Tilt the Boom Mic?

[superhardrocker]

I've been hearing mixed things on how to record with a boom mic/shotgun mic.
I've done a little research, but none of the articles touched on this topic.

The best place to put the boom is above the subjects, but.......
"Are you suppossed to tilt the boom back and forth?"
(For example, if two people are talking, do you keep the boom still and between the subjects?) OR (do you tilt it towards the person who's talking?

I've tried just keeping the boom in the center, and I've had good results. But I'm no professional, so what do you guys say?

 

[wabbit]

Depends on situation and mic. Shotguns have to be pretty dead on axis. But you can still sometimes split the difference on distance depending on who is talking louder. A good hyper can allow you to use some of the off-axis attenuation to favor a quieter voice.

But as a general principle you follow the action, or rather you are one step ahead of the action.

Cheers

 

[timapter]

follow the action - especially with a shotgun.

as wabbit says, hyper and super cardioids will let you use the wider polar pattern as a tool, but on the whole a shotgun sounds much BETTER when aiming directly at a speaker, and it also yields a better dialogue volume to background volume ratio when cued correctly.