H4N vs Shotgun for portability?

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fixxxer76

Member
I am about to purchase a T2I dslr for video and I obviously need alternative sound recording. I was thinking of either getting the H4n or a Shotgun mic with a padded line running to the t2i's input. Obviously i get more control with the H4n, but I will be shooting non professional , one man hand held, on the go side projects. I want the best sound possible and am willing to spend some money on an H4n but was wondering if it can be used alone, or would i need something like lav wireless or a boom/shotgun mic to go with it when capturing audio from 2 people talking about 5-6 feet away from the camera? Is there a good way to mount it, or tripod it next to the camera ? Or should i just go with the ntg-2 or video rode mic with a -50db padded 3.5mm jack into the t2i's setreo input jack? Basically can the H4n be used on its own for field recording? any help would be great. thanks
 
fixxxer76 said:
I am about to purchase a T2I dslr for video and I obviously need alternative sound recording. I was thinking of either getting the H4n or a Shotgun mic with a padded line running to the t2i's input. Obviously i get more control with the H4n, but I will be shooting non professional , one man hand held, on the go side projects. I want the best sound possible and am willing to spend some money on an H4n but was wondering if it can be used alone, or would i need something like lav wireless or a boom/shotgun mic to go with it when capturing audio from 2 people talking about 5-6 feet away from the camera? Is there a good way to mount it, or tripod it next to the camera ? Or should i just go with the ntg-2 or video rode mic with a -50db padded 3.5mm jack into the t2i's setreo input jack? Basically can the H4n be used on its own for field recording? any help would be great. thanks
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The problem is that when the speakers are 5 or 6 feet from the microphone, not even a shotgun will do very good. Shotguns are not "telephoto lenses for sound" and do not draw in or magnify distant sounds. All they do is is somewhat isolate the sound coming from the direction in which they're aimed from the undesirable noises coming from other directions. But it's not like a spotlight with a sharp cutoff on either side of the aim point, some of the other sound is always picked up, and the desired sound is not picked up any louder than it would be with any other mic. Whatever mics you use, whether you get a 'gun or use the built-in mics on a recorder like the H4n, you have to get the mic within about 2 feet of the people speaking for them to work very well. Even at 2 feet, the 'gun's aim will have to be shifted as the conversation shifts from one person to the other so it keeps pointing right at the person speaking's mouth - splitting the difference halfway between them simply means that BOTH speakers are permanently 'off-mic' and neither will sound very good. Going with the Zoom's internal cardioid mics means it has to be even closer, 12 inches or so from the speaker's mouth for reasonably clean and clear pickup of normal speech and again, someone has to point it from one person to the other as the conversation flows. Having the mic on or next to a camera 6 feet away simply won't sound very good at all. So your quest for the "best sound possible" is going to be limited by that no matter what equipment you choose for the actual recording, be it the Zoom or recording directly to the camera via its external mic input.
 
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You want to record dialog in mono. Stereo like on the H4N will sound diffuse, and you'll pick up too much surrounding noise. Use the H4N if you want, but put a mono mic into it. A lav on the subject would do well. You can get a wired lav that sounds OK with 25' of cable for around 25.00 from Giant Squid. The NTG2 is very nice - best bang/buck shotgun. Try a hyper too if you are indoors.

http://www.giant-squid-audio-lab.com/
 
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