Don't buy a Shotgun Microphone!

When people get into filmmaking it is only natural that they want their movies to sound great. Unfortunately a lot of people make a mistake of buying a shotgun microphone as a "do it all solution" for sound. In this video I will discuss why I think its a mistake to buy a shotgun microphone as your first mic, and what alternatives will work better.

Instagram: @ditfilms

Gear Mentioned in this Episode (THESE ARE NON-AFFILIATE LINKS. I DONT GET ANYTHING FROM THE SALE OF THESE ITEMS)

[jeremiahkuehne]

Short shotgun mics (like the 416) get used all the time on film sets even indoors. The difference is that they bring in sound blankets and treat the space they're filming in for better audio. Truth is that any mic is going to sound terrible in a small reverberant room. In fact, sometimes a short shotgun will actually be better at blocking out some of those reflections than an SDC. However, what needs to be taught to beginners is to use sound blankets. Get a couple of them that are white on one side and black on the other. They can double as flags and reflectors for lighting while drastically improving the quality of your audio. Once you've treated the room, pick the mic that has the right polar pattern for the audio you're trying to capture. An SDC is going to sound terrible in an untreated room but I guess it'll sound terrible without comb filtering lol. Although yes, even in a treated room if you're booming near a low ceiling that is reflective you're going to get some bad audio. Use the right tool for the situation, but there isn't a hard and fast rule on what to use indoors versus outdoors.

[Rorschach_]

You know what, I think I'm gonna use my shotgun mic indoors even more now!

[PurpleandGold]

I dont recommend what hes going for here for beginners. As others have said in the comments. A $200 Shotgun mic is going to be 80% of a $600 SDC indoors. When you factor that in along with a shotgun mics versatility outdoors, if youre a beginner a shotgun mic is the way to go along with a Lavalier mic. Once you improve and find out that this is the job for you and you become an amateur solo videographer THEN you can upgrade to better indoor gear. You cant go wrong with a simple AT897 for most use cases early on.

[calvinchoy]

location sound mixer: Am i joke to you?

[micwilli]

Great video. Just to make it easier on everyone, I purchased two Schoeps CMC6 with the MK41 caps in 1989. I change out the caps to MK4’s when I started working on the X Files and everything I’ve done since then has been that way. So yes it’s expensive, but you’ll never buy another mic for interiors ever again. I have tried all the others, but always end up back with the Schoeps.

For outdoors, it took a while, I went from 416/816 combo’s to KMR 81/82 combos and around 2000 I was given a Sanken CS-3e and it was brilliant.

One last thing to add, my lavs are Sanken cos-11’s. they blend perfectly between the CS-3e and the CMC6-4.

Your videos are spot on. Keep up the great work.

Michael Williamson c.a.s.

[shingAMarie]

I think when you use the term worst, you are definitely exaggerating how bad they are indoors.

[Tvj_films]

unless the guys audio sounds like Chris Judd or Gerald Undone, it's hard to take in his advice. This guys audio doesn't sound that good. Just average.

[charlieross-BRM]

The vocal delivery on this segment is quite harsh to the ears. That's not good for a segment on capturing good vocals. The attack at the start of sentences especially is jarring. Maybe it's a heavy application of post processing attack or maybe the announcer hasn't got the hang of speaking calmly and smoothly. I hear this far too often on many YT channels.

[thespitfireboy]

I'm sorry but I can't stop noticing the peak clipping in this video.

[bernhardtmitdt]

Your title is wrong! It should be "Don't use shotgun mics for ...".
There are a lot of setups (e.g. outdoor) where a shotgun mic is perfect. So, please, be fair!

[astralaudio]

Yes, i’ve discovered this recently also.. I also discovered 3U Audio and a single SDC hyper cardioid starts at $208 US. They are very good Neumann style microphones. 👍

[danieltx]

i’m so tired of crappy click-bait titles. *sigh*

[dougiereid]

Very timely and useful video as I was about to purchase a shotgun mic for indoor dialogue in a echo prone room! Gone for a Røde NT5 after some further research.

[butsukete]

Remington is pretty good but I still prefer a Mossberg. And the Mossberg just sounds better when you're blasting away.

[AliceVixie]

With all the respect, shotguns in filming are great choice but you have to really operate the boom, not just stay there daydreaming with somehow raised hands.
If you can't afford real boom operator, go for Sanken cos-11 under clothes. But pencils... maybe for press conferences in controlled environment where everything would work including PZM.

[CC]

you should read correctly the link to comb filtering effect, like this part :

Here are situations where you will commonly encounter comb filtering.

Using two mics at different distances from the same source. Note: If the distance between the mics is large, then the dips will be small enough to be unnoticeable.
Having a hard surface near a microphone. The reflections off the hard surface can cause an audible delay perceived as comb filtering, similar to the way that light reflects off a mirror.
Having a hard surface reflecting a speaker sound. If you have a hard surface that is creating a dual path (speaker to ear plus speaker to surface to ear), then it can create comb filtering in your monitoring.
Using two speakers projecting into the same space. In live settings, using multiple cabinets whose coverage overlap can create comb filtering in that overlap.

[lb]

I went broke just watching and wishing for microphones 😂
Awesome video, thank you so very much.

[zogun]

for indoor budget pencil SDC; Nt5, sE7 or even Behringer B5

[granitpower]

I still prefer my rode ntg / go2 indoors and outdoors.
-and never hab any “filtering effect”
-SG-Mics for the W 🥰

[vinny]

Why don't you just stop being a clickbaiter and call your video "why using shotgun mics in un-soundtreated rooms may not be the best solution"?

Clickbait is *the* best way to stop people from taking you seriously, like I am doing now.