I am going to be shooting an outdoor television show this month, and one of the episodes is about hunting. I will be sitting in a little camo tent thingy with a host and a professional hunter. I will be maybe 3 yards from the rifle.
My question: will recording the portion where he fires the rifle hurt my microphone? I know there will obviously be a high SPL when that thing goes off. Also, would it be safe if i manually turned down the audio levels just before the shot? Anyone have experience with this? Thanks.
Jonathan

When we did our Lady X episode we recorded a blank being shot from about that distance. Our ears were a bit hurt (and we were startled) but otherwise our two microphones (stock and Me66) appeared to have weathered it. The recording also was good. I don't think we even thought of adjusting the levels down.

If you are just recording gun fire, switch to auto for levels. We have used it extensively for work with firearms and have not had a probelm yet. Every so often it might get a bit of distortion, but that has been few and far in between for us.

No, especially since you are outdoors and have a little distance between you and the rifle, but you will be disappointed with the results as real gunshots are nowhere near what they sound like in the movies.

Since you are basically shooting a documentary, it should not be a problem to have the real sound.

RB

I am doing a documentary right now up in Wyoming. We were riding in a pickup along a dusty dirt road one day. Two cowboys in the front, and I with my xl1s in the back. All of a sudden one of the cowboys whipped out his rifle from off the gun rack in the cab of the pickup. I just got the camera rolling when he took aim and fired hitting a coyote at about two hundred yards and down hill in a thicket.
Later upon reviewing the footage, I noticed that the shot wasnt set up very well since I barely had time to turn the camera on, but the soud was great! No distortion at all, and I had set the levels manually for voices at about two feet. The gun had gone off about that if not closer. There is definatly no damage to the mic and it still gets great sound.
Hopefully this babbling story helps with your dillema.

Awesome. Thanks guys. Time to strap on my camo and film some deer huntin'!