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Tips for recording stage performances

Started 6 months ago | Discussions thread
low_iso Regular Member • Posts: 272
Re: Tips for recording stage performances

Andrew S10 wrote:

They will both sound bad, but the on-camera one will sound marginally less bad than the built-in one.

I think a lot of the on-camera mics are over priced and overrated. For $200 (or even less secondhand) you could get an Audio-Technica AT875R and generic XLR preamp , which is more versatile than the on-camera mics, albeit more bulky.

Try to get in contact with the sound guy, and ask what your options are.

The key to getting better sound from any mic is to get it pointed at the source, and close to the source.

Pointing at the source gets you full frequency response.  As you rotate the mic away from the source, you loose the highs first, then the mids, so pointing directly at something is important.

Getting close works like this: Every time you cut the distance to the source in half, you double the sound pressure at the mic (+6dB).  So if you're 20' away, and you move to 10', you get an additiona 6dB of level.  Move in from 10' to 5', you pick up another 6dB.  But more importantly, you increase the ratio of direct to reverberant sound, which is what really matters.

Lastly, the cost or type of the mic doesn't impact the end result nearly as much as the position of the mic.   A $20 mic in the right spot will win, hands down, over a $1000 mic in the wrong spot. And no, that's not an exaggeration.

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