--- In Walter Knapp <> wrote:
>
> Posted by: "macmang4125"
>
> >
> > I am looking around for a reasonably priced shotgun mic and the Rode
> > NTG1 seems on paper not to be too bad. Has anyone used this mic for
> > recording? I am mainly interested in bird calls and thought this might
> > be a reasonable option?
> > I would partner it with a Sony NH900 and an Art II Phantom Power box.
>
> The reviews I've seen compare it to the MKH-60 generally.
>
> The MKH-60 has a self noise of 6dBA, the NTG1 is 18dBA. That would
place
> the NTG1 pretty noisy for nature recording. Ok if your sounds and
> backgrounds are pretty noisy, not good at all if you are in quieter
sites.
>
> The MKH-60 has a sensitivity of 40mV/Pa vs the NTG1 of 15mV/Pa. This
> will farther accentuate the effect of the self noise as more gain will
> be needed with the NTG1.
>
> If you are sure you can be close to the birds and are not too worried
> about background noise it should work. Depends on the level of sound
> quality you are after.
>
> Shotguns in general are at a disadvantage at distant pickup compared to
> a parabolic. A parabolic provides considerable noise free gain before
> the mic while a shotgun depends only on it's own sensitivity and the
> gain of the preamp. To work well at distant pickup a shotgun must have
> very low self noise or the preamp gain will bring it out too much.
>
> For focus on individual bird calls at a distance include parabolics in
> your consideration. For shotguns of less cost than the MKH look at the
> Sennheiser ME series.
>
> Walt
>
Thanks for the info Walt.
Perhaps I will take your advice and look at a parabolic, can you get
just a reflector and add your own mic('s)?
Phil
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