Wedding videos, the visuals tend to get the most attention, time, focus, etc. But, audio is just as important as the visuals are, if not more so. That’s why we always use top notch 32bit float audio recorders, recording in 32bit float ensures we always get a clean recording, or at least makes sure we never mess up the levels. (easier to do then you would think, your gonna miss the ideal levels by a decibel or two if your only rolling 16 bit, at least once in a 30+ wedding season)
One of the primary benefits of using modern 32bit float audio recorders is that you have the ability to capture both the softest whisper, and the loudest yell, you are essentially able to mix the audio after the fact. with a traditional 16bit audio recorder, you end up needing to choose the levels before the event (which is really not predictable at a wedding) you can pick the softest whisper, the loudest yell, or somewhere in the middle, and while this often works out well, people tend to talk more then yell, I found in the past that on occasion we would miss calculate our levels day of and come back with, while usable, not ideal, audio from the day. Now don’t get me wrong, weddings are live events, and you can’t always deliver perfection with a live event, you are moving fast, and things are highly unpredictable. But 32bit audio really helps you manage all that unpredictability, minimizing bad audio recordings.
I also record backups, and redundant tracks, this can be done in a number of ways, being from broadcasting a copy of the audio live back to the camera, while recording to the transmitter pack at the same time, to grabbing a fed from the DJ as a backup. while micing up the essential people with our own recorders as well. but at the end of the day, we aim to have 2 recordings of every important event. Again events happen fast, sometimes you are running so quick you can only drop one mic, but at 90+ percent of the weddings I shoot, we manage to get a redundant recording setup running before every key vocal event.
Lastly, we never, ever rely purely on a transmitter system, and in today’s world no one should ever rely only on a wireless audio system. The airwaves are absolutely chalk full of signals and weddings happen at beautiful places, atop hills, with majestic views, and when your sitting in the worlds most beautiful places, your also sitting on a hill that picks up every single signal from the valley bellow and the mountain top next to you, while many wireless systems almost always work, they will fail at some point, the someone will turn on a transmitter that is on the same wavelength as your audio system, and it will interfere with the brides mic, and it will ruin the recording. on body audio recorders are extremely important, to ensure that wireless signals never muck up your wedding film.
At the end of the day, the important thing, as someone looking to get a wedding video, what you want to make sure, is that whoever you hire as your videographer, they take audio very seriously and know what they are doing with audio.