A compilation of lessons from the field

[Shawn Philip Nelson]

spamalicious.

not sure if that's an insult or a compliment

 

[dre83]

1a) Closest mic wins, 18" or under is preferable, 2' is tops for good audio
1b) yes
c) all the time unless the mic is a dynamic mic (the big type you hand hold) or has a battery in it.



2) yes
2a) When you are outdoors or in a large environment
2b) the simple answer is shotgunutdoors, oktava:indoors. The long answer has to do with their pickup patterns
2c) see answer to 2b.
2d) again, closest mic wins, get as close as possible, the closer the mic the cleaner the audio.
2e) yes, use shotguns for foley, get VERY close to what you are foleying.

Shotgun for foley... in some cases but sometimes it's bether to have for example a big condencer mice, or small condenser mice. Technicaly big condensers will capture more "low frequenties" (rumble sounds, base sounds).
There also "less" sensitive, which I mean the will have a bigger dynamic range. Sometimes usefull....

But as always, there are no specific rules...