MIC budget under 1000 dollars - what to get?

J

jthabel

Well-known member
I've got 1000 dollars to spend on microphones for an upcoming project. Some outdoor shooting, but mostly indoor. What should I get?

Right now I'm looking at the AT875R, AT4073A, Rode NTG3, and Sennheiser EW122P for wireless. Anyone had good experiences with these and care to comment? I'm looking for the most well rounded mic combo for under 1000 clams.
 
Problem is - especially outside is that you not only need a mic but a windshield for the mic. So now you're looking at mics below $600 to have money left over for the windshield.

My mic was right at $1K when I bought it, but then add boom pole and windshield equip and you have to add another $1200 to the system.
 
If you're mostly indoor, you probably want a hyper, not a shotgun. Read the stickies and do a little searching to give you some ideas. And like jls4 says, don't forget the accessories. You need a boom, shockmount, wind protection, cables, headphones, etc, not just a mic or two.
 
I've already got cables, boom pole, and headphones. Really just looking for opinions on MICS themselves, hoping to hear about positive experiences that people have had with their MICS and ideas for pullingl in a couple for under 1000 bucks. I'll do more research on hypers.
 
To add to Jordan, the accessories will set you back $300 to $500.

For a shotgun (outdoor usage) the Audio-Technica AT875 or the Rode NTG-2 are decent budget choices.

For a condenser (indoor usage) the Audio-Technica AT4051 or the Rode NT5 are decent budget choices.

That's about $500+ right there. The kits available for the shotguns will come with a shock mount and a cable at the least, some will include the boom. You also need a blimp & a dead cat for the shotgun and an additional XLR cable - trust me, you will need it at some point. You may possibly need convertors or adapters, depending upon your camera.

The nice thing about accessories, provided you get good ones, is that they will work with 99% of the stuff you get when you decide to upgrade.
 
I've heard that the AT4073a is as close to a good all-around MIC as you can get. Anyone care to comment?
 
This might be over a little over a grand but its your best option, shotgun mics are not good for indoor audio, but you might need one so go with the sennheiser k6 with a me62/64 and/or me66/67 module. me62/64 are much better for indoor recording, if that's the majority of the shoot, get that first. I have the sennheiser me66 & me64 and a sony wireless. I have personally used this on documentary shoots. You can't go wrong with sennheiser. Don't use in-camera pre s, have a good mixer. If you can't pay for an audio person, double mic so get a wireless lav, either sennheiser or sony, both are under $500.
 
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Look into AKG's blue line, a power module with CK93 hyper capsule is under $400 at B&H (add to your cart to see the lower price), the CK98 Shotgun capsule on it's own is also under $400.

That leaves $200 for mounting / wind protection as needed.
 
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