BTS: Dual iPhone Mobile Interview Video Rig for NAMM 2017

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 Last years NAMM event was really amazing. I had a chance to interview some of my heros in the virtual instrument world.

What I didn’t love about attending the show was all the grear I was lugging around with me. So this year I vowed to slim down my video / interview rig.

Prepperaring for NAMM 2017 I wanted to be able to shoot some footage to share with you lovely people and conduct interviews with some of the software/hardware devs I get to meet with at the show. The previous year I hauled around a “suitcase on wheels” the entire show with cameras, lights, microphones and a video tripod.

I knew there had to be a better way to get nice looking video and decent audio in the convention center setting without having to haul all that gear around.

I ended up going with a dual iPhone rig. One iPhone 7 Plus for video and another iPhone to record the audio. I could marry the two (video/audio) together in post with minimal effort. The only hold up I had was I couldn’t find a good iPhone mount for my “video” iPhone that was compatible with my professional tripod. What I had been finding was cheap plastic “clamps” and I didn’t want to risk that in a busy convention environment.

I opted to go with the Manfrotto iPhone Twist Grip that I found at the apple store. If you looking around hurry out to your apple store as I check online and it looks like quantities are scarce! Only other place I found it available was at amazon.

The Twist Grip is mounted on a swivel head and then on top of my Manfrotto Monopod.

For the audio recording into the 2nd iphone (an Iphone 5) I grabbed a few of these mini microphones (again from amazon) but I am sure you can find many options.

To get better lighting I opted to mount a LED light on top of the camera. I picked up a “Generic LED-204” a couple years ago. It was only $30 and it has really held up. I would like to upgrade the hotshoe-to-LED hardware at some point, but for now this will do the trick.

Looking forward to the show lots of posts throughout the week!