Shure SM81 for video.

[yommytacoe]

Anyone have experience with this mic, mainly for video use?

I'm looking to pic up a decent mic for my XHA1, and a friend of mine is trying to sell his Shure SM81, which is more of a studio condenser type mic. I was wondering if it would work on a boom for short films and such.

I'm planning on using it to record some music as well which is why I'm looking at this mic instead of an NTG-2 or other more traditional video mic.

 

[Alex H.]

A mighty fine mic, indeed... but not for this type of use. You're better off with a hypercardiod rather than a straight cardioid, but that's mainly for interior dialog. Short shotgun would be the most flexible, one of each would give you plenty of working options.

And with a short shotgun, if you do need to at some point, you have a mic suitable for camera-mounted work, which is much better than what's built into the camera. The SM81 would most certainly be a miserable choice for that.

 

[orchidsofwrath]

I almost wanna say that you'd have better luck recording music with a shotgun mic than recording dialogue for video with a cardioid mic like that. Of course, that depends on what instruments your going to be recording for your music.
I'm no pro by any means, but in my experience if your going to be doing narratives a shotgun mic on a boom is essential. I think that thing would be annoying to put on a boom. Your going to need a shockmount for it, and a windscreen if you have outdoor dialogue to record.
But then again if hes selling it for a really good price perhaps its the way to go. I think that's a 350$ mic, so if your friend is selling it for a really good price like 100 i'd prolly go for that. Any more than that and i'd probably go for an NTG-2. I actually think a shotgun mic would be pretty capable of recording some acoustic guitar tracks or vocals (although it may be a little bright sounding). Probably wouldn't use it for a drum overhead though.
But again i'm not a pro so weigh my opinion lightly please.

 

[abolit]

Shure SM81 is an excellent mike . it's very clear and does not require any sound equalization in post in most cases. It has a sensitivity ring and low frequency attenuation switch built in. Kind of heavy but all of high-end mikes are heavy. It will also require the shockmount in some instances.

 

[Greg Smith]

I have four SM81s that I use primarily for acoustic instrument recording -- I kind of specialize in folk and bluegrass type acts. The SM81 is just about the best there is for acoustic guitar, banjo, dobro, etc., as well as an overhead drum mic (I'm told -- my folkie friends don't play drums much). But it's fairly useless on vocals because it's very sensitive to plosive "pops" and handling noise. As a cardioid mic, it needs to be used fairly close to the sound source, and as was mentioned, it's on the upper end of the comfortable weight range for boom use.

If you imagine yourself doing live music recording at some point, and can get the SM81 at a good price, by all means do buy it. It is a gem of a microphone, and well worth having. But for dialog recording, it wouldn't even be on my list. A hypercardioid like the Audio-Technica AT4053, or any of a number of short shotguns from Rode, A-T or Sennheiser, would be better choices for that. (Not to mention Sanken and Schoeps at the high end.)

BTW, I also really like the Shure SM94, which is often described as an "economy" model of the SM81, for music and events recording. The SM94 is about $100 at the usual discount and can use either a AA battery or phantom power. It's very close to the '81 in quality on music (lacks only a little of the low end) and actually much better on voices because the pops and sibilance are better suppressed. I have a set of four of those as well and often use them on desk stands when I have to cover a table full of people for a panel discussion or something like that. But for the same reason -- not directional enough -- the SM94 wouldn't be a good choice for boom use either.

- Greg