Microphone for wildlife sound capture
I'm currently taking a year long class entitled Mediaworks at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. During this course I will be doing a documentary on Coyotes in urban environments. For Equipment I own a XL2 and a Marantz PMD671 (Marantz unit being shipped today).
What would be the best microphone to use as I may be up to 1/4 of a mile away from the animal when capturing audio for later dubbing? Should I obtain a parabolic system, or would a shotgun microphone work? Also being new to this, what would be a good microphone to purchase (Brand, model)? Thank you, |
Quote:
|
Hi dave,
I to would like to know this... I will soon be getting into wildlife videography. This is a little of topic... but I would still like to know; How do you like the class that you are taking? Is it very helpful, learning, and so on? Hope you find what you are looking for! ~Gabriel~ |
Quote:
Would the shotgun mike be a decent choice for documenting Ospreys nesting when the distances will be around 40 feet, or should I just bite the bullet and get the Gibson parabolic? I have a mike budget right now of around $800, the balance left from buying the Marantz unit - after selling 13 images for one-time useage in publication over the weekend. I searched the threads here and it seems like everything is used for working at close distances... |
Big Ears is probably a much better parabolic mic
As far as I know, the pros use Big Ears parabolic microphones. The Gibson unit looks like a cheap toy compared to Big Ears. A friend is director of engineering at a major cable TV station, and he recommended Big Ears for sporting events.
Take a look... the price is nearly identical. You will notice Big Ears microphones at every NFL football game. You'll find them at parabs.com. |
Quote:
If I went with the big ears it would drop my mike budget to $500. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. |
It appears on their website that they are using lav mics on the dishes they equip with a mic, but I would think you could get much lower self-noise with a good cardioid small-diaphragm condenser. For example an AT3031 cardioid would have low noise and reasonably high sensitivity along with a very flat frequency response for use with one of these parabolic dishes.
These are available for about $160 to $170 online and you'll already have phantom power from either your camera or Marantz. You could also look into a high quality preamp like the SoundDevices MP-1 or MM-1 for about $299 to $350. The MM-1 would give you a separate headphone out if you're using someone to remotely point and handle the dish. And you'd probably need a small furry and some black no-exposed-rubber hairbands for wind protection. These range from about $20-$50. If you're still thinking about a shotgun by itself, $800 is kind of a deadspot budget wise. There are several right below that (plus accessories at extra cost) like the AT4071a. The Sennheiser MKH-60 or MKH-70 are well above $1000 unless you bought one used. |
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:50 PM. |
DV Info Net -- Real Names, Real People, Real Info!
1998-2024 The Digital Video Information Network