A question for wedding videographers?

Question

During the speeches, do you give the people who talks the same kind of mics you gave the couple when they did the vows?

Answer 1

I tapped the churches sound system and recorded it on dat tapes with a central timecode generator.

Multiple cameras were also receiving the same timecode signal.

Makes it very easy to edit on the workstation, since the timecode is synchronized....everything automatically synchronizes once you import it into your editing app...

Answer 2

This might sound really simple but I use a Canon XL2 and the mic is realy good on it. So I pick up excellent sound from a few feet away. I use two one on the minister and the other on the couple. Never had to deal with problems at all. No messing around with lapel mics or anything of the sort.

Answer 3

The people "giving speeches" normally stand at a lectern. There is a desk-top mic or a hand-held mic in a mic stand. Or, if they are not at a lectern, then a stick or boom mic stand holding the mic.

For the wedding vows, you don't want an ugly mic stand or huge hand-held mic visible. Use a good wireless, UHF, full diversity, laveliere (clip on) mic. Typically, one on the person presiding over the ceremony is enough since everyone stands pretty close together during the vows. If you can afford it, then the person presiding over the ceremony AND the bride AND the groom get their own lavs.

Shure, Sennheiser, Sony Professional and Audio Technica make good wired mics and wireless lavs.

Typically, good mics use XLR connectors, so you may need to us an XLR adapter (like those from juicedLink or BeachTek) to connect the mics to your camcorder.

If you go more than a couple of mics, you probably want someone else to do the audio - and record into a field recorder like a Zoom or M-Audio or Fostex or Marantz... You can sync this audio later during the video editing...