Our setups are very similar – Tom did his first, with help from our friends Peter, Ben, and Christiaan, then Owen copied.
I call it the ‘Poundland Peter’ setup – like Peter’s only cheaper.
I’ve linked to the retailers I used, rather than directly to the products themselves, since the product versions or links might change over time.
Here’s what we’ve got:
Microphones:
Sonarworks Sound ID Reference x 4
A good quality mic with easily downloadable .cal calibration files. We have four so we can measure four positions at once. They cost around £70-80 each, I got mine from Play Music Today. If you’re just starting out or stuck for budget, maybe get one now and add more later.
If the Sonarworks units aren’t available, something will be – the important bit is that they have .cal files, so that REW and other software can compensate for the mic itself.
Do note, these are measurement microphones, designed to measure room response – don’t use them for speech or music recordings, they won’t sound good, I’ve tried. If you want that, look at Röde, AKG, Neumann and so on…
The UMIK-1 is also good, works over USB and for example works directly with Dirac, but it’s a bit noisier and we think the Sonarworks setup will take you further.
Audio Interface:
Audient EVO8
A low-noise preamp with four simultaneous XLR mic inputs, allows connection of 4x microphones at once. This can also be used for home recording to a good level (it’s actually made for that) but don’t use the measurement mics.
I got mine from Play Music Today for about £150.
Things move quickly in pro audio, so if the EVO8 isn’t available there will be another good four-input interface available.
Other useful pro-audio retailers are Studiospares and DV247
Cables:
Neutrik & Van Damme mic cables from CPC – get 10m then you should be fine in larger rooms, or if you want the laptop outside the cinema. They seem to be loads cheaper from CPC than anywhere else, at around £21 each.
I also got some Neutrik XXR colour-code rings, again from CPC. For no good reason I went for Black, White, Orange, and Violet. The cables already come with black rings, so you only need three lots. There are five rings in a packet so you could split with a friend or colleague – Tom got mine.
Then I got some small round stickers from Amazon for the mics and audio interface – it’s quicker to just match up the colours.
Stands:
Regular boom mic stands also from CPC, plus one that came with my demo Anthem AVR. I would use a full-size boom mic stand, there are a few choices.
It’s also worth getting a stereo mic bar to measure what’s arriving at each ear from a seat. CPC have those too.
Case:
I wanted something to carry the four mics above, the Audient interface, UMIK-1 and Anthem ARC mics, and eventually a Trinnov mic too.
The MAX400 from Trifibre works very well – it’s nice and deep so the mics can go in vertically.
*NB on cost, the whole thing came out to £498 + VAT (assuming three stands and four 10m cables), so we were just about right 😀
Update Nov 23: I just got this padded mic stand bag from DV247 which seems very robust and has plenty of space.
And do get in touch if something doesn’t make sense or you have a better idea for us!