Azden SGM1X - too sensitive?
 

I have the SGM1X hooked up to my Panasonic HMC70.

It's waaaay too sensitive. For example, I can't record in my house - it is about 0.5km from a busy road and it picks up every car going past.

Am I doing something wrong?

It only has a foam wind baffle on it, would investing in a better windshield prevent me from picking up so much distant noise?

I have not had good luck with Azden mics. A wind screen won't do it, since they are designed for wind, the point is actually to not affect sound at all. Try turning down the gain, and maybe enable the attenuator (if the HMC70 has one.)

Windshield doesn't do anything for that. Mic position is the key. If the mic is mounted on your camera it is going to be pointed more or less horizontally at your subject. That means it will pick up clearly any sound from BEHIND the subject as well as the desired sound. The distance means there's not a lot of difference in level between the subject sound and the surrounding ambience. Booming the mic overhead the subject so it's pointed down at an angle of 45 to 60 degrees below the horizontal will go a long way in isolating the subject from the environment. Also, getting the mic closer to the subject, ideally 20 inches or so, means their sound is much louder than the surroundings, further isolating them as is desired.

Get locations to lock up the road..