NTG2 Range of Use

I'm not sure I understand, timapter. And to jgastelb, if I understood your post, I dont think he's done anything wrong. See, it isnt the first time I signed up for this, I made a thread in the audio section asking "What is the best mic or under 200$", and oh my, you should have seen the response. But I have searched NTG-2 on these forums, and none talked about indoor use for recording vocals for ACID. And I double-taked him on the SGM-2X, because the sound on the "Smuggler's Ransom" was great and he said it was a crap-mic.
 
no one is double taking. its always possible to get good sound if you take the time and effort and listen to the laws of physics. some mics make things easier though, and can improve the results further.

thats all. no one has been rude to you, only given their opinions. which is what you asked for.

and the interior use of shotguns has been discussed ad nauseum, so lets not go there..
 
pto2212 said:
And I double-taked him on the SGM-2X, because the sound on the "Smuggler's Ransom" was great and he said it was a crap-mic.
Click to expand...

Double taked... ME?

I am trying to remain calm but you asked for an opinion and I gave it to you. As Tim said, you can get excellent sound out of anything if you take the time and work with the constraints of the mic.

Regarding 'A Price Too High', Brandon's film, I just rewatched it last night after his comments regarding the mic and compared them and nothing against Brandon, but I think that my comments regarding that mic remain accurate. A better mic would have made for a better film, but it seems like he did the best he could with that tool and the result is acceptable but not exceptional.

I have no problem with his film and by no means am I insulting his work, but I think he will even admit that a better tool would have worked better.

So if you are trying to bait me into an argument or something like that then honestly you're barking up the wrong tree. I have tried to be patient with you and your numerous threads asking what is the cheapest mic, where can you get free feature scripts, ect., but when someone attempts to offer you assistance you do not bite the hand that feeds you.

This comes with maturity and experience.

-Jeremy
 
I guess what I was referring to was the way things can be said. The way TheYankee talks sometimes seems a little condescending but maybe it's just me. Not trying to start a war or anything but when someone asks me for help I either will give it to them in a nice smooth manner or if I think that the question has been asked too many times then I simply don't bother to answer. Tact, my friend. Tact.
Jgastelb
 
Humping a goat as a metaphor to a 14 year old??? I have two boys and I would think that to be a poor choice of words. Maybe if you're starting to teach growing and changing and even then. Please!
Jgastelb
 
I admit, it was a poor metaphor choice with the given audience and I apologize to any who I have offended. I am direct with my answers because as many who has posted in the audio section know, the same questions continue to come up. If you refer back to my original post to the question the answer was no and I pointed him to the search function for more detailed answers.

Regardless, if I offended anyone, I am sorry...

-Jeremy
 
TheYankee said:
I admit, it was a poor metaphor choice with the given audience and I apologize to any who I have offended. I am direct with my answers because as many who has posted in the audio section know, the same questions continue to come up. If you refer back to my original post to the question the answer was no and I pointed him to the search function for more detailed answers.

Regardless, if I offended anyone, I am sorry...

-Jeremy
Click to expand...

No hard feelings. That took guts. I do admire your knowledge of Audio though. I have a lot to learn from the things you have posted.
Jgastelb
 
I used a lot stronger metaphors than humping goats when I was 14 (though not around my parents).

The ONLY time you will see a shotgun used in studios is A) ADR (a practice I don't agree with but...) and B) Foley. I think it's used too much in Foley work but it is useful for small objects that you want to get really tight on. In both cases these are in pretty dead environments. Shotguns are designed to record "dialog". They are tuned for that. THey are also designed for dead (exterior) environments. Reverberation screws up the way the mic is designed and you can and usually do get strange sounding comb filtering going on. That results in the hollow thin sound. Also most don't have a big flat feq. response. And they are too tight a pattern as a rule , for music. All of the above makes them a very poor choice for "vocals"(as opposed to "dialog") music. What you see in recording studios are large diaphragm condensers and some small diaphragm condensers and dynamics. All in the Omni to cardioid patterns. Rarely is even Hyper cardioid is used.
 
The goat metaphor did not offend me (and I think I was amused by it). And Jeremy, I in no way want to pick a fight. I had partially "disagreed" with your opininon of the SGM-2X because in a PM to Brandon Rice, I was told that the SGM-2X was great and never failed him.

So, I thought back to a review of a camera I was going to buy. I read a review about it (first one I could find) and read that it was awful, the entire machine was crap. Turned out the guy had left the camera in the rain the day he got it, and never knew about it. I realized first impressions can be deceiving. And, though I had read all your threads, including the side-by-side test of <500$ mics, I couldnt understand why it would be so bad by your/everyone's standards.
 
You have to realize the market that mic is aimed at. Just like with cameras you have different levels of professional use. People who are looking a cheap audio solution because audio is not their critical focus buy that level of mic that CAN sound passable over some TV speakers. Even then the frequency response is hollow and lacking in the upper mids but still "OK" for stuff like wedding videos where you are just hoping to have the dialog semi-coherent.

For work that is meant for theatrical distribution Azden mics are noisy and have poor off-axis response and you will hear that on a proper sound system. It does not mean if used properly (which it rarely is) you can't get ok sound with it. You need to understand it's limitation and work within them. But if you have someone who knows how to work the mic properly he will probably want to work with a higher quality mic and get the best sound possible. Hence when people talk about getting a mic for their movie, intended for distribution, the responses tends to point people towards a mic that will get them good, not just mediocre, audio if used properly.

So if you budget is truly limited then buying a cheaper shotgun in order to make sure you get all the other peices of audio equipment you need is preferrable to just getting an expensive mic and having no money left over for all your other audio gear. But there is no "one size fits all" answer to what mic to buy (or rent which in most cases would be the better choice for those on a budget).

That is what the guys in here try constantly to impart but few seem to like to hear that answer.

Listen to the mics yourself and decide.

Cheers
 
pto,
here´s a link to a chinese mic, the t.bone 9900/9600:
http://www.thomann.de/iw_smb_suche....iwid=2&SUCHBEGRIFF=the+t.bone+em+9900&x=0&y=0
I know the audio pros here will bash me for it, but here´s my 2c:
your 14, probably have limited budget and need a mic.
does it have to be a good mic, that´ll serve you well the next 10 years?
No.
Will a so-so mic costing 75 bucks, improve your audio recording compared to just using the on camera mic?
Yes.
Can a shotgun mic be used indoors?
Yes. Just look at press conferences. (yes, it ain´t the best solution, but for your purposes it probably fits... try to kill any reflections/echos, maybe record in your closet full of clothes aso...)
If your still interested in filmmaking in two years and feel ready to do your first "lets do it all right" project, don´t buy a new mic - get a sound guy.
Good luck!
 
Last edited:
Posts got in while I was writing so I'm talking about the Azden mic.

Well I don't know the mic specifically but in general "cheap" mics are noisy, have poor freq. response, poor quality control, poor design, lousy durability and tend to be both not too sensitive and overload easily at the same time.

Some "cheap" mics are great, well very good anyway. Most of those are using good design and cheap labor. Oktava are basically Schoeps designs from the early 40's made either by Russian labor or knocked off and made by chinese labor. A lot of the Chinese mics are knock offs of proved designs so when the quality control isn't asleep they are pretty decent mics. Noise may not be noticeable on a cheap mic headed into a cheap audio circuit on a camcorder so while it is an issue it may be one that is being buried by other noise.
And of course, at least in my line of work, there is no such thing as a "total crap" mic. They all have a use. I have a crystal mic that was used for fight announcing. It has HORRIBLE specs. But anyone who talks into it sounds like a fight announcer. But I wouldn't use it on music. So if you get a mic for $5 it will have uses, and most folks will say it's crap (and for many uses it will be) but if it works for your need it's fine.

You asked for opinions. You got a bunch. If you didn't want them you shouldn't have asked. And I don't trust any one opinion unless I know the person and know there preferences and biases. If a lot of folks are saying the same thing and they have more experience than I, I will pay attention. But I might still go a different route. It's your nickel spend it where you want.
 
Last edited:
I'm not going to bash you but those shotguns at press conferences are a long ways away, you wont find them on the podium. They are trading sonic "quality" for "reach". He was asking about recording music not a press conference.


The rest I pretty much agree with.

Spartacus said:
pto,
here´s a link to a chinese mic, the t.bone 9900/9600:
http://www.thomann.de/iw_smb_suche....iwid=2&SUCHBEGRIFF=the+t.bone+em+9900&x=0&y=0
I know the audio pros here will bash me for it, but here´s my 2c:
your 14, probably have limited budget and need a mic.
does it have to be a good mic, that´ll serve you well the next 10 years?
No.
Will a so-so mic costing 75 bucks, improve your audio recording compared to just using the on camera mic?
Yes.
Can a shotgun mic be used indoors?
Yes. Just look at press conferences. (yes, it ain´t the best solution, but for your purposes it probably fits... try to kill any reflections/echos, maybe record in your closet full of clothes aso...)
If your still interested in filmmaking in two years and feel ready to do your first "lets do it all right" project, don´t buy a new mic - get a sound guy.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
 
Noiz2 said:
I'm not going to bash you but those shotguns at press conferences are a long ways away, you wont find them on the podium. They are trading sonic "quality" for "reach". He was asking about recording music not a press conference.


The rest I pretty much agree with.
Click to expand...

Well, maybe its different in the states, but in Europe the most common ENG mic is the ME66 (based on observation and business talk, not claiming to have done a survey on it...)
So, you find them at the podium. Actually the only non shotgun mics there are those from the radio people...
But that´s just for the record.
pto, search the various audio recording forums, I´ll bet there´s some "cheap"/sub 50$ dynamic mic out there some people successfully use.
You could buy two mics and still spent a third of the money than buying one of the industry standards, nevertheless improving (no way perfecting) your audio recording.
Again, just my opinion considering your age (this IS an issue here...) and expertise and trying to be economic.
Quality wise listen to the regular posters here...
 
Ill agree with much of what has been said here, and I think there is some excellent advice sitting in this thread, if you keep in consideration the age, experience level, and expectations of Pto.

I maintain that the humping the goat metaphor was funny.

I maintain that any and every mic can produce good sound if used thoughtfully, carefully and with physics in mind.

I maintain that if you know you arent going to like the answer, dont ask the question.

I maintain that nobody has been rude to anybody in taking the time to answer the questions of those less experienced than them.


And thats a lot of maintenance.
Peace out, in the words of Napoleon Dynamites awesome brother Kip.
 
Considering the age? No, no consideration in that. I probably know more about audio/video that some adults. Excluding all of you, of course. Your all smarter than me.
 
Spartacus said:
Well, maybe its different in the states, but in Europe the most common ENG mic is the ME66 (based on observation and business talk, not claiming to have done a survey on it...)
So, you find them at the podium. Actually the only non shotgun mics there are those from the radio people...
But that´s just for the record.
Click to expand...

Hmm, well that surprises me but I''l defer to you on that, but it's still not music.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top