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Re: budget mic choices

Subject: Re: budget mic choices
From: "Dan Dugan" dandugan_1999
Date: Sun Apr 22, 2007 11:37 am ((PDT))
Scott Fraser:
>  > Shotguns are
>  > designed primarily for voice pickup at relatively close distance & do=

>>  some audio 'damage' in order to obtain good off axis rejection.

Rich Peet:
>Sorry, I don't buy into the design being for close distance.  Maybe
>just your schooling and perspective.
>
>All directional mics suffer on off axis.  And with this logic M/S
>don't work.

Dan Dugan:
It's true that the more directional a mic, the more inaccurate it can
become for sounds from off-axis, i.e. the environment as
distinguished from the object focused upon. True of both shotguns and
dishes. This is the reason that omni mics often produce recordings
that are so refreshingly real.

I say "can become" because off-axis fidelity is one of the major
factors that differs between cheap and expensive mics. A $100
cardioid usually has an awful off-axis response; a $1000 cardioid's
directional pattern will match much better at all frequencies,
reproducing off-axis sounds at a lower level but not coloring them as
the cheap mic will do.

When you get into more highly directional mics the design challenge
becomes nearly insurmountable. Hypercardioid is about as far as
anybody can go with real accuracy. "Ye canna change the laws of
physics, Captain."

-Dan Dugan




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