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July, 2025

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Filming from a distance - wearable mic??

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aldicigg
Posts: 228 - Karma: 1,396
hey ns, recently I've been taking a lot of clips from a distance, but not having audio really sucks. Have you ever tried equipping the skier with some sort of a wearable mic? Do you think it could work? I'm mostly worried about the noises caused by the body movement and vibrations. Also having to use a deadcat would prolly look funny. I really want the audio without having to rely on drastic measures like this
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5 years ago
1 0
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GunNARshredder
Posts: 52 - Karma: 277
Most edits I watch have minimal ski audio anyway, mostly music overtop. Some urban shots you can hear the audio of skis on rails and cement but a camera mic should pick that up I feel
5 years ago
3 5
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SKIWAGEN
Posts: 497 - Karma: 313
I remember a video from years ago of LJ hiking a rail with a lav mic on, that was more for talking then ski audio though. I just remember him saying “I’m mic’ed up dog!” haha. I think it would be hard to capture useable ski audio with the movement of your outerwear and everything.
5 years ago
4 0
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chris.goodhue
Posts: 946 - Karma: 6,214
Audio is huge.

I've put a LAV mic in a mountain bikers pocket before and got some decent audio. I'm sure you could do it skiing. A cheap LAV setup could be an alternative option.
5 years ago
1 0
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aldicigg
Posts: 228 - Karma: 1,396
thanks for the input, I'll probably buy a cheap lav mic and experiment with the placement a bit. Might report back
5 years ago
0 0
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eheath
Posts: 61979 - Karma: 126,985
I've use a lav mic a few times, the mic always gets messed up so you need to monitor your audio, but otherwise it can produce good results. I recommend putting the mic under a cotton layer and if they have a jacket on, they need to unzip it to the mic or else it will be pretty muffled by the jacket.
5 years ago
3 0
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aldicigg
Posts: 228 - Karma: 1,396
thanks for the tips
5 years ago
0 0
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JAlps
Posts: 555 - Karma: 1,939
I'd say if you are looking to record talking try a lav mic, but otherwise taking a field recorder/mic out one day and just stacking lots of foley and putting it in after the fact would be the smoothest workflow.
5 years ago
1 0
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VT_scratch
Posts: 8866 - Karma: 6,833
super fun thing to do with filming skiing. If you are new to this the cheapest way to go is to get something like a rode smart lav that would plug into your skiers smartphone. he would record the audio on that and you would sync it up in post. Make sure to have the skier clap while you are filming (before the trick) to get an easy sync point on both your camera's audio and the smart phone audio.

Next reliable yet still cheap option up would be the rode wireless go. Then plenty of better wireless lavs there but you gotta pay to play lol.
5 years ago
1 0
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VT_scratch
Posts: 8866 - Karma: 6,833
kalinski.I remember a video from years ago of LJ hiking a rail with a lav mic on, that was more for talking then ski audio though. I just remember him saying “I’m mic’ed up dog!” haha. I think it would be hard to capture useable ski audio with the movement of your outerwear and everything.


took me a bit to find but yup this is the one! always loved this seg. Starts at 6:26 if the autoplay doesn't work.
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/626468/LINE-Traveling-Circus-1-4-Style-Coach
5 years ago
2 0
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aldicigg
Posts: 228 - Karma: 1,396
VT_scratchsuper fun thing to do with filming skiing. If you are new to this the cheapest way to go is to get something like a rode smart lav that would plug into your skiers smartphone. he would record the audio on that and you would sync it up in post.


That's exactly what I had in mind, down to the mic choice. Probably won't be able to try it out until january tho
5 years ago
1 0
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GrapeHunter
Posts: 2406 - Karma: 8,782
Put a shotgun mic on your camera, you'd be surprised with the sound that it can grab at a distance. The other thing is, with Level 1 films for example, they have a massive database of just ski sounds, and a lot of/if not all of their distance shots just use designed and layered sound effects. Look into sound design for that regard.
5 years ago
2 0
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