Is shotgun the right mic for my YouTube studio

Y

Yoni Goldberg

New member
I'm about to record online video at home (non-accoustic room) with talking head so the mic shouldn't be seen on frame. Based on my study, I learned that I should avoid condensers because of their omni-directional pick-up (untreated room), lavaliers seems to be not as deep as condensers, so I thought that I should buy a shotgun which brings the condenser sensitivity + directional recording. The Senheissner MKE 600 sounds like a great option to me.


-Do my assumptions hold true?
-Do I need any special boom for this type of mic? I have a typical stand for my dynamic mic
-What the difference between cardioid condenser and shotgun, they both seems to pick narrow area
 
Curious thing about some shotguns- this one included, is look at their polar plots, and they -at least don't indicate- being any tighter than a whole lot of ordinary good hypercardioids!
 
Very interesting. I've visited this question before, but never got to 'the method in which the directional patterns are made that make the differences here. And in particular off axis combing.
My first inclination to look at shotguns was re why not for a snare mic? ..then seeing the patterns, dumped the idea. :>)
Thank you Sir!
 
Not all condenser are omni. Most are cardioid.

The lav would be the best bet, which is why you see them on the news every day.
 
Yeah, you've picked the two things that you can't have at once - Minimised background noise and distance from the mic.
I recommend either putting up with a reasonably close dynamic mic in your videos, or using a decent quality headset or lav (order of preference).
Despite the polar pattern, I think a shotgun microphone is still going to need your help. I.E. The environment still has to be decent.


If your room is quiet (no fans, loud computers, AC, humming fridges etc) and keyboard strokes aren't an issue, you could probably get away with any of the options.
It's the variables that make this a minefield.
 
Steenamaroo said:
Yeah, you've picked the two things that you can't have at once - Minimised background noise and distance from the mic.
I recommend either putting up with a reasonably close dynamic mic in your videos, or using a decent quality headset or lav (order of preference).
Despite the polar pattern, I think a shotgun microphone is still going to need your help. I.E. The environment still has to be decent.


If your room is quiet (no fans, loud computers, AC, humming fridges etc) and keyboard strokes aren't an issue, you could probably get away with any of the options.
It's the variables that make this a minefield.
Click to expand...
Check out where the mic is positioned in this video. So long as the camera isn't shooting a wide angle the mic should be out of sight. Agree other mics can provide better quality, but depends what is going to be acceptable for a given situation.

 
Personally, I'd simply clip on an omni condenser the closeness to the mouth means the sound is fine for youtube in a smallish boxy room with hard surfaces and no treatment.
 
I don't use the shotgun mic I have because it is so difficult to get it aimed at my mouth and then not go off axis during VO. I'm trying to come up with some sort of aiming device to attach to it. Ultimately, I just use a cardioid mic with it aimed pretty much at forehead level. You might find this shootout (without a shotgun) useful.

YouTube

I've been using the King Bee without pop filter.
 
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