Microphone Reccommendations

[jwcelement]

This goes along with something I posted a few weeks ago.

I've decided that i'm going to go with an external mic. Having a budget of about $150 for the mic I've decided on one of these two:

(Sony
Stereo Video Microphone
ECM-MS908C) http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INT...rderMicrophones
or
(Sony Camcorder Microphone ECM-Z37C) http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INT...rderMicrophones

I was wondering if any of you had experience with either mic, or if you have other suggestions. I'm going to build a boom mic holder to mount this on to get dialogue, so what which would be better is my question.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ February 09, 2005 05:53 AM: Message edited by: JwcElement ]</font>

[Bnew]

I don't know if i'd recommend either of those mics..

Apart from shit sound quality, and picking up noise from the camcorder, mics that are mounted on the camera are limited to recording sound from the area of the camera.

Of the ones you posted, the 2nd would be more appropriate because of the uni-directional pickup pattern, but i don't think it would be as good as a proper shotgun mic.

I'm not sure exactly what you can get for $150, but you should look to get a shotgun mic for better sound quality and more flexibility.

Try one of the cheaper Audio Technica ones, perhaps 2nd hand from ebay or somewhere if you can find one. Audio Technica do a basic model (ATR55 - about $50-100) which has a stereo mini-plug that can fit straight into a camcorder and doesn't require phantom power, which would probably be better than those mics you suggested.

However an ideal solution would be a mic with XLR connectors, as XLR is the only cabling system which allows you to run any length of wire without extra noise. To plug an XLR cable to a camcorder though you need a converter box (like a Beachtek, or XLR-PRO) which cost about $150 (but also can provide phantom power if your mic requires it), or you'll need to get a custom made XLR to mini-jack cable wired for unbalanced use (I got one for about ?10). It's crucial to get it wired for unbalanced use otherwise you can damage the audio in on your camera.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ February 09, 2005 07:01 AM: Message edited by: Bnew ]</font>