Mic for indoors

D

David Evans

Well-known member
Hi,

I currently use a Audio-Technica 8035 shotgun mic to capture audio. Sometimes, when shooting indoors, I get a lot of reverb. Is this a problem that should be solved with better boom technique or is it time to buy a mic that is better suited for inside shooting? If that’s the case, having in mind the same price range of the AT8035, wich would be a good condenser mic?

Thanks!
 
A "shotgun" microphone like your AT-8035 is NOT recommended for use indoors, and you have demonstrated for yourself why. Those types of long microphones depend on the angle of incidence of the sound to reject unwanted noise (including reverberation). When you are indoors, there are many close reflective surfaces that scramble the audio signal and render the directional discrimination greatly diminished.

it is a general rule that shotgun mics are only useful outdoors (or in very large indoor spaces). For indoors boom a hyper-cardioid microphone is typically recommended.

The Audio Technica 4053b has many fans for interior boom use, but it is somewhat more expensive than your stated budget.
 
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On a cheaper note, I've done that test with microphones that costs around 100$, Rode NTG-2 being the most expensive:

I usually like to use the Audio-Technica MB4K, even if it's a vocal mic primary, but it requires a good preamp to get decent signal. Here's some segments I've shot using it, camera mounted:

So, boomed close enough it can perform rather well for the price. I'm not professional, but for the hobbyist use I find it good enough.
 
Richard Crowley said:
A "shotgun" microphone like your AT-8035 is NOT recommended for use indoors, and you have demonstrated for yourself why. Those types of long microphones depend on the angle of incidence of the sound to reject unwanted noise (including reverberation). When you are indoors, there are many close reflective surfaces that scramble the audio signal and render the directional discrimination greatly diminished.

it is a general rule that shotgun mics are only useful outdoors (or in very large indoor spaces). For indoors boom a hyper-cardioid microphone is typically recommended.

The Audio Technica 4053b has many fans for interior boom use, but it is somewhat more expensive than your stated budget.
Click to expand...

This is youre answer right here. And Ill second the suggestion of the AT4053B, but yea it is a bit more than you stated you were looking to spend.
 
drapeama said:
On a cheaper note, I've done that test with microphones that costs around 100$, Rode NTG-2 being the most expensive:

I usually like to use the Audio-Technica MB4K, even if it's a vocal mic primary, but it requires a good preamp to get decent signal. Here's some segments I've shot using it, camera mounted:

So, boomed close enough it can perform rather well for the price. I'm not professional, but for the hobbyist use I find it good enough.
Click to expand...

But these are still shotgun mics. Adequate in certain circumstances, but not great. Better results will be achieved with a proper hypercardioid mic.
 
David W. Richardson said:
But these are still shotgun mics. Adequate in certain circumstances, but not great. Better results will be achieved with a proper hypercardioid mic.
Click to expand...
The Audio-Technica MB4k is an omni-directional mic and the ATM-650 is an hypercardioid. Not specifically designed for that, but both work and perform rather well.
If budget/money isn't an issue, then there's certainly other more expensive mics to consider, but I found those to give great results on a tight budget.
 
The ATM-650 is a dynamic vocal/instrument mic. For this to work at all adequately, it would have to be placed VERY close to the speaker's mouth -- which would render it useless for an awful lot of indoor dramatic work.
 
There appear to be several "standard" packages for the mk-012; some come with cardioid only, some with hyper only, some with three capsules, some with four...
 
There are four capsules for the Oktava MK-012?
I have ever only seen three: omni, cardioid, hyper-cardioid.
What is the fourth one? Where did we see it?
 
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