You're all probably sick of thsi question....

taormina

taormina

Hates to Rent
But I'm looking for a good mic and pole for the $500 range for use in the rare times that I don't hire a sound guy. It has to be decent stuff, though.

Only do narrative work.

Yes, I did read the mulitpage threads on mics and am more confused than ever. Fire away.
 
A good mic in the $500 range is the AT4073. A good pole is the $270-ish Gitzo 12'. But a good mic *and* pole for $500? Er... well... there's gonna be some compromises on that one. You could get a cheapo Markertek aluminum pole for under $100, but it ain't gonna be "good". Would probably be fine if it's for rare usage though.
 
Adam,
You could go with a good mic and a piece of PVC. You could fasten a little suspension adapter to it so you wouldn't have to gaffe take your mic to it.

Why don't you see what type of pole you can get used on here or ebay? Then spend the rest on a mic.
 
Well I'm a big fan of the Senn 416. However, that's over $1000 just for the mic. Try the AT with a good boom pole. K-Tek or Gitzo my friend. However, Loon Audio had some interesting selections as recently features on FreshDV's NAB series.
 
The thing is, I don't want to go nuts. Whenever I do something serious, I hire a sound guy. He brings his stuff including hard drives, wireless mics, headphones for the whole crew, mixer, etc. etc.

Then I have the other scenario. Little shorts I do at home suck the big one 'cause the HVX's mic is so crappy. So I figure If I buy something decent for when I don't have crew, the quality should fall into the 'listenable' range.

Thanks for the help, guys!
 
Well, it's not so much that the HVX's mic is crappy, it's that *any* on-camera mic is crappy. Including if you mounted that $1,000 Sennheiser 416 on the HVX, it's not going to sound good. You could put a $250 AT835B on a boom pole a foot from your actor, and the $1,000 MKH416 on the camera 8 feet away, and the sound from the cheaper mic will blow away the more expensive one, specifically because of the distance. If you put both mics a foot away from the actor, then yes the 416 will sound better.

So if all you're trying to do is get noticeably better than on-camera mic performance, you could save some bucks and go with something like an AT897 for under $300 -- just make sure you get it nice and close and aimed properly and in a proper suspension. You'll get better results from the 4073, and even better results from a 416, but I bet you'd get 80% of the way to where you want to go with a nice closely-mic'd AT897 or something like that. But a true condenser is better, such as the 4073A.
 
Are you shooting primarily indoors or outdoors?

When you shoot, do you film your dialogue in close ups and medium shots or are you all wide angles? Meaning, can you get the mic to within 18" of the speaker's mouth?
 
Don't be afraid of used equipment. I picked up a used Senn. 416 for $500 (including a factory tuneup) and have been very happy with it. Shawneous' question is a good one, because if you're going to shoot outdoors at all, you will need wind protection (a blimp, not just a softie, and definitely not the foam protector that comes with most mics - that is worthless).

Phil
 
ptalsky said:
Don't be afraid of used equipment. I picked up a used Senn. 416 for $500 (including a factory tuneup) and have been very happy with it. Shawneous' question is a good one, because if you're going to shoot outdoors at all, you will need wind protection (a blimp, not just a softie, and definitely not the foam protector that comes with most mics - that is worthless).

Phil
Click to expand...

I was going to suggest used, too. If you have a budget, used can work for you. For outdoors, a good and inexpensive mic for you might be the Rode ntg-2. I have used it outdoors for ENG type stuff, camera mounted, and it works great. It's a $400 mic here, but much cheaper in the states, and used would be an even better buy.

Oleg raves about octava's mics for indoors, so you might want to check them out. They're not expensive at all, so for around $500 (or even less), you can get two mics that each do an individual job pretty well.

If you have extra cash to spend after that, get a good pole and shock mount, an take Ptalsky's advice about wind protection. Check out Trew Audio. There is always all kinds of used stuff for sale there, and the prices aren't bad.

For that $500-1000 that you mentioned, you could put together a nice little sound kit if you did go the used route for some of it.
 
I would agree -- when on a budget, a blend of new & used will allow you to buy more for the same money. And buying from reputable places is always a good move because most of them have return policies that will allow you to send the stuff back if you are not happy with it when you see it.
 
I would personally want a pole / mic combo I can put on a c-stand not too far from the actors. I would use it outside as well. I really don't want an on camera mic, and if I need someone to boom, I could use my oldest son to do so. So yeah, a boom setup for sure.

Thanks for all the help , guys!
 
i just know noticed that this is spelled wrong in the title of this thread. Oh sill keyboards. Anyway, go used bro! eBay for life!
 
taormina said:
I would personally want a pole / mic combo I can put on a c-stand not too far from the actors. I would use it outside as well. I really don't want an on camera mic, and if I need someone to boom, I could use my oldest son to do so. So yeah, a boom setup for sure.

Thanks for all the help , guys!
Click to expand...

You're asking for one tool that can hammer, drill and cut.

If you really want mic that'll work for everything you've said, they cost over $1000.

For a pole, get the GB3560, it's $279.

For a mic, indoors mics are different than outdoors mics (unless you get really expensive ones). For outdoors, once you buy the mic itself, you will need wind protection, that alone is about $250. The foam thingies don't cut it, you need a wind zeppelin with wind jammer, get the K-Tek brand K-Zep.

So you are ultimately not full aware of what you need. But if you really don't care about your audio quality, then go buy a Rode NT-2 and be done with it.
 
taormina said:
Hey Shawneous - what is the $1000 mic you recommend?
Click to expand...

The Sanken CS3, it's actually $1350 brand new. I've heard it does well indoors and outdoors.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/406096-REG/Sanken_CS_3E_CS_3E_Short_Shotgun_Microphone.html

But for that price, I'd be tempted to get the AKG se300b/CK93 ($400) for indoors, and a used Sennheiser MKH416 (used for around $750) for outdoors and the necessary shockmount kits. But you can go even cheaper. An Oktava MK012 ($200) for indoors and an AT4073a ($550) for outdoors would be a nice combo. Just make sure to get the appropriate shockmount and wind protection for both.

The main issue here is that you really need two mics, one for indoors and one for outdoors. I strongly suggest taking a few hours and reading all the stickies in this forum.

I was on the same path, I wanted audio to be easy, quick and cheap. Well after a boatload of research, I'm here to tell you it's none of those three. I originally hoped that $1000 in audio would set me up nicely. Now I've spent over $15k and have about $10k more that I desperately 'need', and my audio is still sketchy.

"Good Audio" is half of your production and it's a rabbit hole that goes very, very deep, but it separates the men from the boys in this industry.
 
Shawn,

Don't pay $750 for a 416 - you can get much better used deals on 416's - look at getting a T-powered version for additional savings (you can get a T-48V converter for like $20 from PSC, or if you have a 302, it will do T).

Phil
 
um, this is a little out there... dont forget that a $250 mic placed really well and CLOSE to a speaker will usually win inside or outside... unless its REALLY reverby.

the mic to use also depends on the shooting style being adopted.
 
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