Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

It's all relative. Not every videographer in the world has the same equipment. Some work with $2000 cameras, some with $5000 and some with $10000. The same goes for every other equipment a videographer has. You start small and you build up as you get more jobs and have the money to get better tools. "You have to find the money somewhere" means nothing to me. Money doesn't grow on trees. Now if you tell me I'm making $10,000 a month and I still don't want to buy a $500 mic, then you would have a point.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

Of course the nice thing about an MS mic is that the M element is cardioid to begin with. (In theory the S element is a figure-8 capsule of some sort.)

So if you mix down to mono, and the side channel disappears, you have a recording from a cardioid mic. Not a hyper-, not a short shot, but a cardioid. But at least it's one single element pointed straight ahead.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

All internal mic's are hugely limited so it is not just sony, my canon HF11 has a dreadful internal mic, I have used the ECM MS957 on mainstream broadcasting work and also have the smaller ECM MS907 that I use as an M/S mic for gathering stereo sound effects in the field.

I recently sent the HF11 with the 957 on a job to shoot interviews and as said as it is an M/S mic I can be assured a good mono signal if I don't need stereo audio.

I have used these mics for over 15 years now and they are fantastic value for money even though at times I have access to the best kit available, good audio recording is about using the kit to its best capabilities and I have always used budget kit and to this day the sony's are in my kit bag along with two mini disc recorders and several budget AT875R shot shotgun mics. It is all used for mainstream broadcast and I never get anyone questioning the quality of the results.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

But a shot shotgun is just a cardioid mic with a phase cancellation tube bolted on the front to reduce background noise, the capsules will always be the same distance from any sound source, yes a hyper cardioid will give a more focussed sound due to the added side rejection but the laws of physics will remain the same and any mic that is too far away from the source you wish to record will have limitations.

At least with an M/S mics you have phase coherant stereo audio and if you wish you can adjust the stereo width in post prod( or on the sony mic), shotguns with phase cancellation tubes can also give problems indoors, I tend to use the AT875R as my general short shotguns these days as their pressure gradient design gives a more pleasing sound than phase cancellation tubes.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

Yes and they were recorded mono but post produced into stereo, most of the early stereo versions are actually just the triple track machines panned in the stereo image and were never recorded with stereo in mind, that is why you get strange stereo images with drums panned far left etc.

In my 30 years in broadcast and film and have always shot most things in mono with certainly all dialogue and sync sound and then post produced it into stereo, that way you can concentrate on getting the dialogue nice a focussed in the centre of the stereo image and add stereo sound effects or a stereo ambience recorded at the same time to adjust the balance and width of the image.

I don't do weddings but if I did I would concentrate on getting all the sync sound and any important dialogue in mono but also run a stereo ambience track on a sep recorder such as my mini disc that I can add in post rather than try to record everything at source in stereo. One other advantage of this is that if you then edit you will not get the stereo image changing as you cut from shot to shot and adding an overall stereo ambience buzz track can also help to cover edit points and give continuity to a scene that may be time shifted due to the editing.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

So why did you invest in a $3500 camera instead of saving the money and sticking with a $250 basic consumer camcorder from your local Big Box store? After all, either camera will work to record video. Don't you get that the same reasoning that led you to invest in a pro quality camera needs to be applied equally to your sound equipment, that having the right tools to do the job in a professional manner is just as important for sound as it is for picture, if not even more so?

Frankly, if you only had a total of $3500 to invest to begin with, you would have been better off with a $2500 camera and devoting the other $1000 to sound, or even a $1500 camera so you could devote two kilobucks to the sound kit. Especially if your goal is weddings where most clients would consider crystal-clear sound to be even more important than crisp images - realistically, they have a still photographer at the event to take the pictures and the images from a video camera will never be as good as those he gets. The most important part of what you're doing is the emotion of the event and that is carried more by the sounds than it is by picture. When wifey views this DVD, she going to want to hear her hubby's vows repeated just as clearly as she heard them when they were standing at the alter. You don't get that with a bargain basement shotgun mounted on the camera 25 feet away, the inescapable laws of physics dictate that it simply ain't gonna happen. For that matter, not even a $2500 Schoeps CMIT shotgun mounted on the camera 25 feet away will do that!

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

Totally agree with you there Steve and my HF11 or the HF100 is very capable of doing some really good pictures but the sound on a wedding would need my sennheiser radio mics and sony stereo mic to get it anywhere near right.

My main camera is a £10k panasonic HPX371 but I use the same sound kit on both cameras but I suppose my 30+ years in location audio and post comes into play a lot more than just the kit I use!

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

It's the way life works, Steve. Sometimes you have a lot of money to spend, sometimes you don't. Besides, do you seriously think anybody would buy a $1500 camera to spend $2000 in the sound? You, maybe, but I doubt anybody else. With this I'm not saying sound is not important, but for most types of events the shotgun mic is not something worth spending huge amounts of money on. If I do a wedding, I put a lavalier mic on the groom connected to a digital recorder, and another digital recorder as close to them as possible, or with another lavalier on the officiant. If it's a corporate event, I connect one of those recorders to the mixer, where I will get a hundred times better sound than the best quality shotgun mic could give me from the back of the room. So unless I do news interviews on the street, which I don't, a shotgun mic is secondary to the lavaliers or the mixer feed. So it's not something I want to spend a lot of money on, even if I had money right now.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

Just those that do a careful needs analysis looking at the big picture and assuming they are gearing up for both picture and sound instead of partnering with or hiring a sound person who provides his own kit. Nope, I didn't suggest spend huge amounts on a shotgun but $250 to $500 for an entry level 'gun is not a huge amount. (Mainstream pro 'guns run from about $750 to about $1500, top-shelf models can run over 2 grand) But to expect to spend a couple of grand on the whole basic sound kit, not including wireless, would be very reasonable in order to get a kit that can cover most typical situations for event and ENG work. Possible components of such as kit ... A good entry level short 'gun boom mic such as the previously recommended NTG-2 that could do double duty on camera where appropriate, a decent entry level (such as AKGSE300B/CK93) hyper for interior booming, a fishpole somewhere around 8 to 12 feet long with shockmount and wind protection for both mics (Boom Buddy or Fisherman's Friend to mount the pole on a C-stand for stationary booming), a couple of hard-wired lavs (Tram?) for sit-down interviews, a hand-held (EV RE50?) stick mic for standups, a basic field mixer such as a Sound Devices MixPre or better, a SD302, plus cables, batteries, and a bag to carry it in and you're already well north of 2 grand and maybe north of 3 before you even look at recorders or wireless. Oh yes, since you've said you want to be able to get stereo ambo, add a good quality stereo mic (AT8022?, Rode NT4?) or a pair of small diaphram cardioids to that kit as well. That will give you the sound kit comparable to the camera you own and then you can start to add wireless and recorders as needed. It's not at all unusual for the cost of the sound gear to exceed the cost of the camera gear. In fact it's not even unusual for the total cost of the sound kit to be several times the total cost of the camera kit.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

Steve, you're missing the point. You said "Frankly, if you only had a total of $3500 to invest to begin with, you would have been better off with a $2500 camera and devoting the other $1000 to sound, or even a $1500 camera so you could devote two kilobucks to the sound kit." What person in their right mind is going to buy a mediocre camera that can't even be called professional at $1500 and then add $2000 of state of the art professional audio equipment? A typical videographer that does weddings and corporate events would never do that. It's completely unbalanced. Top notch audio with mediocre video at best . I particularly prefer top notch video with decent audio, which is what I get with my digital recorders. All that equipment you mentioned is perfectly good for a large production company, but excessive for a single videographer, unless there is a specific project that requires it, in which case you rent it all, or if it's going to be a series of highly paid projects, then it makes sense to purchase it.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

What I described is hardly a state of the art sound kit. What I described is an entry-level sound kit for professional work, covering the most common shooting situations an independent videographer might encounter. State of the art is going to multiply those numbers many times over. Try pricing an Aaton Cantaar or Deva recorder, mainstays of many studio and network episodic sets ... you're looking at between $15,000 and $20,000, perhaps a little more, just for the recorder. Or another example, I suggested an AKG Blueline hyper for interior booming ... that mic will run about $475. But the industry standard hyper in North America is arguably the Schoeps CMC641 which will set you back right about $2250.

Top notch audio with mediocre video will have better client acceptance than will top notch video with medicore audio. If you have to compromise somewhere because of budget limitations. you're better off compromising the images and concentrating on getting the sound right. Consider a typical corporate gig, a welcome to the company message for new employees from the CEO. What is more important, what he has to say or showing an image that looks like a portrait shot by Karsh or Avedon?

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

That may be the way you see it, but most people would be put off my mediocre video more than by mediocre sound. Of course if you know how to adjust video settings properly you can get good looking video from a $500 consumer camera, but nobody will spend $1500 on the video camera and then $2000 on a sound kit unless the project calls for it and pays far more than that. In which case obviously the videographer would never get a $1500 camera for such a project.

But anyway, I heard samples of the different mics below $200 on different clips on You Tube and Vimeo and the Azdens sound muffled, so I I ended up ordering the Audio Technica AT875R, which sounds great to me, at least from those sample clips. Here's one example:

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

The AT875 is a decent entry-level microphone that a lot of people like. What makes you think the audio in that clip was recorded with one though .. didn't you see (what appears to be) the Sanken COS-11 lav she was wearing in the middle of her chest from about 00:28 onward? The first 30 seconds and most of her voice have WAY too much room reverb in them.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

That's not the case - at least not as we reach the lower limits. People put up with crummy video - postage stamp, big block noise, skipped frames - all the time. Degrade the audio to the point at which it is hard to understand or has a hiss, buzz, bad echo, or other distracting problem and people will turn it off. We can shut our eyes or turn our heads when we don't like what we see, but we can't close our ears.

As a kid, I remember watching stuff that was full of analog snow and ghosts - as long as the audio was okay. As long as I could kind of make out the picture, I'd watch. But if the sound was bad, click!

South Park is my favorite example. The visuals are virtually stick figures. Heck, the Terrance and Phillip characters ARE stick figures. By contrast, the sound is expertly done.

Of course, you said "mediocre". That gets harder to judge. One can use fairly cheap audio gear (as long as the preamp is good enough to avoid excess hiss) and apply good production and post techniques to get good sound. But this would be the case of mediocre gear, not mediocre sound. Similarly, great gear used poorly will produce poor audio. And poor audio should be avoided at all costs.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

If you click on "Vimeo" in the video (I pasted the URL but this forum embedded the video directly) you can see this in the description: "For the techies: I shot it in 1080/30p and used an Audio-Technica AT875R for audio"

Sure, there's a lot of room reverb but that's not the microphone's fault, it's simply a matter of the surroundings.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

We agree on that, but that's not the discussion we are having with Steve. He said I should've spent $1500 on a video camera and $2000 on the audio kit, which I seriously disagree with. That doesn't mean that a $100 microphone will give you audio that is hard to understand and is unusable. I'll give you an example if you go to this address and watch this sample video of a wedding I made: Samples - Anna & Paul

Let it buffer and when it lets you, go to around 4:50 and listen to the voices. Those voices were captured with my Zoom H1 recorder ($100) placed behind the floral arrangement on top of them. The H1 is stereo but for that purpose I set it to mono since it was there just to record voices. Then I got the stereo ambient audio from the internal mic of the camera I had at that point, a Panasonic HMC80.

It may not be top notch audio, but it's very decent, and the groom has a very expensive home theater and is an audiophile, and he was very happy with the quality of the voices. I was like thirty feet away, so even if I would have had a $1500 shotgun mic on my camera, there was no way I was going to get the same voice quality I got with that $100 digital recorder.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

Not bad on the vows .... could have had a bit more presence by putting a lav on either the groom, the officiant, or both but on the whole I'd consider it acceptable. Certainly far better than an on-camera mic would have done. Really lost it on the toast before the cutting of the cake though.

I'm never said you should have bought a $1500 camera in order to spend $2000 on the sound kit, just that that would be one possible approach unfder some circumstances. But to compromise on the camera, if that's what you have to do because of budget limitations, in order to invest in a basic pro-grade sound kit, up to a certain point, generally gives a better ROI of the long run. The point is that for the type of work you're positioning yourself to do - weddings, corporate events, etc and since you're not hiring a sound specialist who provides the kit - your sound kit and the selection of professional grade tools to go into it is of at least equal importance to your choice of camera kit. In an earlier post you complained about how terrible the camera's internal mics are and yet in your approach to the sound kit you're doing exactly what the camera designer's did, treating sound as an afterthought and not really all that important.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

I did have a lav on the groom, however, when comparing it to the Zoom H1 track, the H1 was ten times better, besides more balanced because it caught the three of them at around the same distance. Still, I obviously had to do a lot of keyframing on editing because their voices would have different volumes at different times.

The guy giving the toast doesn't sound too good, unfortunately they didn't tell me about it so I had to run to where he was and start recording with the internal camera mic, otherwise I would've put a lav on him as well.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

I finally got the AT875R and it's quite an excellent microphone. What I don't understand is why Audio Technica offers very affordable stereo shotgun mics for 3.5mm inputs but the cheapest shotgun XLR stereo is $675 on B&H, the BP4029. There is a cheaper stereo XLR, the AT8022, but because of the shape it would look ridiculous on a camera, it's obviously meant for a microphone stand. And still, it's $500, not a lot cheaper. I don't understand why can't they make a stereo version of the AT875R, even if it's a little more expensive than the mono version.

I wonder, if I add a second AT875R, how different would that be from the stereo of a real stereo microphone? Because each mic would be recording to a separate channel, so it would be stereo in theory, but would it be as good as a directional stereo microphone? Would it make a big difference that they wouldn't be exactly side by side, but that one would be about one inch higher, about 45 degrees from the other one? I mean, the idea is that one will be on the holder, the other one on the shoe, and these are not at the same level.

BTW, does anybody know where to buy a 6 inch XLR female to male cable? I bought the shortest one they had at monoprice, 1.5 feet, but it's still too long and it goes all the way down to the handle. I googled trying to find this but most places don't even have one as short as 1.5 ft.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

Two 875R's would not be a good idea as a stereo mic as they need to be crossed pair and the capsules are near the back of the mic, you are better getting what I recommended the sony ECM MS957 as it is a proper phase coherant M/S stereo mic. I have both and use them all the time with great results.

As for a short cable I have the .5m ones too but any shorter and you will have to make them or get them made up for you.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

After the horrible performance of this camera's microphone, I would never buy a Sony microphone. Everything I've had in my life branded Sony that was an audio product of any kind was subpar. Sony may be very good for visuals, but when it comes to audio they suck.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

Actually they wouldn't be stereo in theory. Stereo requires more than just the fact that two channels are being recorded - the channels need to be in certain relationships to each other for the playback to recreate the original soundfield. With the mic arrangement you describe, the problem is not that they are on different levels; it is that they are side by side. Here's a link to a page that summarizes some of the most common arrangements of microphones in a stereo setup ... http://www.schoeps.de/documents/ster...chniques-e.pdf

The problem with using shotguns is that their pattern is a narrow cone of sensitivity. When used singly, they help pick out the desired sound they're aimed at from the surrounding ambience. But when recording stereo, you don't want a narrow beam of pickup, you want to pickup all the sounds coming from straight ahead and left and right, all across from one side to the other of the imaginary stage in front of you. The "V" shape of the two narrow 'beams' of sensitivity coming from two shotguns mounted together at the apex doesn't really do that very evenly. That's why two cardioids is probably the most common arrangement.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

Sony's consumer lines of audio gear can be iffy - some of the gear is pretty good, some not so good. But their professional lines are generally quite acceptable. For instance, the standard monitoring headset found on just about every location set and soundstage in North America is the Sony MDR-7506 headphones. About 75% of all movies that you've ever seen in the theatres was originally recorded with the sound mixer listening through a pair of those. Personally I think of Sony as being more of an audio company than video when it comes to their professional equipment. Your experience with your camera's internal mic is more due to the fact that camera designers in general have treated sound as an afterthought. Although it has been getting better in recent years, even $100,000 broadcast and EFP cameras have suffered with relatively marginal sound capabilities.

As a point of interest, the term 'pro-sumer' supposedly arose as a description of gear that has professional-grade visual performance with consumer-grade audio circuits.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

Maybe, but my opinion from having many Sony audio products is that on average you have to pay a lot more for the same quality that you find on another brands. It's about the same as Apple computers. My computer, built by myself with components I chose, outperforms every Mac except for the Mac Pros, except that I put my computer together for about half of what I would have paid for a Mac Pro. In most cases Apple is nothing but cute looking grossly overpriced hardware, and Sony is about the same in many cases. The only reason I bought a Sony camera was that Panasonics have a horrible auto-iris and Canon, at least in November of last year, was still using HDV on their entry level professional cameras. Regardless of that, the video quality of the AX2000 is outstanding, and with the exception of film on Blu-ray, I haven't seen anything on 1080-60i video anywhere, Blu-ray or television, that surpasses its picture quality. Which makes the internal mic that much more of a disappointment, because you get superb picture quality and sound that is barely better than that of a cell phone.

My point is that, if I can avoid Sony, I will.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

It's still stereo, but not a natural sounding stereo.

Remember some of the Beatles recordings where the singer would be panned hard to one side and bass or guitar to the other? The effect of two shotguns would be similar to that, depending on angles, isolation, etc.

There are many ways that we can record a stereo soundfield. None is perfect. They are all approximations. Two shotguns is still stereo, but a worse approximation than most. ;)

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

No it's not stereo is should be regarded as "Split Tracks" people seem to think that 2 tracks of audio is stereo.... its not.
Is a shot gun on track 1 and a Lav on track 2 stereo? Many times this goes to an edit studio and its claimed to be stereo, and it actually creates far more problems than it solves..

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

If the two tracks are treated as separate tracks and mixed down (and possibly panned across a stereo stage) then no.

If the two tracks are played back simultaneously and in sync, with each track going to a separate speaker (or earphone) then I'd say yes, that's a stereo pair of tracks.

And remember, there's intensity stereo, phase stereo, a combination of the two, binaural, etc. etc. Multitracked pop music probably consists mostly of mono tracks, with the exception of the drum kit (and maybe a Leslie cab) which would probably be miced with at least a pair of mics (recorded onto at least two tracks)... but with everything eventually being mixed down to stereo.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

Well to dismiss something just because of that experience with sony shows a lack of ability to consider all options to get good results and I can add no more to this discussion, you wanted a cheap stereo mic and I have found that the sony is the best budget mic around! I have even used the ECM MS-907 for pro broadcast use and whilst I am no longer a fan of sony pro cameras after my Z7/S270 I would still consider them if I needed a solution to a future problem.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

Sad to see you got a mono mic after all.

I agree with your first postings. Recording the applause in mono is a terrible sound experience.

People here argue that if you zoom, your sound will not zoom with a stereo mic. True and neither will it with a shotgun mic.Thats not the point with recording in stereo. The sound shound be as real as possible.
Yes the vocal from a single person is mono, but the person who is listening has two ears (stereo/). So if the talking person is moving the head to one side a mono shotgun will record same level or reduce the sound level.
A stereo mic will act like your ears and put a higher level to the one side and lower level to the other.
Therefore recording vocals in stereo makes meaning.

I got the AX2000 and yes sound isnt great. My Sony UX5 with 5+1 sound is 1000 times better, so I will also go for a better stereo mic.

I saw a lot of pros and cons on different mics. I think you will never find a mic that everyone says is good or perfect. The Rode NT4 is sensitive to shocks and wind. Then put a dead cat onto the mic if thats a problem. Who on earth will record outside and expect that a not protected mic wouldnt rumble?. Put the mic on a shockmount if its sensitive.

Some people believe that a shotgun will make recordings at 30 feet distance possible. No it will still record so much ambient noice that you dont want to listen to it. If you want to record on distance, then use a small mic mounted to the shirt with a transmitter. Shotguns are for interviews with less than 10 feet and lot of ambient noice, but mono isnt what your ears are ment to listen to. Even if you have a normal conversation with your wife, you will hear her voice in stereo even though the voice has mono output.

If you are to do a wedding recording, the stereo mic makes sence. Yes if not put next the bride and groom it will not record bride to right and groom to the left. But it will record the audience and the rest as your ears would hear it.

A stereo mic needs to be paired in order to make the sound, sound like stereo. If theres just a slightly delay between the two mics. your ears will feel its out of phase and sounds terrible. I can hear a lot of recordings on youtube is out of phase which destroy the whole stereo image.
A convinsing recording on the Rode NT4 is here:
Even the vocal is recorded perfect as your ear would hear it.

Another awesome recording with the Rode NT4 mic used outside:

And try listen to the recordings using headphones. Then you get the true stereo image.
The frequency range goes from 20-20.000 KHz so it will record the same as your ears are able to hear.
Yes the mic is heavy, so is the AX2000. Use a tripod or a sholder strap if things get too heavy.

I understand your price concerns. But the good thing about a good mic is. You can use it on your next camcorder as well. You could also consider to buy a used mic.

Yes a lot of broadcast stations use mono shotgun mics for their recordings and if no one is askiing for more they will probably continue like so for the next century. But mono isnt that great and your ears and brain is capable of more than mono recordings.

Dont try to setup two microphones for stereo that is build for mono use. If the distance between the two is just a bit out of tolerance, you will have the sound out of phase. Sound isnt moving very fast, so if one mic is a bit closer to the object as the other mic, you will hear something that isnt mono and isnt stereo. It will feel weird in your head.

Its not easy to make good stereo sound recordings. Using a mono shotgun is far more easy, so I guess thats why its used by broadcast TV. They are more likely to get acceptable sounds in the production and they dont have time to deal with bad recordings, so they go for the safe solutions. But not for the stunning sound.

Still I wish you all the best with your mic and your shootings. I think we all purchased what we think is best :-)

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

"Therefore recording vocals in stereo makes meaning."

• I have to say that all dialog should be recorded in MONO. This goes for weddings or anything. If you have someone playing guitar and singing, yes, a stereo mic is more appropriate to capture the guitar and voice, or a small group. But for dialog, mono is the proper way to record. A stereo recording of voice will never have the voice perfectly centered, and you don't want the dialog or singing track drifting left and right because that's disorienting to the audience. If the proper way was stereo, then recording studios, and Hollywood would have figured that out and used stereo mics. But a MONO mic is always used by professionals for vocals and dialog.
• A shotgun is not designed for recording 10 feet away. It's designed to be held within 2 feet of the mouth. It does not increase the distance you record from, it just reduces the side noise in the mid-upper range.
• For weddings you need to put a lav on the groom, and a lav on the officiant. The bride will be picked up by the groom's mic. Stereo mics are for music, and ambient recordings primarily.

I have the NT4, and it's a great mic! Indeed get a shock mount and wind protection for it.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

Sorry Tom, but you seem to have VERY little knowledge of Television Production and the use of shotgun mics...Yes they are mono but are used to 'paint' an audio picture some are panned left and some right and many variations in between making that complete audio picture.
Just think of a soccer field 10-12 mono shot gun mics are normally used just for field FX, mainly to suit the wide shot camera.
If it was to be mic'd with 12 stereo shotgun mics with each L channel going to Left and each R channel going to the Right what you would end up with is a total mix mash of sounds with NO definition or coherence.
TV broadcasts very rarely if not ever use a single FX mic on its own.

PLEASE do more research on broadcasting techniques before making wild statements...... Or even ask on the forum of how its done as there are many people on forums with MANY years of experience willing to share.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

Yes, if one doesn't know something from actual experience, they shouldn't be handing out advice.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

Well to add in over 32 years of TV and film production I have only ever used stereo mic's as an overall stereo source or to record sound effects or a music ensemble in stereo, I also tend to use one stereo mic with mono spot mic's panned and that goes for soccer too as we generally have lots of mono mic sources and an overall stereo soundfield mic in the roof of the stadium.

95% of my work involves recording mono mic's but some of them may be panned as stated to create a controllable stereo image or soundstage.

Stereo can be created better in post prod and even mono sources can be given stereo width using digital room simulation etc.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

Hi , I haven't read all the way through this thread , so apologies if someone has suggested this already .

Take a look at the Sony ECM MS2 - it is designed as an onboard stereo mic , has a fifteen inch cable terminating in two XLR connectors and requires phantom power . Here in the UK , it sells for a little over £200

At higher price points there are offerings from Sennheisser , Audio Technica and Rode .

For me , the Sony looks ideal to mount on the camera for general use , plugged into the two XLR sockets on the rear of my GY-DV500 , and I will mount a radiomic receiver on the back of the camera , wired to the front XLR to use when filming 'talking heads' , for which mono will suffice .

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

Looks an ideal size if you need to have a stereo mic mounted on your camera: http://pro.sony.com/bbsccms/assets/f...res/ECMMS2.pdf

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

Looks like an interesting mic.

It may be worth noting that this is M/S configuration, which some folks like less than a conventional X/Y type. (No opinion offered here, there have been other relevant threads.)

Also worth noting that the specs mention 40V minimum phantom voltage, so be sure your camera/recorder/mixer provides this much voltage (some provide less).

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

Yes be aware that is is a Mid/Side mic. You need to deal with the audio in post much differently with m/s recordings. The result is much more variable than typical stereo, but you must know what you're doing. Here's an article I wrote on m/s so you know what you're getting into:

Recording with the Mid-Side Microphone Configuration | BH inDepth

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

Yes it is a mid side mic but I suspect like all the other sony's that I have used that it outputs in A/B or Left and right stereo mode.

There is a big difference in a M/S mic that outputs in A/B and recording M/S as that requires a matrix to encode the signals.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

That Sony ECM-MS2 appears to have a built-in matrix to output A/B when used in stereo.
But if you remove power from the "Right" channel, it outputs "M" only on the "Left" output.
That makes it rather more handy than your typical A/B stereo microphone.
Especially for camera-top applications.

Re: I need a very cheap stereo XLR mic
 

Yes , the nice thing for those of us with switchable phantom on the rear of our camcorders is that it is only neccessary to flick the CH2 phantom switch to off to change to mono .

I don't have one yet , but have more or less decided to get one ,