Quality Audio Recording

I'm just wondering what methods you guys use for recording your audio in your films. I'm not really happy at all with the mic on the XL2, so i'm keen to get some proper mics, but is the best way to send them to a mixing desk or something?

What kind of mics do you guys use, and do they pick up good sound from a couple of metres away? the ones i have access to are all stage mics, so they seem to be made for recording what is directly in front of it, which is useless when the mic is on a boom.

Also, when recording dialogue, do you record the entire scene viewing one character, then record it again viewing the other one, and just keep intercutting the footage? using the dialogue from both takes?
I'm not sure if i'm explaining that question very well. I'm keen to experiment, but as mentioned, i can't get good sound out of the mics i've got.

hmm... i do realise this topic has been covered in old posts, i guess i'm assuming technology might have changed over time. Nobody willing to offer their methods?

Sennheiser (check spelling!) 416's are the industry workhorse, get one, and a stick to gaffer-tape it to. A decent Porta-DAT and mixer too. Should cost ?400-?1000 (???AUS$) depending how "Gucci" you want it.
You can skip the DAT and go straight onto the tape if you want, but I wouldn't recomment it on consumer video cameras.

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Originally posted by Matty2phatty:
Also, when recording dialogue, do you record the entire scene viewing one character, then record it again viewing the other one, and just keep intercutting the footage? using the dialogue from both takes?

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yes. Well I do anyway, I'm sure there's 50 differing opinions on how to do it. Experiment and see what works for you.

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REMEMBER: 10 seconds pre <u>and</u> post roll!

Would that setup offer me sound that could compete with any big budget release? I realise that i can't expect the world with limited funds, but i guess i want to know how far a leap it is from what you mention to the best of the best.

The 416 is about as good as it gets in sound reproduction on a reasonable budget. Used properly, you shouldn't need anything else.


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What? I can't hear them talking!