I will try and make this brief so I will not bore you. I shot a feature film a year or two ago and it went well, but I need to improve my sound. I self funded the film. No paid crew or no paid actors. I shot it on Super 16mm. Despite the limitations, the film went great and I plan to do another one.
In my film, I had one sound person. My wife. lol. She is an RN by trade, but we have studied quite a bit on mic placement and positioning, so I don't want to replace my free labor.
I use a boom mic throughout the whole film. These are my 3 components.
1) Audio Technica AT875R Line & Gradient CondenserMicrophone.
2) Sound Devices MM-1 Single Channel Portable Microphone Preamp.
3) Zoom H4N Handy Reconder.
That is my setup. Mic on Boom Pole > Preamp > H4N. Then I download my wave files from the H4N onto computer and I edit in FCP.
My questions/concerns. I want to improve sound for next film, but I can't scratch and start over with a whole new sound set-up. Keep my micro budget in mind. If these 3 components are good? Then what should I have my preamp settings on? Should I replace one of these components? If so, what? And what should I get? Not sure if I can replace two components due to $$. I realize I need improvement but just lack the funds to go all out. I could and would definitely drop a few hundred if need be to get the most out of the above setup. Any advice wanted. Thank-you. Eric.