acuriousman Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 I'm going to get some serious gear soon and I have to upgrade my current shotgun. I'll be shooting a lot of interior shots in small to medium sized rooms. From what I've been told, a shotgun mic like the MKH 416 is terrible for indoors, correct? What's the best indoor mic for $1,000 and under? Ratguity 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zach Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Shotgun mics are great for indoor and studio use. Unless its just a really really small room, and then it likely won't sound good regardless. Shotgun mics do the best job of picking up sources directly in front of them, and rejecting sounds from the sides. This would include echo from the walls of smallish rooms. Heres a nice primer on b&h http://www.bhphotovideo.com/indepth/audio/buying-guides/shotgun-microphones The Rode ntg-3 is pretty great, and a nice bit under $1,000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtheory Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 The NTGs also have additional accessories like shock mount and pistol grip w/ zeppelin, - quite a modular system overall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt2491 Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 I have two NTG2's I've been pretty happy with. Wish I could try out an NTG3 just to see if I'm missing much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acuriousman Posted July 30, 2013 Author Share Posted July 30, 2013 Is the NTG-3 better than the Audio-Technica AT4053b? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zach Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 You'll probably be hard pressed to find someone on this forum that has actually used both of them. The hypercardioid pickup pattern leads me to believe it is probably similar in use to the NTG-3 -very directional with good off-axis rejection, though I can't comment on the sound because I haven't used it. gearslutz.com is a great audio forum that has tons of gear reviews and questions. You might be able to find more specifics on each of the mics there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peederj Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Sennheiser MKH-416. No exceptions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcs Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Schoeps CMIT5U (when it's on sale for $1000 ;)) Zach and peederj 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Prater Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 I'm going to get some serious gear soon and I have to upgrade my current shotgun. Question: what does your audio pipeline look like behind the microphone? What are you recording with? Are you upgrading that, too? Zach 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnBarlow Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 For that money you can get some (more than one) great tube mics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Andrew Reid Posted July 30, 2013 Administrators Share Posted July 30, 2013 Roland R-26. I'm in love with it. Not a shotgun mic but a fully featured portable recorder with two stereo mics built in. I'll be writing about that soon on here. Zach 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smeeth123 Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Shotgun mics will definitely do a decent job in most indoor environments. However, I find that in many rooms they tend to pick up reflections that can cause dialogue to have a somewhat unnatural sound. For my money I would recommend a super or hyper cardioid small-daiphram condenser mic, like the Audio-Technica AT4053b (as you mentioned) or the Audix SCX1. The Schoeps CMC6 MK41 is definitely the cream of the crop for indoor dialogue recording, but it usually goes for just shy of $2,000. Don't get me wrong, all of the shotgun mics mentioned here are fantastic, but for indoor use, they are not always the best option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcs Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 +Sanken CS3e and Sennheiser MKH-60 (~$500 over $1k; very popular). If it has to be under $1K, Audio Technica 4053b is a great value for $600. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peederj Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 The Schoeps of course has the best sound but not the best reach and tends to crap out in humidity. Sankens can also be very good but priced accordingly. The MKH-416 is the warhorse Hollywood relies on. I dislike everything cheaper, though I do like the Rode Stereo VideoMic Pro a lot for on-camera room tone. Cheaper shotguns will lobe out irregularly off-axis and potentially color the room tone as Smeeth suggests, but the ones I'm recommending won't if aimed properly at the source (and your soundie should have headphones and taste and adjust accordingly). A wider pickup pattern will pick up more, not less, early reflections for a given distance from the source...and unless you are doing extreme closeups you will want to keep them out of the shot. Thus the value of shotguns, a microphone equivalent of a telephoto lens, giving you good isolation at 1-2m distance. Tip of the day: while it's consistent to boom shotguns from above the talent, this is just standard because of whole-body shots. If you aren't shooting the feet, or are doing punch-ins, I find it better to mic from below the talent than above...as people are more likely to look down than up, and when looking down, tend to speak quieter than when looking up. You can have the mics on stands below the talent in this case. Shotguns are also almost always better than lavs but having a lav as a backup (use moleskin to adhere them to the inside of their shirt, address face clear and up) is a damn good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huuow Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 I was told by an expert today that the Sennheiser 416 is a pretty old microphone and is actually very aggressive in its sound. It´s still produced by Sennheiser because of popularity and sales but they discarded it from their shop cause of better performers. Likewise in this pricerange he mentioned the Neumann K81 or Sennheiser MKH 8060 as beeing excelent mics. And of course one single Mic will not get you through every situation... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zach Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Roland R-26. I'm in love with it. Not a shotgun mic but a fully featured portable recorder with two stereo mics built in. I'll be writing about that soon on here. Please do - i've been considering picking one up but have yet to hear any really good examples. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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