Recording Audio for a wedding

[TRCS]

Hey guys,

First off- my main experience with audio is small time studio work and a bit of live mixing. I've been asked by my brother to capture quality audio at this wedding he's photographing and having a guy shoot with a D5. I'm planning on taking my fireface 800 and recording to pro tools... Timecode isn't an option as far as syncing the FF800 with the D5 (I don't think anyway). What are some things I should take into consideration? Are we going to run into crazy sync issues with a 20-30 minute ceremony clip?

Has anyone had experience using a FF for live recording? I was planning on patching the mics directly into the FF and then outputting them to the live mixer. I don't think this will be an issue when using TotalMix.

Not sure if that's enough information...

Thanks for any input!

[JackHenry]

My wife is a Celebrant & I record all of the ceremonies for future reference if needed. She uses a small head worn mic and a handheld for the couple. When she is doing her part of the ceremony, the handheld is muted. When the couple are doing their part, Kerry's mic is muted. It's very unusual that we'd mic the couple. And if anyone is doing a reading, they come through on the hand held. I should say that Kerry holds the hand held mic for the couple and/or reader. These are obviously both wireless to the amplifer. We have yet to have a couple that can project their voice enough during this stressful time to NOT use a mic, even though most grooms will say they don't need it. They do, they just don't realise it.

I take a line-out feed from the amp to the line-in of my Sound Devices recorder.

[jason porter]

If the camera is a Canon 5d, your takes will be limited to 10-12 minutes, I believe.

To make syncing easier, mark each take with a hand clap or some other audio/visual cue that both the camera and audio recording can see/hear.

[TRCS]

Thanks for the replies! I was planning on using a 416 mounted on a stand about waist-ish height... It's an outdoor wedding and most of the time when I do live sound for weddings everyone is happy having an SM58 mounted the same way. I just figured the shotgun will do a better job. But you're right about everyone having to speak up... I know the pastor has great projection so he won't be an issue.

I also have to capture a couple singing performances and an acoustic guitar- planning on just using a DI for the guitar and two 58s. Has anyone tried going from the FireFace to a live mixer?

The guy using the Canon D5 is fine for shooting shorter clips- it's the Nikon D7000 that they're hoping to run straight through mounted on a tripod... Apparently it's limited to 20 minute files. Will that length created sync problems?

Thanks again.

[Izen Ears]

Hey listen - beyond how you're going to get the ceremony I highly recommend getting impromptu interviews from the guests. Not all of them but the ones who want to talk to you. I mean everyone is there on that day and you might as well capture some other sound besides the usual ceremony & reception speeches.

I'm talking about a sound only deal, norms talk much more freely to a person holding a mic versus a camera. You could rove around with a Zoom H4 or Sony PCM D50. If you're tethered to a computer then bring people over to you and use your 416. Eventually these recordings will trigger memories far beyond the ceremony & speeches recordings I promise.

You can cut up a "best of" or leave the interview recordings intact for future memory-triggering. Plus you might even learn things about your brother that you didn't know. This idea came solely from Betsy my boom op, who edited together sound recordings from a friend's wedding and the interviews are by far the most interesting. You never know where an innocent question like "How do you know the groom?" can lead!

Dan Izen

[Jeff Babb]

Thanks for the replies! I was planning on using a 416 mounted on a stand about waist-ish height... It's an outdoor wedding and most of the time when I do live sound for weddings everyone is happy having an SM58 mounted the same way. I just figured the shotgun will do a better job. But you're right about everyone having to speak up... I know the pastor has great projection so he won't be an issue.

After a dozen or so weddings here's what I've learned... Lav the groom at the tie clasp and lav the preacher. The groom's lav will pick up the bride since she's looking right at the groom. A 416 on a waist high stand with a blimp will be the little gray haired kid in every wedding picture they'll have. And a guarantee that people looking through the wedding album and the video will say "what's that?" Save the 416 for the interviews.

If they are shooting on 5Ds have them start a few seconds apart. The first can restart while the second is still running. Then the second can restart. Shoot lots of inserts later to cover the edits.

[TRCS]

Hey guys,

I just wanted to let you know how everything went as far as audio. And first off- thanks for the replies! As I've said before, my background is studio work/live sound for bands... and a bit of audio restoration. I'm trying to break into doing audio for video and have so much to learn! This site seems awesome for that.

Anyway, I ended up just using an SM58 that the pastor held (the pastor and I are good friends and he didn't mind holding the mic and even aiming it towards the bride and groom as they did their parts). I ran the 58 into my FireFace and then ran that into the live mixer... Because of Totalmix I didn't have any delay which was great.

The bride and groom were also very relaxed- I've also known them for a few years- so honestly this wasn't the best "stress" test out there. But I think it was definitely a good first one to get me going.

I don't have any wireless equipment, so that's on my radar along with a ton of other items... Heh.

Thanks again guys- when the video guy is done editing I may just post the video.

Cheers,

Luke

[Michael Miramontes]

Hey listen - beyond how you're going to get the ceremony I highly recommend getting impromptu interviews from the guests. Not all of them but the ones who want to talk to you. I mean everyone is there on that day and you might as well capture some other sound besides the usual ceremony & reception speeches.

I'm talking about a sound only deal, norms talk much more freely to a person holding a mic versus a camera. You could rove around with a Zoom H4 or Sony PCM D50. If you're tethered to a computer then bring people over to you and use your 416. Eventually these recordings will trigger memories far beyond the ceremony & speeches recordings I promise.

You can cut up a "best of" or leave the interview recordings intact for future memory-triggering. Plus you might even learn things about your brother that you didn't know. This idea came solely from Betsy my boom op, who edited together sound recordings from a friend's wedding and the interviews are by far the most interesting. You never know where an innocent question like "How do you know the groom?" can lead!

Dan Izen

Excellent advice! I've done probably over 600 weddings in my lifetime ( I started helping my dad when I was 7) and would have to say this tip is right on the money. It makes all the difference in the world.