Recording

[ridgerunrbunny]

I recently did a short film on Sheep Shearing. The dialogue could barely be heard above the shearing shears. Any suggestions on how to get better dialogue recording outside of putting up 7K for a separate recorder? I use a Sony TRV280.

Bunny

[gadgetguy]

Who's dialog? If it's coming from the shearer then the only real option is to record the dialog separately when the shears aren't shearing. You can either have the shears running at the other end of the room (or in the next room) to keep the shears noise in the background, or mix the original audio with the "clean" dialog adjusting the volume of the shears to taste.
If it's someone else commenting then use an external unidirectional mic held close to the speaker and have him/her face the sheep so the mic is pointing away from the shears, and/or have him/her standing farther away from the "action".

[ridgerunrbunny]

Where Might I find information on the "external unidirectional mic " you mention. All else does not apply to an in the field shearing with comments by essential spectators.

Bunny

[gadgetguy]

Any decent musical instrument store will have an assortment of unidirectional microphones. I am assuming you have a jack on the camcorder for an external mic. You may have to get an adapter as most of the mics you'll want will be 1/4", where the cam will probably need 1/8". If you don't have a external mic jack, but can add one using the "Accesory Shoe" or whatever it's called, your options become more limited to stores that specifically target the video market like B&H.

[edDV]

A simple wireless mic like this works well budget magazine interviewer type shows. Pro versions will be more expensive.
http://store.pagecomputers.com/store/productlink.asp?product_id=1088084&scs=NEXTAG&t=2...0#tab_overview

Here is an additional selection.
http://www.nextag.com/wireless-camcorder-microphone/search-html

If you want to use a low impedance PA type mic, you will need this impedance matching transformer at the camcorder end.
XLR Mic Plug http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=details_accessories&A=details&Q=&sku...lue=367962_REG
http://wantitnow.ebay.com/Shure-A85F-Mic-Line-Matching-Transformer_W0QQadidZ300059711741

[dLee]

A couple of other ideas -

Rent, borrow or buy several lavalier mics - one for each spectator that needs to be heard. The lavs can be wired or wireless. Run the mics into a mixer. Run the mixer output into your camcorder.

This should provide more isolation than the undirectional mic, but as gadgetguy has correctly pointed out, the shearer is probably a lost cause.

Or, you could record the shearing with only the sound of the shears. Show the video to the mic'd commentators in a quiet place and record their comments on another camcorder, digital recorder or other audio recording device. Import the commentary track into your video editor and mix.

[ridgerunrbunny]

This was not staged.

Thanks, great info.

[squirrel500]

Hello:

Would it be possible to obtain a link or a copy of the film on sheep shearing?

I would be willing to pay if necessary

thank you

squirrel500@yahoo.com