Sound Reasoning: Sweet Sound of Matrimony (page 3)

Shooting the Reception

At both wedding receptions, Bob and John each plan to capture the important events: close-up interviews with the wedding party, major speeches, the bride and groom dancing, cake cutting, the garter throwing and so on.

You can do most of this with the camcorder's built-in mike; that's exactly what Bob does. He launches right into his reception shots trusting the camcorder mike to catch all the audio. It does just that, recording every last noise, laugh and creaking chair with aplomb.

Because most camcorder mikes are omnidirectional, they pick up sound from all directions equally. This is fine for some events, like limo arrivals, garter throws and dances. However, this "catch-all" nature of camcorder mikes usually records washed out voices during interviews or conversations. Throw in a band, and you virtually guarantee unintelligible audio. Like Bob's.

Now to be fair, John also uses his camcorder mike a lot during receptions. But when he's shooting interviews, he'll generally escort the individual(s) outside, where quiet prevails.

For some interviews, John switches to his camcorder-mounted unidirectional mike (favors sound coming from directly in front). John may even ask the interviewee to wear a lapel mike, if necessary. Of course, he bases his decisions on what he hears through his earphones. John will also switch to the camcorder-mounted directional mike to pick up speeches. Or, if he has time, he'll mount a mike on a stand near the p…