Re: wedding audio

I always lav mic the officient, and the groom. If there is a podium and people are going to be reading scripture or speeches, that usually gets a lav as well. All of this goes wirelessly into my Edirol R-4 as 3 separate tracks which I add in post. On camera I usually have another receiver for the officient's mic for backup.

The mics' sensitivities are tweaked to my preference. If there is any unwanted talking during the ceremony, in post, I can just delete that section of whichever track and move on.

There's no perfect solution for good audio, especially at a wedding. Money will have to be spent. Time will have to be spent. There's no way around that. I'm using Sennheiser G2 100 series and have used them solidly for the last, going on 5 years now. The sensitivities are low but with the R-4 you can gain up as you're recording but I usually duplicate the audio tracks multiple times in post. It comes out very, very clean with minimal background noise, and little or no echo.

As for reception audio, I typically tap into the DJ's board through XLR, RCA, 1/4, or pretty much whatever he's got available. As a videographer you have to be ready to be able to tap into anything and everything to get a clean feed. With a band its no different. Often times they have their own mixer that has an out you can tap into. Speakers are also a good source, but be careful with this one. Sometimes the DJ or band doesn't modulate the audio and the feed will be too hot. Just have to monitor throughout the night or find a different source.

Hope this helps. I don't like adding to my post workflow either, but in all honesty, its all about the end product and not how fast we can get the project out. Of course, that does help.


~aaron