Mic solution for classical music video

[Jon O'Brien]

In November I have a shoot coming up with two classical musicians. One's a cellist, the other a pianist. They're both really good players, amongst the best in my area.

The cellist asked me if I could film a simple video for advertising their duo online. This won't be a live gig in front of an audience, so we can do other takes. I will also be doing a video ad for the wedding venue (a privately owned Chapel).

The plan is that they will play together in the chapel and I will film them, with B-roll shots to fill the scene out. My question is mainly about the audio challenge for this shoot.

I want to film them as if they are both playing acoustically, like they do for wedding gigs (the pianist will be playing on a digital keyboard  but for all intents and purposes it's an acoustic performance).

So, ideally, I don't want microphones in the scene.

How is it best to do this, and still get great audio?

My current plan is to get hold of another Deity S-Mic 2s small shotgun mic, and use that with my other one and mount both on a boom pole. The boom pole gets held up by a C stand with weight bag on the legs. I put the two mics, perhaps in XY configuration, approximately in the centre of the two musicians, up high and just out of shot.

Two long mic cables with XLR connectors go to either directly into a Canon C300 MkIII or into a Zoom recorder. I will need to get better headphones to properly monitor the audio.

Does this plan sound feasible? What are other ways to mic this shoot? Can anyone recommend good, low-cost mic solutions other than getting another Deity mic. What about Rode mics?

How do other music video shooters handle filming gigs like this?

Also, at first I was tempted to hire a second camera, and do a multicam setup, but I think I will have to shoot this with just one C300. My plan is to film an entire run of a performance, the camera locked off on a tripod, medium wide shot. Then do further takes for B-roll shots, with CU shots etc. Any advice appreciated. Thanks!

 

 

Edited October 23 by Jon O'Brien

[Jon O'Brien]

Here's another possibility. Just get a good Zoom recorder with its own mics and mount that on the boom pole, in the middle and above the players, just out of frame. Sound won't be as good maybe.

Or just get some great shots of them. Get them to make a studio recording of one of their pieces. Use that recording as a non-sync track to various images of them playing in the venue, with slow-mo here and there.

Edited October 23 by Jon O'Brien

[Brian Drysdale]

I knew a BBC sound supervisor who could mic an orchestra with a single microphone. Assuming a room with good acoustics, it was placed to the front and high, in your case it would be a spot that has a good balance between the piano and the cello.  

[Nicolas POISSON]

At a distance, the room's acoustic plays a much more important role than the mic. If acoustic is lower than "great", there is not much to do. Shotgun mics with interference tube are not the preferred choice in reverberant spaces, as reflections cause weird comb filtering which translates into metallic / robot sound, a bit like if you were using a vocoder.

It will be way easier to get decent sound using close miking. For the piano, you can mike the soundboard from the rear, or hide the mics in the piano behind the upper or lower panel. The later gives a darker sound and there is a risk of getting more pedal noise, but some pianists may want to remove the upper panel. The piano will benefit from a stereo recording. On the cello, you could use DPA 4099, which are easy to place, but will remain visible. You could also use any decent lavalier on the tailpiece (very easy to hide both mic and cable) or on the bridge.

 

Edited October 24 by Nicolas POISSON

[Jon O'Brien]

Hi Brian, yes I think the less mics for recording acoustic music generally the better. I've heard it said that many of the best classical recordings were made with just two mics in a stereo array.

Thanks Nicolas, that's very helpful information. I'm going to get into close micing of instruments a little bit further along the track. I agree about the problems inherent with shotgun mics for this sort of audio capture.

My current plan is to use two Rode NT5 mics, each on a separate boom, on separate light stands or C stands if necessary, just above and out of frame. One aimed at the cello f holes and the other towards the centre of the piano, then listen carefully and adjust, then do a take. These mics are designed for recording acoustic instruments.

The Deity S-mic 2s I normally use on top of the camera is a fantastic mic but is too directional for this job.

Always interested to read more ideas if anyone's got any knowledge/experience to share. Thanks!