Boundary mics, are they made for dialog?
 

I had heard that boundary mics were good for recording dialog amongst small groups of people. I had thought this would also be a way around mic fright. I had looked at the Crown PZM485.

I'm just making sure that I'm not wasting some money. Would it be better to just use a cardoid or omni short capsule?

Boundary microphones are used for speech all the time. They are those teleconferencing microphones you see on the conference tables.

You can make your own. Nothing special about the microphone, it is just placed close to a plate that prevents sound from hitting it except from half a hemisphere. There may be a 'trick' to how far off the plate you want the microphone for 'best' sound but to try it out, anywhere close will do.

Boundary microphones are not substitutes for getting a microphone in close to a speaker. Rather they are sort of the easy cure for groups where it is difficult or impossible to give them their own microphone.

I sometimes use one for backup in a group situation and also use a pair of them on stages where there is no wireless microphone setup for the actors or house feed with lots of microphones for musicians. I do add a center channel microphone, usually my Shure SM81C and feed all three back into the camera through one of my mixers. I record them monaural most of the time.

The boundary microphone sounds OK, meaning the sound is clear, etc. Certainly good enough for all but the most discriminating video work in my book. I'd only look to something better if I were taping a symphony or something similar where the music is the entire focus of the piece.

I always thought the draw of the boundary microphone was the low vertical profile. They're basically
invisible in conference rooms.

It is because they ignore reverberations. Also hard to mis-install for the novice.

I love 'em. I almost always use one, at least as a back-up, at any live event. They have saved me on several occasions.

Jeff
Which one do you use?

I've used both the PZM-30D and PZM-6D (modified for XLR). They sound about the same, and the PZM-6D fits into smaller spaces, maybe a little more inconspicuous.

I was going to boom three mics on stands until one of the top sound houses in LA suggested I go with a boundary mic for a shoot I'll be doing with a circle of kids sitting around outdoors. They set it up for me in the shop to have a listen through headphones, and I was impressed by how clear the guy was at six feet away. The other guys backed waaay back, and it began to get too faint and muddied with the traffic whizzing by outside, but all in all it sure looks like the best solution for my needs that I've found. Though I do think I'm going to go for the rental over buying. That mic was around $1800 I believe, and while I could buy a cheap one for the cost I'll shell out to rent, unless I find I'll be doing groups a lot (not likely) renting seems the way to get the highest quality sound. At least for now.
Marcia

Anyone used the Peavey PSM2 mics as 'boundary mics'? I had them recommended to me over the pzm type. I would mostly use them for stage productions. Any other ideas would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Tony