20061210

microphones - shotgun, lav, hypercardioid

God, I dont want to get into the HVX100's internal amp's. Nor do I want to hack the internal mic to death like some crazy nutcases . I just want some decent audio to start with. I dont even mind the ambient noise of a room or out door. Though this thread does cover the most important pitfalls: avoid dialog in spaces with lots of hard surfaces that will reflect sound. Place your mic to point away from things that reflect where possible. Outdoors, obviously up. Get mic 2ft within audio source. Frame for this. (all this is debatable, and debated in formentioned thread).

shotgun microphones are generally used for outdoor. They are more directional. Different mic's work for different ranges. Pictures should be framed with this in mind. The recommended models range from $200 to $600. This is outside my budget for the time being but some i will note for the future are Rode NTG-2 $300, Audio Technica AT4073A $600 or AT835b $250. Lucky for me almost all my shots will be indoor so the shotgun is not something im digging into yet. If I have to Ill get a cheap ATR55 for $50. In all cases one needs a boom, shockmount (some recommend the K-SSM $20 which works with most of the shotguns i just listed ) and perhaps a wind screen.

Hypercardioid microphones are less directional and used indoors. Pretty much everyone seems to be convinced on the Oktava MK012 $200. And that appears to be what I'm going for.

Lav mics are for situations where the other two wont do. these are the clip on mics. not going there for now.

So my kit, a MK012 $200, Shockmount $20 and boom pole $80. Sound blankets. So $300.

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