steve,

i see 13db for inherent noise posted for the ntg-3, does that represent the lowest you have found? can you trust the manufacturer's claims?

a 13db vs. a 20db mike, as those of the <$1000 Sony's....
wouldn't that make a noticeable difference?

thanks!

paul

Rode seems to be a reliable vendor. While 7 dB is signifigant, they're both so low that neither would give one much practical concern,.

steve,

while you can hear what appears like tape hiss driving the audio volume up with no source to the live mike, you can reduce that by not over loading the mike during recording.

do you generally have some levels you like using, say max at -10db or -15db?

i know for certain shotguns, once the max level at -10db is exceeded, distortions appear everwhere.

paul

Well guys, i went ahead and bought a Oktava MK-012 and i certainly looks and feels the part. Havent had a play yet, but i did notice the manual is in russian! Which "bolt on" is the Hyper?!

Thanks for your help with this, hope it all works out!

The circle symboled one is the omni. If you look at the other two you will notice a slight difference in the symbol between them. The one with the ends of the figure joining inside what would be the circle is the cardiod (a little heart shape if you use your imagination). The one with a little something extra at that point back out towards the outside of what would be the circle is the hyper.

the BBC is requiring B roll to be shot with M/S stereo mic on camera now.

worrying about the mic being a few inches offset from the lens is a non-issue, your ears are offset several inches from your eyes but still seem to work ok ;) if it where a couple of feet, that might be another issue if the mic pan didn't match the camera pan. I shot once for a week with a monster VP88 on camera and that worked fine. I used it quite a bit as the FR/FL parts of a SRS mix. I don't think with some cross fading that moving between shots in the same setup at different angles is really a problem. consumer cameras have had stereo mics for years. some features are now micing dialog with M/S mics - CMC64 or 641 plus CMC68 or Mk8


I've done 5.1 micing using a very unconventional setup. instead of having the mics placed in one of the golden space angle setups, I placed the rears nearly 20ft apart facing back at 45deg to center. this made for a wider rear stereo image outside. it also meant mono/stereo safe was also not an issue because there was more then enough time delay between mics for phase cancelation to not happen. its was a really nice fat mix with a lot of separation. it picked up the rear space & delay very nicely. rules are good to get started with, but they aren't end all ways of working when you know what you are doing.

cuz it made in Russia :)

Err...yeah, i know! :)