purchaseing a decent boom system

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deckardScott1980

Well-known member
i am in the process of purchasing a good decent boom mic and pole for the purpose of making short and feature length films. I want something thats efficeint in recording good quality audio yet not to expensive. Im looking through b and h catalog. Anyone have any suggestions on what combo i can get??? anything would help
 
Might do some searching and read the stickies as far as mics are concerned. My initial reccomendations would be the oktava for indoors and ntg1 for outdoors. Both will require shock mounts and some sort of wind protection. As far as the boom the budget reccomendation seems to be the gitzo carbon fiber series. Dont remember the model numbers but I know adorama carries the range of sizes.
 
Do a search on this forum for "Booms" and you'll get tons of recommendations. I just bought the K-Tek 152cc 12.5' carbon fiber boom with internal cabling and I am like a pig in poop... light, easy to adjust. About $550 from www.trewaudio.com.
Wherever you can, spend good money on quality pieces for your kit and you'll only have to buy once!
Good luck with your search.
 
Do a search on this forum for "Booms" and you'll get tons of recommendations. I just bought the K-Tek 152cc 12.5' carbon fiber boom with internal cabling and I am like a pig in poop... light, easy to adjust. About $550 from www.trewaudio.com.
Wherever you can, spend good money on quality pieces for your kit and you'll only have to buy once!
Good luck with your search.
 
I know a very popular mic for a lot of low budget filmmakers is the Sennheiser ME66/K6. Around $410 on B&H. A very good mic, and probably the cheapest for good sound quality. The Rode NTG1 is not very good; I have had experience with it, and many other people I've talked to find it useless in the field. OK as an instrument mic, but I wouldn't reccommend it for use in the field.
Oktava, it depends what model, but I've also heard bad things about it. The most comomnly used seems to be the MC012. I haven't had any experience with it myself, but I've heard its very muddy, especially for use in the field. Its a pretty damn good instrument mic, but its not a shotgun.
 
Jax,

If you do a search here, you will find that the ME66/K6 combo is one of the least recommended mics in this forum. There are many better options that are lower priced and provide better sound quality.

Most importantly, read the stickies - they will provide you with tons of great info.

Phil
 
jax_rox said:
I know a very popular mic for a lot of low budget filmmakers is the Sennheiser ME66/K6. Around $410 on B&H. A very good mic, and probably the cheapest for good sound quality. The Rode NTG1 is not very good; I have had experience with it, and many other people I've talked to find it useless in the field. OK as an instrument mic, but I wouldn't reccommend it for use in the field.
Oktava, it depends what model, but I've also heard bad things about it. The most comomnly used seems to be the MC012. I haven't had any experience with it myself, but I've heard its very muddy, especially for use in the field. Its a pretty damn good instrument mic, but its not a shotgun.
Click to expand...

ME66/K6 = bleh me and others would say as ptalasky said many other better options out there. You will hear "bad" things about every mic from someone. Read the stickies.

About Oktava, yeah it is not a shotgun not meant to be. It's hyper, for interiors. For it's price, it's great. Surprises me everytime. Its a pretty damn good mic period as long as you know it's limitations and purpose. It can be muddy yes, you'll find "better" mics, but for that price? Imo still no. But a few hundred more and can see options. Many posts out there, read stickies comparisons.

I got an Oktava because I was on a strict budget when I got mine and wanted best sound could get (hyper). That wasnt ME66. If I had more money, say 1k, I probably would have gotten another mic. Although glad I still got my little Oktava I luv it.

Also use a Gitzo Carbon Fiber, 12' boom. For at time 200. Was great, still use it, and too lazy to go get it to find model number atm =( Fine boom for price, length was most important to me and carbon fiber, = lighter, for low price. Sold! =)
 
The first thing you must ask yourself is what can you afford as your budget.
The second thing, as many audio gurus here have told me, figure out what your needs will be.

Here's the thing, do you foresee most of your stories taking place indoors? outdoors? what type of environment do you live in? etc.

You could probably get away with using the Oktava for your indoor stuff and if you don't film much outdoors, your outdoor stuff too. You already have thoughts I'm sure in your mind how you're going to film, what places you'd like to film, this is your key. The budget is the other consideration.
 
dont get an me66.

do consider an oktava. if you can afford a shotgun mic too, search for "top 5 shotguns" and work your way from best to worst until you find the best one in your price bracket.

boom - avoid aluminium if you can, try aim for an internal cable and BUY IT FITTED, consider what length you NEED, not what you want, carefully consider the weight - some booms are heavy as bricks and this is all you'll care about at the end of a long day: trust me.

dont forget wind protection and shock mounting - these make the price of any mic go up quite considerably, but are NOT NEGOTIABLE features unless you are ONLY ONLY ONLY filming inside with no exceptions ever.



last point - i know it sounds funny, but try not to cheap out, where possible. this ALWAYS leads to disappointment later on, and ultimately you need to upgrade. end result? you've spent more cash, and in the interim filmed a bunch of stuff on crappy gear. cut that whole business out! just buy the good stuff now, start reaping its benefits now, and dont have to pay a wad of cash later to upgrade. its a big leap to take, but most of the more experienced guys here will agree with me that in retrospect it would have been very beneficial.
 
there is allot of good used gear outside , if you will check you definitely can find some nice microphones for half price , the me 66 is realy not one of them .
even the old k-3u with me 80 sound significantly better .
 
Im shopping for a boom as well. I have a stereo shotgun tough. Any of these not so expensive booms have stereo wiring?
 
every boom tht wiered for one wire could be rewired for 2
check trew audio , they sell stero coiled cables
 
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