Getting everything ready for a camera shoot is hard work. There are lots of equipment to be moved, lots of heavy equipment to be carried and lots of expensive equipment to be potentially damaged. That’s why it’s such a great feeling to finally wrap up a shoot. But one tiny thing that can go unnoticed and completely wrong with your shoot may have happened: you didn’t check the mic levels, and now your sound is either too quiet or distorted.
Instructions
Setting Lavalier and Shotgun Mic Configuration Levels
1. Perform an inventory check of all your stuff before you depart for the shoot. Once you’re there, you may not be able to check all your equipment or go back to retrieve forgotten items, so this will be vital. The wireless system you will be using for the lavalier microphone will require batteries. Check to see that the ones you’re using are fresh and that you have some extras just in case.
2. Insert the shortest XLR cable you can find into input channel one of your camera. Insert the other end of that cable into your wireless receiver box, which will mount on the side of your camera. On the host, hook the lavalier microphone to the lapel or tie or anywhere in the upper middle chest area. The lavalier cable is run down the inside of the clothes to the wireless transmitter located somewhere on the host (usually in a pocket or clipped to the waist).
3. Connect another short XLR cable into input channel two and plug the other end into your shotgun mic. With a short XLR cable, the shotgun mic gets mounted on a special rack on the side of the camera. Make sure it is well secured or unwanted sound will get into your mix. Some extra padding around the clamps will fix this problem.
4. Check that your microphones are running into the camera correctly. Since they are two separate tracks, they should not be run into the camera as stereo. This will irreversibly join the two tracks together and make editing and mixing very troublesome.
5. Have the host or an assistant speak into each individual microphone. There are volume levels on the side of your camera as well as a decibel meter that will inform you if your sound is too loud and peaking. Try to get the levels as loud as you can without peaking. It helps to have the host or the assistant check levels using a normal or slightly louder volume to their voice.
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