I've just tested the me66 and wasnt as impressed as I thought I'd be.

Now I need to know whats the best kind of all around shotgun mic I should get.

I'll be using it for weddings and for interviews.

It needs to be under $600.

What do you all use?


thanks

For weddings I try to use wireless microphones whenever possible, including for interviews, but I recently bought an Azden SGM-1X shotgun that's not too bad. I particularly like it because it has an XLR output, so I can run that into one channel of an XLR adapter and put a wireless microphone on the other channel. B&H Photo Video as the Azden for just under $150.

Anybody here tried the Beyer Dynamic shotgun condenser kit?

Audio Technia AT897

It's absolutely brilliant. As good as the Sennheiser.

Jon

I wouldn't and don't use a shotgun. Way overrated for this application. A nice Cardiod is much better in my opinion. I use a Shure SM-81 for on-camera work when I'm not using the stock microphone that came with my DSR-300.

Mike: I'm confused by your use of terminology--seems to me that shotgun and cardiod are related terms. In any case, what do you see being the practical difference between the Shure microphone you use and traditional shotguns?

Shotgun and cardiod are not the same device in terms of response to the world. For example, a shotgun is usually much more directional which means that sound approaching from the side can be distorted and the rise and fall of captured sound levels as one pans across them is much more apparent.

Biggest issues for me are that the cardiods can sound much better and they are (at least for the one I use) incredibly more resistant to SPL overload.

Next issue is that they tend to be much shorter.

After that, they can be hand-held in an interview situation and they tend to be a bit more rugged.

<Kevin>
Mike: I'm confused by your use of terminology--seems to me that shotgun and cardiod are related terms. In any case, what do you see being the practical difference between the Shure microphone you use and traditional shotguns?
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<Mike>
Shotgun and cardiod are not the same device in terms of response to the world. For example, a shotgun is usually much more directional which means that sound approaching from the side can be distorted and the rise and fall of captured sound levels as one pans across them is much more apparent.

Biggest issues for me are that the cardiods can sound much better and they are (at least for the one I use) incredibly more resistant to SPL overload.

Next issue is that they tend to be much shorter.

After that, they can be hand-held in an interview situation and they tend to be a bit more rugged.
-----

Kevin, thanks for asking for clarification and thanks to Mike for the explanation! I currently using the Senn ME-66 and am not pleased with the results. Looks like I'm in the market for the Shure SM-81.
Thanks guys.

The 81 might not be the best. I'd post in 'Now Hear This' and ask Douglas what he recommends. I use the 81 because I have it for other tasks and it works very nicely. But there may be better or less expensive microphones (the 81 lists for around $600 and normally sells for under $400)

I like it because it will handle the exhaust sounds from an engine right at the exhaust port or the sound of a 50 calibre sniper rifle.

The usual jargon I am used to in terms of mic directivity is as follows:

Omni: no directivity at all.
Cardioid: "natural" human ear-like directivity.
Hypercardioid: "highly focused" directivity.

The terms hypercardioid and shotgun tend to be used for the same thing. I'm not sure if this is formally correct but I do it too ;-)

Bear in mind that these three terms are quite general, one hypercardioid can be much more "focused" than another one, and there are terms like "wide" cardioid and "narrow" cardioid. Also, directivity usually changes over different frequency ranges, and this can turn out to be very important. The best way to get a good idea of a mic's directivity is to take a look at it's polar pattern.

There are also other kinds of directivities like that of boundary effect microphones (which is rather wide but no exactly omni) and parabolic reflector microphones (which are very focused).