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Audio Technica? Recommendations?

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Mark B.

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I want to buy a microphone before the end of the Labor Day sales. I have to keep my costs under $1000, but I want to stay in the higher quality range. Most of my shooting will be outdoors, though I might on occasion use it indoors. Eventually I'd like to get a super-cardioid to fill the indoor role. Most of my shooting will be solo, so the microphone is going to live on the camera.

Is the Audio Technica AT4071A, or the AT4073A, a reasonably good microphone for capturing dialog on a run-and-gun film? Or maybe their BP-4029 Stereo Shotgun?

If buying only one mic, would you go with the short or long shotgun? Mono or Stereo?

Is there another microphone that costs a tiny bit more but completely blows the AT microphones out of the water?

I've already listened to audio samples from a bunch of different online samples, but most of those tests didn't give me a good feel for the off-axis timbre (part of the problem in listening to the tests is that I have ultra bad headphones and my computer monitors battle the loud sounds coming from my old PC tower). I'm also unfamiliar with the handling noise or environmental sensitivity of the microphones.

So I'm hoping to hear personal experiences from any of you guys. Any advice is appreciated!
 
Bruce Allen said:
What kind of film?

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com
Click to expand...
I'm planning to make some documentary and educational videos this fall/winter. The educational videos are being created indoors, but the documentaries are going to be shot outdoors in coastal and mountainous regions, usually high in moisture and at times below freezing (though probably not lower than 15°F).

I also have a romantic comedy that I'm writing, which I hope to finish writing by the end of this year. If I can scrounge the money together, I'm going to try to start shooting in the Spring. I'll probably buy (or rent) a better indoor microphone at that time. Most of the movie is going to be shot indoors.
 
dan's review does a great job of breaking things down with test, sound files etc. Also check out Ty Fords website. He does this too.
 
Impagliazzo said:
For under a 1k$ I'd say AT4073....
But with the arrival of the NTG-3, I'm not so sure.
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That Rode mic seems to have some good specifications. Has anyone here had a chance to use it? I heard Ty Ford's sample of it and it seems to sound ok. For those of you looking for Ty's NT3 sample, I found it at this URL.
 
I have the NTG-2 which I would call a decent mic. It gets the job done. There are better mics for sure, but you pay the price. If you have to keep things under a grand, perhaps the NTG-3 and the Okatava 012 with hypercardod capsule. Use the NTG-3 mainly for outdoors and the Oktava indoors when you can get the mic in close to the talent. I'm curious to hear this new Rode, see what the improvements are.
 
I'm leaning towards the Rode NTG-3 as a one mic-solution also. It has a slightly bigger pickup pattern than sennheiser 416 and therefore should do a better job by working with inexperienced boom-operators (friends and fools).

Maybe it would make sense to try getting a group buy with rode ntg-3. But only if there is more interest than in the octava.
 
4073a has a good reputation, much better than the Sennheiser ME66.
 
muroshi said:
I'm leaning towards the Rode NTG-3 as a one mic-solution also. It has a slightly bigger pickup pattern than sennheiser 416 and therefore should do a better job by working with inexperienced boom-operators (friends and fools).

Maybe it would make sense to try getting a group buy with rode ntg-3. But only if there is more interest than in the octava.
Click to expand...

I'd be up for a group buy of the NTG-3. I don't think it competes with the Oktava group buy, since the Oktava is more for interiors.
 
Shooting with a camera-mounted mic will never give you production quality sound.

Even the smallest films hire a recordist/boom operator because it is much harder to capture good sound than picture. If you have absolutely no budget, buy some radio mics. At least the sound will be understandable.
 
CrewPix.com said:
Shooting with a camera-mounted mic will never give you production quality sound.

Even the smallest flms hire a recordist/boom operator because it is much harder to capture good sound than picture. If you have absolutely no budget, but some radio mics. At least the sound will be understandable.
Click to expand...

I'm definitely without boom operator funds, at least for my documentary projects. I might be able to enlist the services of my friends to work the boom, but I'm not counting on that. Anyone have recommendations for good wireless lav systems that are also somewhat affordable? Is there a lav system that doesn't require bulky sending transmitters to be worn?
 
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