Anyone familiar with Samson C03 mic?

D

David W. Richardson

Chapelgrove Films
I'm going to be shooting something soon -- dialogue only. Actors will be no more than 12" in front of the mic. I have a couple of Samson C03's and was wondering if they would be good for this. Any thoughts?
 
Stay Away From Something That Has Samson Name On , It Is The Worst Equip I Ever Sow - Worst Then The Azden
 
Well, the C03's are built like tanks -- heavy, rock solid. The sound seems reasonably good. And I've been pleased (so far) with my Samson Zoom H4. I mean, I know the C03's don't compare to things like the Rodes and Okatavas and such. Other than a general dislike for Samson, do you have anything specific about the C03's that would help me?
 
yes ,use the cardioid pattern :)
12 inch in front -
i hope they are not Jews as we are speaking with our hands :)
 
I had planned to use the cardioid pattern. I would love to use better mics, but this is what I have and I have no budget on this project, not even for rentals.

How do you feel about the Shure SM57? It is in the same price range as the Samson C03.
 
These responses with "Call for Help" really are counter-productive to the nature of this forum.

Well, two things - if you're actors are in front of the microphone you could be using the best microphone in the world and you still won't have any usable dialog. Second, your question was answered for you - if the CO3 isn't as good as a Rode, that makes it unusable (since the Rode is barely usable).

Phil
 
chapelgrovefilms said:
I had planned to use the cardioid pattern. I would love to use better mics, but this is what I have and I have no budget on this project, not even for rentals.

How do you feel about the Shure SM57? It is in the same price range as the Samson C03.
Click to expand...

the problem is not that you wouldn't get something if you place the mic in front but it would abit hard to shoot it or even you place it on the boom would very hard to operate as it side adrress capsule
forget about the shure its dynamic mic for close micking , you will need one of the hell preamp to amplify .
you cam place the both mics on boom arms over the actors to cower the aria they would perform and hope for the best
 
chapelgrovefilms said:
How do you feel about the Shure SM57?
Click to expand...
The SM57's a great mic for music and PA applications, but its ill-suited to drama or voice-over. If your actors will be speaking from a podium, then the SM57 should be one of the first mics you reach for. If they're singing or doing stand-up comedy, an SM58 may be a better choice.

However, they will not give you that rich and transparent sound that audiences expect from dialogue. To get a clean, articulate and detailed sound you'll probably have to use a condensor mic rather than a dynamic mic. As a general rule, dynamic mics are relatively insensitive, especially to higher frequencies. As Oleg pointed out, you'll need to apply a great deal of gain to get a useable level from a dynamic mic.

Unless, of course, your actors are screaming at one another. In that case, an SM57 or Sennheiser MD421 could sound really good.
 
Thanks Oleg.

ptalsky, I don't understand -- aren't actors supposed to be in front of the mic?

SMuir, the Samson C03's that I already have are condensers. How do you feel they compare to the SM58?

Thanks all!
 
David,

They are supposed to be under the mic, and as a matter of fact, a little behind it. If they are in front of the mic, the mic is behind their head. :) I guess it all depends on your perspective.

Phil
 
ptalsky, maybe I'm not envisioning what you're saying here.

An audio guy once told me that ideally the mic should point directly at the mouth of the person speaking. A downward angle is preferred because the mic pics up whatever is behind the speaker -- in a downward angle, the floor would pretty much be the limit of what the mic picked up. (We won't consider sound reflections coming off the floor at this point.)

To me, this indicates a mic position both above and in front of the talent. Am I missing something?

Thanks for helping a neophyte out here. :)
 
Sorry, I'm teasing a bit. In your original post you said your talent would be in front of the microphone. My bad joke. You've got it right.

Phil
 
Ahhhh....I get it. Sorry, didn't pick up on that. :)

An update for everyone -- I did a little test tonight. Setup my DVX100a and connected a Samson C03 to Input 1. For Input 2, I used the camera's internal mic. (The actor is literally sitting less than a foot in front of the camera. Camera and actor are both stationary, so I figured the internal mic might work.) Beside the Samson, I setup my Zoom H4 -- with the mic model set to 'SM57'.

Then I read some dialogue.

The results? The DVX100a mic sounded a little bit better than the Samson C03 -- but the built-in mics on the Zoom H4 blew me away. Considerably better than the other two! I haven't tried the other mic models on the H4, but I'll experiment with them.

Now.....if I could only afford to buy 3 more H4's. :(
 
No, now think of how great the sound would be if you bought a true, high-quality mic such as a Sennheiser 416, Sanken CS3E or other great mic. Even a Audio Technica 4073a would be a vast improvement over the H4.

You should scour eBay for used versions of any of those mics - you can often get a good deal. I picked up a used Sennheiser 416 for about $500 and it's been great ever since.

Phil
 
Believe me, if I had ANY money at all that's exactly what I'd do. I recently had to sell my Sennheiser ME66. Unfortunately, I'm forced to work with what I have or can get for next to nothing on this project. :(
 
Chapel -
Just a word of congratulations! You can (and should) ask all the questions you want here, but you've step up to the next level by doing some testing yourself. Everyone has their own standards, nitpicks, and willingness to deal with ad-hoc solutions... and in the end, you're always the best judge!

And thanks for the laugh - many of us are predisposed to expect bad things from Samson... but the unfavorable comparison the the built-in mic was a high point of this thread...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top