your blog (Developing My Craft). Very engaging and great writing IMO. Good luck on your journey.
Cheers,
Rudy

 

[sh1209]

The onboard mic isn’t bad, we’ve used it for background in a pinch. I’d probably make the jump to XLR mics sooner than later - so many more options and qualities. It’s also a big price hike.

Audio is probably 70% of the delivery - people will forgive the worst video quality of your audio is solid. And yes, sound engineers are a thing and worth having on every shoot if you can afford it.

What you’ve got works well - I’ve a very similar setup for run’n’gun / minimal setup. My business partners have legit audio equipment though and I can tell the difference.

I’ve contemplated the Sennheiser xlr mics and the rode ntg5 but a lot of the places I go are pretty rough as far as terrain. Having said that, this setup wouldn’t be the end of the world if it got damaged but a $1k mic would sting a bit lol.

 

[Replytoken]

Looks like a nice setup. I am just getting into recording environmental sounds, albeit in urban environments, and picked up a Zoom H1n on closeout. It seemed like a small and simple way to get started. I would be curious to hear (pardon the pun) how your setup is working for you.

--Ken

 

[sh1209]

Looks like a nice setup. I am just getting into recording environmental sounds, albeit in urban environments, and picked up a Zoom H1n on closeout. It seemed like a small and simple way to get started. I would be curious to hear (pardon the pun) how your setup is working for you.

--Ken

Just been getting things together but so far it sounds really well. I have the H1 recorder as well but you can only plug 1 additional mic into it and it cancels out the xy mic. I really like the H5 and it’s built like a tank. I use the hot shoe microphones made by Sony on my cameras. They are digital microphones as well and it does all the processing within the microphone body. The sound from those is really good compared to plugging a mic into the 3.5 mm jack on the camera. Sort of feel like I have a hobby with a hobby now because the sound recording is just about his phone is going out and taking images or video. What I have found is anything recorded not using the cameras preamps as far as superior as far as audio. I’ve found even the H1 is much better than the camera audio. The XY mics on the Zoom H5 even by their selves, capture really good audio. I still have to get a dead cat for that small shotgun microphone in the pictures. Amazon did not have one and that is definitely a must outdoors.

 

[jeremyjohnsonphotos]

Hi Jeremy, I just had a quick read of a bit your blog (Developing My Craft). Very engaging and great writing IMO. Good luck on your journey.
Cheers,
Rudy

Thanks! Yeah, I've been slow to post stuff lately as I reconsider which outlets and how I want to publish. I have some directional shifts coming, and excited to start producing more consistently. Basically, putting together a Patreon so I can justify publishing more frequently vs. all the other never-ending business development things.

 

[realspeed]

I am thinking that no matter how good a sound recording is, a lot also depends on the speaker quality. Then of course where the sound is going to be heard -ie auditorium or room in a house let alone voluume output which can distort.
To me having a seperate recording device from say a camcorder just makes extra work combining to two in sync together. But then I am only a hobby videophotographer not out to provide professional quality work or wanting to make money for what I do

Of course using the right recording method goes a long way, cameras maybe ok ? but in my opinion you just can't beat a decent camcorder.
I just popped into my back garden using only the built in microphone on my Panasonic HC-X1500 and here is what it sounds like as shot

Maybe my hearing is a bit off but that sounds pretty accurated to what I heard while recording it