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Looking for Audio Equipment?
I need a professional industry standard boom mic, lav (at least 2 on a wireless set up), and a shotgun mic. Please list accesories you would recomend like boom poll, fur cover, blimp, extension XLR cables, etc. I am putting together a list for a production group but I am not a techie by far. The recording will be of cars and engines so I imagine these devices need to be able to withstand loud noises. Direct links to these products are a must please.
bhphotovideo
adorama
abes of maine
a few others... are reputable retails sources. Most have "kits" that bundle the important stuff.
Wireless lavalieres come in two "flavors". Either the base station can be mounted to a camcorder or the base station is rack mounted (or sitting on the floor, table, whatever...). Those that are camcorder mountable are battery power. Those that are not camera mounted are AC powered with a wall-wart. You want UHF. For camcorder mounted, I like the Sennheiser G3 series. Audio Technica makes good camera mounted systems, too. A-T has a "dual" system that has a single base station with two receivers in it. With Sennheiser, it is one base station/receiver per transmitter. Shure, Audio Technica and Sennheiser make good non-camera mounted base station systems. There are others like ElectroVoice that make good wireless gear, too. Expect to spend about $600 for each lav "system"... that should include the mic, body pack and base station/receiver (camera mount systems are more).
If the lav base stations are camera mount, you should plan on how they will mount to the camera. Since we don't know which camera, we can't recommend the mounting method. I use Sennheiser wireless lavs - and a NRG Research 3-accessory shoe "adapter" mounted to the camcorder. Some prefer to mount a base station receiver box using a bracket.
For a shotgun mic, Sennheiser, Audio Technica and EV are all good. Expect to spend about $600 to $2,000 and more per "industry standard" shotgun mic. Stereo shotgun mics are more. I like the Sennheiser stero shotgun mics. A shotgun mic becomes a "boom mic" when the shotgun mic is mounted to a boom.
Rykote makes good "dead cats" and zepellins. B&H has good kits with a boom-pole, cable, etc.
How long do the XLR cables need to be? Will the audio be recorded directly to the camcorder or to a Field Recorder (Fostex). Guitar Center has 15 foot, 25 foot and 50 foot XLR mic cables available. I suggest several (at least 4? - I carry 
25 footers - if one is not long enough, extend it with another. OR if you get the wireless system that have the "handheld wireless module", you can use what would normally be a wired shotgun mic, wirelessly... You still need to connect the base station to the audio recording device, but long cable runs might be unnecesary... see the last paragraph for a warning on RFI/EMI.
K-Tek makes decent boom poles - but is the expectation that there will be a boom pole person and/or audio person or will the boom pole be mounted to a stand - or either way? If a person is holding the boom pole, then lightweight is a must. Carbon graphite are lightest. The aluminum ones are not too bad. You can also get a clamp-adapter for heavy-duty stand-mounting... The K-Tek systems also require a "quick disconnect" mount.
A shock mount to isolate the mic from the boom pole is probably a good idea. Each of the good mic manufacturers has their shock mounts - or there are some "universal" ones (I like the Sabra SSM-1) and some of the dead cat/zepellin mic mounts include a shock mount, or they are optionally available.
Cases for the wired and wireless mics are a good idea to proect the investments. I like Pelican 1500 series cases - SKB makes good cases, too.
The lavalieres may also need optional fuzzys if the environment is windy.
A field mixer might be needed. juicedLink has a good four-channel XLR adapter field mixer if the audio is being captured directly to the camcorder.
Since you have not provided any budget information, prooviding "direct links" is not appropriate.
Be sure you have lots of batteries. Many of the above use AA (shotgun mic, lav body pack, lav camera-mounted base station) or 9-volt (XLR adapter). The field recorder (especially the large Fostex) has different needs for power.
You do not need to be a "techie" do understand audio acquisition requirements.
One thing to be REALLY careful of... engines have components that give off electro-magnetic interference (EMI). The motor's alternator can be a contributor radio frequency interference (RFI). This means any wireless equipment *could* be recording what will sound like static. With UHF, this will be minimized, but you need to have a "fall-back" position, just in case. Be sure in include a couple of hand-held, wired mics in the kit - (EV, Sennheiser, Shure, A-T are fine). And you might want to use "mic flags" on them. Those are the cube or triangle things with the news or production logo on them. A mic with a long handle will work best with the flag. Beyer Dynamic, Sennheiser and A-T make good handheld long-body mics for this. If you decide to use these as wireless, be sure to get the "bounce cover" for the wireless add-on module...
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