H1 pickup pattern vs hypercardioid.

S

skinheaddave

Member
I have a specific question to ask regarding audio pickup patterns.

At the moment, the only piece of audio equipment I own is an H1 I was using for some preliminary interviews to gather some ideas for my documentary. In a quiet environment I actually quite like the quality it produces using the built-in mics when placed quite close to the subject.

Now, I've been reading a lot regarding indoor interview setups. I am going to be going the wired lav route for indoor interviews but am intrigued by the suggested use of hypercardioids in quieter environments for indoor interviews. My question revolves around pickup patterns. In looking at the graphs, it looks like the x-y pattern of the H1 produces something similar to a hyper pattern in the locations where both channels cover but does cover wider on the peripheries. If you were to take the H1 and a hypercardioid that produces a similar audio quality (noise:signal ratio etc.) in a quiet environment what degree of difference would there be? Is the hyper pattern really that much better at excluding the periphery or will both produce similar results (focus on the voice but with a more natural sense of ambiance than the relative isolation of the lav). In other words, can I use the H1 to cover that portion of the documentary audio kit thereby saving me some cash to spill into a wired lav setup and a shotgun for outdoor run-and-gun?

Cheers,
Dave
 
Don't confuse lav's with hypercardioids. While hypercardioid patterned lavs do exist, the most commonly used lav for dialog recording is an omni. Cardioid and hypercardioid lavs are used primarily in sound reinforcment settings where feedback control is an issue. When they're used for video/film dialog, each little movement of the subject's head will change the timbre of the recording as their voice moves more on or off mic. The hypers discussed in the context of dialog recording would be small diaphram 'pencil' mics used on a boom where their directivity serves the same function as the directivity of a shotgun mic outdoors, minimizing their response to sounds arriving at the mic from off axis. Indeed, I've seen some writers use "shotgun" loosely to mean any highly directional mic, be it a classic interference tube super-cardioid or a small diaphram hypercardiod - the two patterns are somewhat similar in the size and shape of their primary lobe.
 
Steve House said:
Don't confuse lav's with hypercardioids.
Click to expand...
I'm not. I'm referring to threads on here and elsewhere that mention of using hypercardioids for indoor use in the manner you describe (sort of as an indoor "shotgun.") Basically my question is whether the pickup pattern of the H1 is similar enough to a hyper pattern in reality to replace a hyper mic in this sort of situation. In other words, can you take a kit of hyper+shotgun+lavs and use instead a kit of h1(x-y)+shotgun+lavs to cover the same scenarios. As stated, I do like the sound on the H1 but it does pick up more ambiance than I would want. Basically without buying or renting a hypercardioid mic and testing it out, I want to know if the reduction in ambient noise on such mics is going to be significant over the H1 or if they are similar enough that if more isolation is needed I just jump to a lav. I suppose the other option would be to tilt the H1 and then ditch the second channel since each half of the x-y pattern is narrower still.

Cheers,
Dave
 
Yes a hyper would indeed be that much better.

The pick-up pattern is not really similar at all - even if the little pictogram seems to look similar. Those pictogram show the shape of the pattern, but not the scale of the shape. Stereo is never the best option for dialogue. An H1 will pick up a lot of everything around the mic - as it's got 2 cardioid mics pointing in 2 directions. So even one of the H1 mics is picking up more than a hyper, and when you have stereo you have a whole lot of room sound being recorded. Not a good choice for dialogue. Also recording voice in stereo puts the voice somewhere in the left/right spectrum, but rarely exactly in the center where it should be, and that makes it harder to hear. A hyper is the best solution for indoor dialogue, and there are a lot of mics that will be a better 2nd choice than a stereo mic - especially the H1, which has some so-so mics, but still pretty "el-cheapo" in the spectrum of mics to record with. What do you expect for a 100.00? You shouldn't expect much more than getting some ambient sound, or maybe some music. The thing is designed for bedroom jams, not pro video work.
 
Two cardioids in XY have a much wider pickup than a hyper. so th eanswer is NO you cannot replace one for the other.

will it pick up and get you audio , yes. but no where near what a hyper will do, as far as isolation.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top