I need help picking a great mic for my film!
 

I’m looking for a good microphone for my film thesis. I am shooting a narrative film on a Sony HDR-FX1 with a Beachtek DXA-FX Audio Adapter. The film takes place mostly outside in the deep woods. I will have lots of people in my film, battle scenes, camp fire scenes, a cave scene, as well as scenes in NY City: subway, downtown streets, interior buildings, elevator scene…

My Question is, with all my audio needs, what kind of microphone would best serve me for: action, dialogue between multiple people, intimate interior and busy exterior, and the recording of SFX (foley)?

Wireless would only be used for close ups in very tight spaces (cave) so I’m looking for a good single mic to use on a boom. I'm thinking about buying the Sennheiser ME66/K6 - Super-Cardioid Short Shotgun Condenser Microphone Capsule with K6 (Battery/Phantom) Power Supply. A good choice?

Are there any good books/websites that discuss the different types of mic uses and setups? And how to choose the right Windscreen? Help!

What price range are you looking at?

Hi William,
There is a ton of advice from experienced people on this forum that will directly answer your questions. Do a little search through the audio section here.

For my two cents, I'll just say that, if you are doing story telling, plan to spend as much time, attention and money on audio as you do picture. I am thouroghly convinced that it's the most important and yet neglected area of student and very low budget productions. I just saw a relatively low budget feature the other night that was shot on a Sony F900 HD cam. The picture and cinematography was very good, but the sound was not and the film totally suffered because of it. The story was hard to follow and it became very distracting - and they had fair production value otherwise. Think about it, could you watch a movie with out sound?

Right you are Matt! (with exception of silent films - but those are intended to be without sound, save music).

My price range is around $300-$500.

I will do some searching on this site and see what I can find! Thanks guys!

William

FWIW, i think the ME66 should be a good choice.
Price at B&H right now is $419 (with K6 power module which you'll need).

Or a little more within budget would be probably Rode NTG2 at $249. This is powered either by phantom 48V power or an internal 1.5V battery.

Either way, i think you'll find it helpful to read Shawn Redford's recent post:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=64609

and to the dvestore review link mentioned in his post where about 8 popular shotgun mics are reviewed with sound and quicktime video:
http://dvestore.com/theatre/mics_guide.html

NTG2 and ME66 + 6 others are all at that link.

rgds

If you're going to be shooting a mix of indoors and out, IMHO a hypercardioid should be the first mic you get rather than a shotgun. Two excellent choices within your budget would be either the Audio-Technica AT4053a or the AKG C300B/CK93 combination. Hypers can be used indoors and out while a shotgun is less flexible and rarely a good choice for indoors or confined, reflective spaces (like your cave).

Just to let you know, I'm not sure you are allowed to shoot in NY subways or downtown streets without some sort of permission. I knew a peer who tried doing a piece on European vs. American subway systems, and he had his tape confiscated.

You might want to look at the Sennheiser ME64 cardioid mic too, as some people have reported surprising results even outdoors, and it serves well as a balanced indoor/outdoor mic. $365 with K6 module.

I've heard the CK93 and though it sounded pretty
good.
I know Jay has mentioned that his 4053 seems
a bit too bassy even with the low-cut
filter applied. I recently was looking at
the specs of the 4053 and saw that the
rolloff is not much at all: 6dB per octave
starting at 80 Hz. CK93 is a bit better:
12dB per octave at 75 Hz.

sound
 

William, you've gotten some good advise from these guys. I have used the me66 and the Audio Technica AT4053A with good results indoors and outdoors. just an extra .02

Rand





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