Tips for recording stage performances

I covered my grand daughter’s acrodance recitals for a couple of years. At the time I used a Sony a6500 with the 18-105mm f4 PZ. I set my shutter to 1/60 sec, aperture at f4 and auto ISO.  The footage was recorded at 30fps.

If I had to change those settings today, I would record at 60fps.

knight427 wrote:

I'm looking at the Sennheiser MK 400. I'm not worried about wind noise or even vibration isolation. For these videos, I intend to go the back of the auditorium and shoot from the center of the room, leaving the camera alone to capture the whole stage (no zooming). I want to record direct to my camera. I think having some directivity would be beneficial to reject some of the room reverb, but I don't really know. But if my price ceiling is $200, what mic do you recommend?
For one of the performances, our school has a professional sound mix station. I might be bale to get access to this area. Is there a simple way to get the mix audio into my camera? I imagine handing a long cord to the audio tech and running it into my camera...is that a thing?

I've done that before, but I was in the balcony, in close proximity to the audio mixer, and I was using an XLR cable, which isn't susceptible to radio frequency interference like unbalanced minijack cables.

I've also plugged a wireless mic transmitter into the audio mixer's output, but the results really depend on the performance of you're wireless TX/RX kit.

You could also plug an audio recorder into the mixer, and sync that recording with your video in editing software.

Audio mixers generally have XLR, 1/4" phone (NOT RJ11), & RCA outputs. You might need a stereo line isolator box to bring the signal down to mic level.

With that said, it might be beneficial to have an alternate source of audio, as the sound guy might accidentally leave a mic muted, or leave the off-stage performs mics on, which will overlap with the on-stage performers.

An on-camera mic in the back of the auditorium won't yield very good results. Microphones are typically intended to be used in close proximity to their subject, so you'd be better off with something like a Zoom H1n audio recorder placed near the stage.

Get an inexpensive mic like a Takstar SGC-600 or Movo VXR10-PRO and use the camera audio as a scratch track to sync with audio from an external recorder.

Regarding video, the only demanding part is dealing with the changing lighting. Both cameras have excellent dynamic range, but I don't really know much about video. I do know the camera is going to need to make very large adjustments to exposure and I really don't want to be doing it manually. Any tips on which settings to use?

Most of your camera's dynamic range is thrown away in video mode, so you could try shooting with Prolost flat picture style settings to hold onto a little more DR, but noise will be more apparent.

Look to see if there's a Magic Lantern hack available for your camera, as it will give you exposure tools like false color, zebra stripes, and waveform scopes.

If you're not manning the camera the whole time, enable auto ISO, set the metering mode to evaluative, and dial in the necessary exposure compensation.

Your camera has a record time limit, so you'll have to restart the recording periodically.

Older Canon's used sRGB gamut, but wrote BT.601 in the metadata, so make sure you set your software to interpret it correctly.

knight427 wrote:

Hmmm, getting audio from the mixing board might be more complicated than I thought.

Perhaps not, though.  It's a fair assumption that all performers will use some form of sound reinforcement feeding house PA.   What you're asking for is known widely as a "Press Feed", generally well outfitted auditoriums have that capability.  A "Press Feed" is a full mix of the mics and sources used for auditorium PA.  The easy way to do this is to use a stand alone audio recorder, place it at the Press Feed connection, start it, and let it roll for the entire show, then retrieve it afterwards.  You'll have a bit of sync to do in post, but it's pretty easy, nothing special required.

Press Feeds are usual a panel mounted male XLR connector, so you might need an adapter for your recorder, depending on what it is.  Press Feeds can be line level or mic level, so be ready with those options.  It sounds complex, but it's really not, and it is the absolute best solution.

Regarding mic placement, I don't think I'll have the option to place a mic and recording device on stage. I think what you are implying is that a well-paced cheap mic can often sound much better than a poorly placed expensive mic. That sounds reasonable.

Yes.  In the world of mics, closer is generally better.  Shotgun mics or directional mics are all a compromise that can sometimes work, but closer is still better.

But let's bound this in a bit tighter. If my only options are using the in-camera mic or some modest on-camera mic solution, will there be any increase in audio quality with the on-camera mic? Or is it just a waste of money since my camera is stuck in the back of the auditorium?

Assuming direction connection is off the table?  Well, It all depends on the room acoustics and sound system design.  If the room is highly reverberant, you'll want your mic to be as close as possible to a PA speaker.  If the room is fairly dry acoustically, you can get away with being farther from the speakers, but you will still get a lot of room and audience noise.  Again, closer is better.  Camera mics are most often omnidirectional, meaning they pick up well from all directions.  They may be slightly directional, favoring forward, but they're still a long way from being true directional mics. One option is a directional mic, or shotgun mic, pointed at a PA speaker, but not mounted on the camera.  You'll probably want to pan the camera, but you don't want to move the mic.  Separate stands work for that.  Also, you don't have to blow your budget buying something that's not great, you can rent for a lot less and get really good equipment.

Another option might be to rent a wireless mic that you can place near a speaker.  Lensrentals.com has a number of affordable options (Rode, etc.), and you can ask them what would be best.  They also have audio recorders, look at the Zoom H6 or H4 which can connect directly to any press feed and record almost forever.  Ask about getting the right cable with your rental.  I just used my H6, used an XLR-F plugged into a press feed, to 1/4" TRS plugged into the H6 line it.  Worked perfectly.

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.

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.