How can I record very clearly the voice of the priest during a wedding without using a videocamera?

I am videotaping a wedding very soon, with a single camera. I want to get most of the priest speech in the DVD and at the same time the ceremony from different angles. To achieve that I am thinking in getting a portable device that allowes me to get the priest speech without having to be recording his face all the time. The reason for this is because I will be cutting here and there in order to get the ceremony fron different angles. Now, how do I do that? How do I record his voice to get a nice sound (I dont think that a tape recorder is the best option since the quality will suffer) Any ideas? Your help will be highly appreciated.

How can I record very clearly the voice of the priest during a wedding without using a videocamera?
If the ceremony is using some kind of a Sound system, the best bet would be to take an output from it and record it using digital media.





You could feed that sound into a laptop and use it to record the sound using digital audio recording software such as Goldwave. You could also feed the sound into a digital recorder and use that to record. There are digital recorders starting from $40 upwards. The price depends on features.





If the wedding does not use a sound system then using a mini digital recorder like the ones found here (http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stor... would be the most best bet.
Reply:this is what you need.





1. get a second camcorder to get the back angle shots.





2. get a wireless mic outfit and input to the main camcorder that you will keep running all the time!! shutting down the main camera is a reciepe for major dissastor. wedding events are sufficiently unpredictable as to require a professional to ALWAYS be taping.





If you are using cheap cameras that don't allow for external mic, then route the wireless audio to an audio recorder. the audio recorder MUST be digital system, otherwise it will have variable speed that will drive you crazy trying to match to the video. A minidisk will work, make sure you use the AC adaptor as the batteries might not last through the whole event.





your video recorder in the 16 bit mode will record exceptional quality audio, find a way to use that if you can. and it will make the editing so much easier.
Reply:Using a wireless lavelier microphone with the receiver hooked into the camcorder is the simplest way to ensure that voices will stay in sync when faces are visible. Your only concern will be to test the range ahead of time to know how far you can get away from the transmitter. You would be better off renting a professional system for a weekend than buying a consumer one as the sound quality and range are better. If there are no pro video rental places in your area, then you can rent one from a stage and lighting company.