Advice on Recording Wedding Speeches with a Rode VideoMic and Zoom H1

[rossparker]

Hi guys,

I'm after a bit of advice on the best way of recording wedding speeches using a Canon 5D Mark ii, a Rode VideoMic (original not pro) and a Zoom H1. I've recorded speeches before using only the Rode VideoMic, but I've always had to do a lot of work in post-production to increase the audio levels to an acceptable level. I'm hoping that with the addition of the Zoom H1, I will be able to improve the quality of the audio that I capture.

The way I envisage this working is to film the speeches with the Rode VideoMic attached to my camera to provide a reference to sync the audio to and place the Zoom H1 on the top table where the speakers will be. Do you think that this would work ok?

Also, I'm unsure of the best way to sync the two audio tracks together as a clapper could be a bit distracting at the start of wedding speeches. Can anyone suggest a method of syncing the audio without the use of a clapper?

Many thanks,

Ross

[DFM]

The internal mics on an H1 are very sensitive to ambient - great for recording the atmosphere in a space, but terrible for capturing clean speech in a crowded room unless you turn the gain right down and hold it in front of your face. If the venue has PA, you could take a line-in feed from their mixing desk to the H1.

I'd suggest plugging the Rode into the H1 so you get clean, directional sound from a sensible distance away (on the table in front of the speaker, hidden behind flowers, etc.) and leaving your camera on auto-gain with the internal mic, just to pull a scratch channel for timing. An editor doesn't really need audio on the video at all, but being able to listen to the first sentence can help when you're sorting through all the files if you forgot to sync the clocks on both recorders.

As to slating, if you're lucky the start of your #1 issue standard pattern wedding speech is someone tapping a wine glass with a knife. Sync on that, or wait until the end and sync when the people sitting beside the speaker start clapping. It's not actually difficult to sync against plain speech, just takes a little longer to fine-tune the result.

[rossparker]

Thanks for the advice. I'll plug the Rode into the H1 in that case. Would the Rode and H1 need to be mounted on a small tripod or something to point the mic up towards the speaker?

Also, another small issue is that I'll probably have to have my assistant run over and move the mic & H1 between speeches so they're in front of the appropriate speaker. I guess there's no way of leaving the mic in one location?

Thanks,

Ross

[DFM]

You'll need something to make the Rode point in the right direction - it's only semi-directional but won't pick up someone speaking four chairs away. Either get a small 'tabletop' tripod from eBay, or if they're too big to hide then you can use the plastic foot from a speedlite and a tiny ball-head cold shoe adaptor.

With your current gear you would have to move the mic between speeches, which I agree isn't a good plan. The only workable way around that (unless the speakers want to all stand in the same place, or they're using a handheld mic feeding the venue PA) is to rent a true shotgun mic and mount it at the back of the room on a light stand (or held above the crowd by an assistant) so you can point it directly at whoever's speaking. Lavs and bodypacks would give the best sound and are often used on the pastor during the ceremony (they're used to wearing them and it will pick up the vows too), but to cover the speeches you'd need a full set of bodypacks, and that's $$ even if you're renting. Swapping them between people isn't an option once the reception's started.

If the speakers are within a few chairs of one another, the rode would get better coverage mounted to the ceiling (45 degrees up in front of their table, with a long 3.5mm extension cord to the H1 so you can reach it to monitor levels and change batteries) - you'd lose out on signal/noise but avoid the shuffling of gear problem. It's vital to practice so you know it's going to work, and always do a soundcheck in the venue before anyone turns up. You don't get to do ADR on a bride.

Putting a separate desk mic in front of each person is the last-resort solution, but then you're turning it into a press conference...

[rossparker]

Hi,

Thanks again for the reply. Unfortunately, there will not be a PA system I'm afraid, but the speakers will only be a few chairs away from one another. Therefore the most viable option for me is likely to be mounting the mic on the ceiling. Do you think it would work ok if I mounted the mic on a fully-extended light stand operated by an assistant or even a monopod located centrally 3-4 metres away from the speakers? Between speeches an assistant could simply loosen and rotate the light stand to adjust the direction of the mic, as it moves between speeches.

I realise that this setup is far from ideal, but as I'm doing this as a bit of a favour I'm accepting that I'm going to have to do a bit of work on the audio in post-production.

Again, really appreciate the advice.

Ross

[DFM]

It should be OK, but you should try it out for levels first (you can do that anywhere, just get the distance about right and talk at it). The VideoMic doesn't have the +20dB gain switch that the Pro has, so you'll be cranking up the H1's input gain. In an ideal word the signal should be averaging around -12dB on the H1's meter, and peaking at -6dB - that way you have overhead for stuff like applause and laughter.