video tutorial - recording in front of a computer with a shotgun mic?

  • Thread starter Thread starter kelly33
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kelly33

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I'm trying to figure out what kind of microphone would best suit my needs and or what kind of mics others think I should try. My setup: Focusrite Saffire Pro 14, Rode desktop boom arm, Sennheiser HD 280 pro headphones and currently using a Rode NT1-A mic. The space is padded as much as possible and all the equipment has foam underneath them to protect against unwanted vibration. I'm trying to record a video tutorial which I need to be able to type and use my computer mouse. But my current setup is picking up a lot of the keyboard sounds and the mouse clicks. I have tried to foam around and in back of the mic as well as making a padded box around the mouse to minimize the clicks. But this is really uncomfortable and I can still get a faint level of clicks even when I am crazy careful. But it is very distracting when I'm trying to record because I'm always mindful of my mouse and keyboard movements. SInce I am new to all of this I was thinking about a shotgun microphone. And after learning much more on the subject I realize that I may need a quality lobe microphone. But which one has the best side canceling feature for the price. I'm thinking about the Sennheiser MKE 600 (399) and the Rode NTG-2 (269). Most of the video tutorials I've seen online from video or audio pros none of them seem to have the mouse or keyboard sounds and that's what I would like to have as well. Most people are saying I need a very expensive mic in order to do this but one such author has done it with the Rode podcaster for 229. I really like the features of the shotgun mics. Any advice as to what microphone I should consider or any other methods for recording in front of a computer. I would like to stay in the range of 3-4 hundred with the shock mount.

Also a guy online is selling a Buyerdynamic MCE 87 for $125 but the only thing I can find online is the MCE 86 model. Any thoughts on this mic?

Thanks.
 
Seidy said:
Another solution would be recording the video first with "scratch" audio track and doing voiceover later.
Click to expand...

Yep. That's the way I would do it too.

To get the timing right, I would shoot the video and narrate. The ditch the whole soundtrack and re-record the narration.
 
A shot gun pointed at your face is a poor situation to be in.
 
Wow. The information I am getting is conflicting from so many sources.

Seidy,
Why would a shotgun mic not be much better since it's a super-cardioid/lobe pattern?

Gecko zzed,
Yeah, a few others have suggested the voice over method but i'm not sure if that's really the way to go since it's so time consuming.

I'm just trying to minimize the keyboard and mouse sounds as much as possible.

Any other thoughts?
 
kelly33 said:
Wow. The information I am getting is conflicting from so many sources.

Seidy,
Why would a shotgun mic not be much better since it's a super-cardioid/lobe pattern?

Gecko zzed,
Yeah, a few others have suggested the voice over method but i'm not sure if that's really the way to go since it's so time consuming.

I'm just trying to minimize the keyboard and mouse sounds as much as possible.

Any other thoughts?
Click to expand...

Though I have heard of Schoeps shotgun mics (very $$$$) being used in v.o. productions (they're aimed at the chest) generally speaking shotguns aren't used for interior productions. The exact technical reason escapes me and I'm too lazy to refresh my memory but it's true none-the-less. Lots of video productions use PluralEyes to overlay a superior audio track on an existing crappy one made during a video.

There are lots of super/hyper-cardioid mics out there but IMO the cheapest solution is to get a quiet keyboard and mouse.
 
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