what's a good boom/shotgun mic? - IndieTalk

killedatschool · 11-06-2005, 03:23 PM

ok, so I am finished with the script. Armed with a camera, crew, and cast. Now we are about to buy a mic. Small question though, which one do we buy?

Sennheiser ME66 K6
I found a good deal on one of these.

Sennheiser MKH-418S
A bit more out of my price range but if it's the best then maybe I can make some sacrafices.

Or any other quality mic at good prices that I may not know about. I was told about Azden. Those mics look like garbage to me but the price is nice. Any way let me know whats out there, and what would be the best choice for a micro-budget production.

Boz Uriel · 11-06-2005, 04:59 PM

Page slap.

http://www.lafcpug.org/review_shotgun_mic.html

killedatschool · 11-06-2005, 06:12 PM

wonderful. thank you. this answers everything.

spinner · 11-07-2005, 01:05 AM

...Audio Technica 835b. Costs about $150 give or take and I LOVE this mic. Suggested by Knightly and a good suggestion it was, too...

--spinner

indietalk · 11-07-2005, 01:06 AM

I second the 835b. If you've seen my film ...To Skin a Cat, it was the mic used.

knightly · 11-07-2005, 07:53 AM

I'd love to be able to afford the 835, but alas, I have it's $50 younger brother, the ATR-55. I'm getting really good sound out of it for $50 though.

Business_Eskimo · 11-10-2005, 10:05 PM

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Business_Eskimo · 11-10-2005, 10:19 PM

I've got the ATR55 as well. I've been having it with it being rediculously soft (have to crank the volume all the way up on my mic to line driver/headphone monitor so it is audible on the monitor 'phones and the audio track).

Haven't had the chance to use it properly in a short yet, I'll be filming tomorrow with it. I'm worried the audio is going to be too staticky as I'm using about 10 feet of unbalanced XLR cable.

Anyway, I know the ME66 is a good mic as I've had the chance to play with one. It produces nice, solid, loud, clear sound. Need I say more?

knightly · 11-11-2005, 02:05 PM

Make sure that you keep the mic line away from power cables and lights and stuff. If you do have to cross a power cable, do so at a 90 degree angle to minimize inductance. This will come through as a 60 hz (in the US and Japan) or 50 hz (in the rest of the world) buzz. Most editing packages have 60hz filters in their audio filters list. I'm currently looking into getting or making an inline pre-amp for this microphone (or any other with an 1/8th in. plug).

spinner · 11-18-2005, 01:05 PM

...well, even though there is a $50 dollar mic, my thinking in purchasing equipment has been, or any purchase of any kind for that matter: If what you really want is $150, if you can possibly tighten your belt and go without for a paycheck or so, purchase the $150 mic, because now the mic you want will cost you $200.

...If you can think of it as an 'investment' as I have been, then you can think, and this is me thinking: Yes, there will be G5 computers but there won't be any laptops for a while, if I trick out the G4 now so that it does exactly what I want it to do now, then it will still theoretically do what I want it to even after there is a G5 laptop...

...besides, you will never be able to keep up with the technology unless you have alot of money, and I sure don't...

--spinner