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Shotgun Mic Advice
Hi everyone,
I am making a short film and am at the stage of buying a shotgun mic so as to improve the audio quality of the dialogue as well as foley recordings. My budget is fairly low but I want a high quality diretional mic with low noise and excellent sound quality. At the moment I am tossing up between the Audio technicha ATR-55 and the Azden SGM-1X. Which would be a better choice for my situation?(The mic will be mounted on a boom pole) Or are there other models of similar price with better quality.
I know theres the AT897 but thats a bit more than what I want to pay. Is it really worth the extra money?Also, can audio noise be cleaned appropriatly in audio editing programs without any loss in quality? Which programs are successful at doing this?
Thanks a lot,
Pat -
5 Replies
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Hello Pat and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum,
Fast, Cheap, Good; you don’t get all three.
Your budget prevents you from achieving, “a high quality directional mic with low noise and excellent sound quality.” Settle for less or pony up. It’s that simple.
The mics you mention are not top of the line. They are made to sell at a lower price. That means they are not as good as the more expensive mics.
You may also find that a shotgun mic is not going to be enough if you’re planning on shooting inside most conventional spaces.
Think of it as similar to golf. Sure, you can go a round using only a five iron, but you won’t do as well as if you had a bag full. Unlike camcorders, if you buy a good mic, you’ll user it for ten years or more.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
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OK thanks for that, its made things much clearer for me. What type of imperfections would these lower-end mics offer and is it possible to clean these up in post production?
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I see you’re trying to avert the issue. Nice try. 🙂
Noise, beaminess and distortion can’t be cleaned up in post.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Watch Ty play guitar -
haha yeah I was 🙂
Ok then, i think what ill do is hire a better quality mic for this project and look into buying a professional one in the near future.
Thanks a lot for your very helpful responses, you will have definetly helped me to gain a much better sound quality.
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Best of luck with you’re new learning experience. 🙂
Regards,
Ty Ford
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Watch Ty play guitar
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