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velocityphoto

Sony video and shotgun mic's?

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Shotguns are not at all for indoor use. In an aircraft, you're best served with either a hypercardioid or a Hemi-cardioid mic. We've mic'd live work inside Kings, DC3, heli's, etc. Hypers work great.
Take a shotgun (any shotgun) and speak on axis while listening via a sound system or headphones cranked loud enough that you cannot hear the original source (you're only hearing the mic source).
Now speak along side the shotgun, moving your way towards the back of the mic. You'll note that your voice becomes thinner/tinny and then thicker/muddy.
this is because a shotgun works on rejection/gradients of frequency. And the louder the aircraft and lesser the voice, the less useful it becomes.
Back to point, you'll end up with muddy voices, lots of aircraft noise, and less than useful audio.
You can use a uni for freefall if you have serious wind protection; we've done it, I know Joe Jennings has done some aerial recording as well (BTW, you *can* record voices in freefall) but you'll need a serious mouse and pottyball.
if you have specifics on what you're attempting to accomplish, I can probably help you figure it out pretty easily.

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I own 3 lav units 2 of those cheap azden pro's and i have a sennhieser ew100 set but i cannot seem to get the ew100 setup correctly for skydiving ?


A friend will bail you out of jail , a REAL friend will be sitting next to you in the cell slapping your hand saying "DUDE THAT WAS AWSUM " ................

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no way ! LOL ! I use it in freefall along with my video ..
But i worked with some reporters 1 time ,they had a hand held mic they put inside the news anchors suit and it picked up everything we said all the way to 11000 ft and in freefall it was awsum .


A friend will bail you out of jail , a REAL friend will be sitting next to you in the cell slapping your hand saying "DUDE THAT WAS AWSUM " ................

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First, indoor film *rarely* uses shotguns, second, you'll never find the linked POS on a serious shoot. its' a short shotgun designed for the wedding/event shooter, and again...not designed for indoor use. it is what the new generation call a "short shotgun" which is about the same as a standard hypercardioid, but cheaper to manufacture due to the way the linear grade works. Good for the weekend wedding warrior, but nothing for good sound anywhere else (then again, I'm an audio snob).
Waves striking the sides of a line grad mic at identical or near identical amplitude as the wave striking the element, cartridge, head, whatever you prefer to call it, creates phase issues with impulses, causing boominess or muddiness.
Hypercardioids are very common, such as the AT 4051 or 4053 (First mic ever to win an Emmy was teh 4053)
Generally speaking, the more directional the mic, the more it emphasizes the echo in the room. Add to that the reflections hitting the sides of a grade mic, and you've got boomy echo. Sound stages are an exception, because the room is designed for...sound.

Senn 416 is a good exterior, if you can find the 435, it's a killer for indoors as a "short shotgun" but was discontinued a few years ago. Schoeps MK41 and MK4's are probably the *most* common on film and television sets, with Neuman KM184's in the mix. The AT 4053 is what I prefer, almost identical to the old BK4011.

Anyway, back to comment, shotguns as a general rule, should not be used indoors, definitely not in boomy rooms, small interiors (such as aircraft) or where air can strike the sides of the mic.
Many people confuse boom'd mics with being shotguns, when rarely is that the case.

If you're seriously interested in the subject, rec.audio.pro is a great newsgroup, so is the "Now Hear This" forum at DVInfo.net.
Or, spend some time on Fred Ginsburg's pages, he was a recordist on a couple skydiving movies in addition to owning Equipment Emporium. Or attend my NAB class (where I demonstrate in a "normal" room, why shotguns are less than desirable for any seriously good sound. Next one is NAB. I've still got a couple free passes to anyone who is interested in the show. JC Colclasure is showing off on Monday night.
Apologies for the length, I'm more passionate about audio for film/video than I am for skydiving...

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that mic was used as an example as I used that before
I used this one on a lot of things and had no issues. In small rooms by the way.
http://www.locationsound.com/proaudio/ls/SSEN0080.html

but then again I had good sound people. and it's my experience
this one I heard good things about too
http://www.locationsound.com/proaudio/ls/SSCH0030S.html

thanks for the invite to the nab thing though.
Pointy birds
Oh pointy pointy
Anoint my head
Anointy nointy

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You're saying you've used the Blue Tube in the past (CM5U)?
You must have serious connections in the biz. They just started shipping slightly before Xmas.
Either way, good that your recording worked out in small rooms with an ME66. I'd have to hear it to believe it. As would most any recordist/mixer.
The BlueTube on the other hand, is a great mic, but it's still a long hyper vs a real shotgun. It's based on the MK41 capsule.
Many people will see scenes like the images attached and think they're seeing a shotgun, when neither of them are. The outdoor shot seen here is an AT 4051, while the indoor is a 4053 and an MK41.
Whatever works for you, works for you. However, you'd be hard pressed to find any CSA that could make a shotgun work properly in a small room, and particularly in an aircraft where amplitude is effectively equal on all axis.

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