Amazing mic for outdoors
 

Talking here about the Audio Technica 4073a. I mostly
had used it indoors with unsatisfactory results
90%+ of the time due to a hollow sound.
Been using it outdoors lately and, wow, things
that are 20 feet away come through like they are
5 feet away! This mic has an on-mic presence
at a distance unlike any other mic I've worked
with. Must be the combination of sensitivity plus
narrow angle of focus plus the tone of the mic.
Anyone else notice this about the AT4073a?

We use one indoors and I love the sound it has fot indoor use. Outdoors it is fantastic as well. I like the compressed sound it has. I don't know if there is some sort of limiter or compression circuit built into it but it has a nice smooth but hot sound.

Dave, I always noticed that too... That's my top pick as best bang for the buck shotgun... and probably overall bang for the buck mic!

There's plenty of people who don't share my opinion on this part, but I even think the 4073a compares very well with the 416.

While the 416 is smoother, warmer, has more rear rejection, and a little tighter pattern out front... the 4073a is still great in those areas and it's crazy sensitive. Kinda' makes you want to pop on some 'phones and go exploring your audible environment doesn't it?

Some days I have my mic and 'phones with me in the car 'cause I never know when I'll come across a tree packed full of birds or a cool machine working on an otherwise quiet construction site. When you have a mic like that the world is FULL of incredible sound effects.

Yeah, I'd really like to try/have a 416 some day.
The couple samples of them I've heard sound
pretty good. I think I've heard that the 416 does
better indoors than what most shotguns do, so far
as not getting that hollow sound that most
shotguns are prone to. Anyone else heard this about
the 416? (Ty has an example of the 416 in that
instructional video he just mentioned.)
One thing I've found about using the 4073 outdoors
for run and gun is that, when I've had it in AGC
(i.e. auto gain control), it is very easy to get
distorted/clipping audio for spoken word. My thoughts
to get around this is either to set a couple different
manual levels and pick which gives the better
results, or use an attenuator.
And what you mentioned about exploring the world
with a mic and headset on, wish I had more
opportunity to do that -- see the world in a new
way.
Someone had some clips up somewhere of a swamp
at night where you really hear all the frogs, bugs, etc.
Maybe that was your site?

Now stop it guys!!! :)

NO SHOTGUNS INSIDE, ONLY HYPER CARDIOIDS!!

Yes the 4073 is cool, but if you side by side a 4073 and 416, you'll hear the difference.

Ty Ford

Ty, from your instructional video it seems like you
were saying that the hypers are more directional than
shotguns in the lower frequencies. Did I understand this
correctly? And so it must be that the shotguns are
more directional than the hypers in the upper frequencies?

Hello from sunny Halifax, NS.

The answers are Yes, then No.

Shotguns have reach that hyper don't have. That's the main tradeoff.

Ty Ford