Hi,

I need to shoot lively conversations in a crowd on a regular basis for a daily program. Wireless and booms are no options in this location. Would a parabolic microphone be useful? And which brand is best?

Cheers,

Joep, from Amsterdam.

YEAH, where the hack do you buy one of these GIGANTIC babies any way? Love to tot one around just to scare people.

You won't be able to isolate your talent from the surrounding noise. Also, Parbolic dishes are subject to thier own set of audio problems and are seldom used for dialog. I used them once on a documentary in a classroom with the teacher mic'd wireless and an audio operator following students interactoins with the parabolic dish and a tuned mic. The shift in quality was unacceptable.

Parabolic dishes are mostly used to pickup grunts at sports events as background.

could you give us more details of the setting and source?

Hi John and Law,

Thanks for the feedback.
I am planning a daily program where people in a diner passionately discuss the morning newspapers. Like a crowd standing around a couple of people sitting at a table, discussing the daily ethnic news concerning them selves.
Doing it on 2 camera's, I don't have the space to fit to boom people in as well. And wiring does not work since the people walk in and out.
So how bad is this sound on parabolics? I mean a rough edge could fit the scene.

Cheers

Joep

What about hanging a couple of cardioids, or one omni, over their heads?