on-board mic or ATR55?

J

JayR

Active member
I just bought a new DVX100B and now money is very tight. I was looking at shotgun mics but I really can't afford to spend more than $70 right now which limits me A LOT. Eventually, I will buy a better mic but I'm shooting a film in May and need the best sound I can get in that amount of time without renting equipment.

I was wondering, and this may be a dumb question, but would the Audio-Technica ATR55 shotgun mic have better sound than the on-board mic. At a price of $50 I wasn't sure.
 
JayR said:
I just bought a new DVX100B and now money is very tight. I was looking at shotgun mics but I really can't afford to spend more than $70 right now which limits me A LOT. Eventually, I will buy a better mic but I'm shooting a film in May and need the best sound I can get in that amount of time without renting equipment.

I was wondering, and this may be a dumb question, but would the Audio-Technica ATR55 shotgun mic have better sound than the on-board mic. At a price of $50 I wasn't sure.
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Depends on what you do with it. If you mount it on the camera as a replacement for the camera's original mic, probably not. While the standard equipment mics are often marginal, the real problem using them is that the camera position is almost always one of the worst possible places to have ANY microphone, regardless of cost. Sadly, shotguns smiply don't do what a lot of people seem to think they do - they don't reach out and capture distant sounds like a telephoto lens magnifies images. Depending on the location, if you can get the ATR on a boom so it's no more than about 3 feet from the talent, then you might get better sound. But the boom itself will cost more than your total sound budget. It's time for a reality check here. With a total sound budget of less than $70 it is likely that there is virtually nothing you can do that is going to give you any signifigant improvement over the in-camera mic - it just can't be done on such limited resources. Far better to postpone your shoot for a few months until your budget has more room in it than waste the time and money on a film that's destined for the circular file because the sound is unusable.
 
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JayR said:
Okay, thanks for your help. I'll get my hands on a better mic.
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But reread my previous post - a better mic isn't the only piece of the puzzle - you have to be able to put it in the right place as well. On or at the camera will virtually NEVER be the right place for dialog recording whether you're talking about a $50 ATR55 or a $2500 Schoeps CMIT shotgun
 
Yeah save your money and buy a real shotgun microphone later. Getting a little bit better mic now will only be a band aid. Just deal with the on board for now.
 
For about another $30 you can get an Azden SGM 1000. While it isn't the same quality as a Schoeps or even a Rode, it is way better than the ATR or the onboard.
 
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