Best Microphone for Interviews

[BobbyGuerrieri]

Hello again. Thank you guys so much for your lens recommendation! Now I have another equipment question. What would be the best microphone to use for the interviews? Should I go with a lavalier mic? And if so, wired or wireless? All the interviews will take place inside with little to no background noise. If you have a certain mic in mind, please share a link. Thanks!

 

[KINOKS]

While I'm not an audio person myself I've done some research on microphones... Anyway as a general rule of thumb for indoor dialogue hypercardioid mics are used.
I did quite some research on a good price/performance mic for indoor interviews and I setteled on the Audio Technica AT4053b. It's not really pricey but it's also not a cheap mic. This would be my first recommendation.
For my productions I use an Oktava MK012 with an hypercardioid capsule for indoor interviews. It's a budget microphone that is used worldwide on indie productions... I really like it. It sounds good and it's inexpensive.

AT4053b http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...4053b_Hypercardioid_Condenser_Microphone.html
Oktava MK012 http://www.oktava-shop.com/product_info.php/info/p9_oktava-mk-012-01-movie-set.html

There are loads of other options. But I must say this: there is no best mic. It's a tool that is best used in a certain situation. Some mics a better for something some are better for something else. If the interiors that you will be shooting in are big or they aren't echoi then you could probably get away with a shotgun mic... If you want an all around mic, I don't know...maybe consider the Sanken CS3e. It can also be used in most interiors (speaking from what I've read not from experience).

I suggest you do some reading on microphones and for what type of work certain microphones are used. Questions like which mic is the best can not be answered. Most
audio producers have a multitude of mics...which one they chose to work with depends on the situation at hand.

Oh and booming a mic is usually preferred to using lavs because lavs don't sound as good. But it's still good to a have a wireless lav system for those situations in which a boom can not be used... And btw you really shoud post this questino in the location audio segment on the forum. Maybe a mood can move this topic for you. You won't get much answers in the documentary section. Just saying...

 

[mcbob]

Super smartass answer is "whatever mic is closest."

semi-smartass Moneybags answer is a Schoeps CMC641 or similar boomed close. Maybe slum it with a COS-11d lav.

 

[Andrew Stone]

For lavs, the Sanken COS-11D is used a lot by location sound people. Good choice but handling noise is high. The TRAM TR-50 is good but the high end of the frequency response is muted compared to the Sanken. If you are going to be EQing the sound, the TRAM can sound as good as the Sanken. The TRAM has been a professional choice for a LONG time. Sanken though is more popular now. However, if you are using Sennheiser wireless (Evolution Series) beware of interference noise particularly if it is your only audio source.

For inside on camera or boom style micing, I would go for a cardioid or a hypercardioid. The Senn ME66 has recently become a good inexpensive choice amongst the others already mentioned.

If you are looking for higher end, I would look towards the Sennheiser MKH series mics, like an MKH 50 or MKH 60. There are others in the Sennheiser line that would work. Schoeps has already been mentioned but be wary if Schoeps if you live in a moist climate. Both the MKH and Schoeps microphones have an incredibly low noise floor, in other words no hiss or hum even when cranked. They are all over a grand but worth it, if you have the money.

Get a really good mic mount as well like a Rycote INV-7 mount for good isolation either on your boom or camera.

BTW, what is your budget?

 

[Steve House]

As to your question of wired or wireless, keep in mind the adage "Whenever you are able, always use the cable." For a sit-down interview, a pair of hard-wired lavs mic, one on the interviewer and the other on the interviewee would be one approach. For walk-and-talks, you might consider wireless but that's going to up your costs by at least $600 per mic for decent quality gear. (Better to rent!) You could go with a boom but a static mic aimed between them usually means neither one is really on-mic so you need to factor into the mix a boom operator to aim the mic to follow the conversation.

 

[Jim Ritscher]

Yes, take this over to the audio forum. Read the stickies. Search there (and elsewhere) for the difference between a hyper-cardiod and a shotgun mic, and why a shotgun mic sometimes has problems indoors.

 

[paulears]

I do wish people would say "most suitable" and not "the best", because there is never a universal 'best'.

Two people in a hotel room, doing an interview would probably end up with a couple of clipped on omni lavs, close in - and the audio result would be perfectly usable. Cables make for the most trouble free result, but even wireless with short TX to RX is unlikely to be a problem. In a noisier room, then cardioids, or hypers, if they mustn't be in vision could do the same thing - but if you use hypers, and discover one interviewee is very mobile while speaking, they can go off mic - so the omnis might have been a more sensible choice?

So the circumstances set the rules. There can be no best. Perhaps you can have best for the circumstances? Is a cheap omni going to out perform an expensive directional one? We'll only know by listening!

 

[Fourth Line]

I used lav mics for years with, as paulears said, "usable results". Two years ago I switched to the oktava and was mildly impressed for interviews and some boomed b-roll. But it always felt like you had to crank the gain on that mic. Then the best thing that happened to me was my entire audio kit was stolen. With the insurance $ I bought an mkh50. I have consistently been blown away when using it for indoor interviews. Given that most of my delivery is web and probably played on crappy laptop speakers, this mic adds a richness and quality that cuts through. My interviews have gone from usable to excellent (at least the audio quality )

 

[Sherman]

Sanken CS-1.

 

[arowe214]

I'm sure the question may be more about quality than mic per say.. There is some truth to the smart ass which ever mic is closer. Because it comes back to the mix. The most important think is to make sure the sound is coming in clean and and not too hot anything everything else falls on the mix.

But I would say a lav mic wired for the sake of interference.. Brand and model I don't have any recommendations because my belief is that a bulk of the work will come in post.