Shotguns indoors at DVinfo.net

Paul R Johnson · March 17th, 2022, 04:12 PM

I started making some youtube videos and people I know keep emailing with suggestions and I got one saying that it was OK to make videos in the studio where the acoustics were good - and the differences between mics were subtle at best, so how about spaces not so good, so I took some shotguns into the office and got some quite unexpected results. I discovered the on-camera mic, that has always recorded audio that I've even occasionally used, is actually horrible sounding, and the Sennheiser 416 that usually works well must have been in one of those unfortunate positions where reflections (or something) made it sound a bit boxy. Another mic performed better, unexpectedly. This video then got me a suggestion to take the same mics into the studio and do the comparison again. What actually jumped out at me was that the mic I've been using for a comparison - a dynamic Shure SM7B actually sounded better, tonally, than some of the shotguns and I'm thinking maybe it would be quite a nice boom mic, when you actually don't want the constant battle with aiming the microphone.

Anyway - here are links to the first video and the follow up.

Rick Reineke · March 18th, 2022, 11:33 AM

One would need a preamo with lots of clean gain with a Shure SM7 mic,which is typically used in close mic'd situations..

Paul R Johnson · March 18th, 2022, 03:18 PM

Yep - but most people plug in the cloudlifter and just leave it connected - I do, but with the cloudlifter, it performs pretty decently and is far less upset by 'aiming' errors. I think it did pretty well in the office, when some of the others were less successful there - but OK in the studio. I really wasn't that impressed by it at first, but so far it's doing everything far better than I expected.

I'd like to find out if broadcasters in the US still use Fischer Booms? I suspect some might still use them (we do in the UK in sit coms still) and wonder what the preferred American studio boom mic is?

March 17th, 2022, 04:12 PM	#1
Paul R Johnson Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Lowestoft - UK Posts: 4,045	Shotguns indoors I started making some youtube videos and people I know keep emailing with suggestions and I got one saying that it was OK to make videos in the studio where the acoustics were good - and the differences between mics were subtle at best, so how about spaces not so good, so I took some shotguns into the office and got some quite unexpected results. I discovered the on-camera mic, that has always recorded audio that I've even occasionally used, is actually horrible sounding, and the Sennheiser 416 that usually works well must have been in one of those unfortunate positions where reflections (or something) made it sound a bit boxy. Another mic performed better, unexpectedly. This video then got me a suggestion to take the same mics into the studio and do the comparison again. What actually jumped out at me was that the mic I've been using for a comparison - a dynamic Shure SM7B actually sounded better, tonally, than some of the shotguns and I'm thinking maybe it would be quite a nice boom mic, when you actually don't want the constant battle with aiming the microphone. Anyway - here are links to the first video and the follow up. YouTube (Short URL) YouTube (Short URL)

March 18th, 2022, 11:33 AM	#2
Rick Reineke Inner Circle Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: New York Posts: 2,039	Re: Shotguns indoors One would need a preamo with lots of clean gain with a Shure SM7 mic,which is typically used in close mic'd situations..

March 18th, 2022, 03:18 PM	#3
Paul R Johnson Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Lowestoft - UK Posts: 4,045	Re: Shotguns indoors Yep - but most people plug in the cloudlifter and just leave it connected - I do, but with the cloudlifter, it performs pretty decently and is far less upset by 'aiming' errors. I think it did pretty well in the office, when some of the others were less successful there - but OK in the studio. I really wasn't that impressed by it at first, but so far it's doing everything far better than I expected. I'd like to find out if broadcasters in the US still use Fischer Booms? I suspect some might still use them (we do in the UK in sit coms still) and wonder what the preferred American studio boom mic is?