First-time poster, reader of two days now. Excuse any fumbles, please.

I need to buy a dynamic cartoid microphone, to be used for voice
interviews (on street, staring into the mirror, etc). Without
overwhelming me with too many technical details - or just enough to get
by - what suggestions are offered regarding:

1. brand
2. other attributes that I'll need to know about

Many thanks for the assistance.

Distracted wrote:
First-time poster, reader of two days now. Excuse any fumbles, please.

I need to buy a dynamic cartoid microphone, to be used for voice
interviews (on street, staring into the mirror, etc). Without
overwhelming me with too many technical details - or just enough to get
by - what suggestions are offered regarding:

1. brand
2. other attributes that I'll need to know about

You don't want a cardioid, you want an omni. Try the EV635A, which is
probably the most commonly-used interview microphone in the world.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Distracted" wrote in message
ups.com...
First-time poster, reader of two days now. Excuse any fumbles, please.

I need to buy a dynamic cartoid microphone, to be used for voice
interviews (on street, staring into the mirror, etc). Without
overwhelming me with too many technical details - or just enough to get
by - what suggestions are offered regarding:

1. brand
2. other attributes that I'll need to know about

Many thanks for the assistance.


I'd follow Scott's advice ( search the archives for his posts, he really
knows what he is talking about! )

Lot's of places sell the Electrovoice 635A. If you like give BSW a try :
http://www.bswusa.com/proditem.asp?item=635A
Ask for Dave Ensminger. He's a friend of mine and a good guy.

Best of luck!

--
John L Rice

My favorite example of an omni interview mike was the reporter who
interviewed Kermit the Frog and his friend Jim Henson. Said reporter was
quite clearly having trouble with his reflexes, and kept positioning the
microphone in front of the frog rather than Henson (who was of course
voicing as well as operating Kermit. Since the mike was an omni, this
wasn't too much of a problem; it might not have been _ideally_
positioned, but it picked up Henson quite well enough and (as
importantly for television) it _looked_ right.

On 10 May 2005 08:17:42 -0700, "Distracted"
wrote:

First-time poster, reader of two days now. Excuse any fumbles, please.

I need to buy a dynamic cartoid microphone, to be used for voice
interviews (on street, staring into the mirror, etc). Without
overwhelming me with too many technical details - or just enough to get
by - what suggestions are offered regarding:

1. brand
2. other attributes that I'll need to know about

Many thanks for the assistance.

The EV 635A is the standard tool for this job. It is omnidirectional,
very rugged, and sounds natural for spoken voice. My radio station
uses it with Sony MD recorders for news gathering.

A special cable is required to connect the microphone's XLR connector
to the input of an MD recorder, or other portable which uses a stereo
3.5mm jack. The 3.5mm TRS jack is NOT a balanced mic input, it is a
stereo unbalanced input. If you use a common XLR to 3.5mm adapter
cable, the mic signal will be weak on both channels, and the two
channels will be out of phase. This is not a good idea, especially for
interviews which end up on FM radio.

I buy 1m (3 ft) XLRF to 3.5mm stereo adapter cables at a local music
store, and modify them. The molded right-angle 3.5mm plug reduces
strain on the MD recorder's input jack.

The MD recorder provides about 1.5V DC at the mic input jack to power
a miniature condenser microphone. The dynamic 635A does not need or
want this DC.

For each cable you need to add a small Tantalum capacitor to block the
DC. I use 3.3uF/10V. Combined with the input impedance of the MD
recorder, this also provides a high-pass filter that is good for
speech. I disassemble the XLR-F connector on the adapter cable and
solder the capacitor into it.

Procedu

Disassemble the XLR-F connector by removing the screw and sliding the
sleeve up the cable.

The cable from the molded 3.5mm plug has a twisted pair of conductors
with a braided shield (i.e., microphone cable). Leave the shield
connected to pin 1 of the XLR.

Remove the two wires from pins 2 & 3 of the XLR.

Trim the negative lead of the cap short and solder to pin 2 of the
XLR.

Solder a short bare wire from pin 3 of the XLR to pin 1, where the
shield remains connected.

Twist together the wires which were removed from pins 2 & 3. Solder
them to the positive lead of the cap.

Trim excess wire neatly, and wrap the junction at the positive lead of
the cap with a small piece of electrical tape.

Slide the sleeve of the XLR over the whole kluge, and replace the
screw.

Paint the screw with red nail polish to lock it, and indicate that
this is not a normal adapter cable.

ASCII art diagram (set your browsers to fixed font):

XLR 3.5mm stereo plug
1 o----o------------shield-----------------------sleeve
|
3 o----o

+ /------------------------------------tip
2 o---)|---o twisted pair
3u3F \------------------------------------ring


Have fun!
Mike T.

I was under the impression that an omni would bring in too much ambient
noise, whereas a cardioid would limit that ambient sound?

Omni will pick up less wind noise and can be held very close and still sound
natural... with cardiod you get too much bass boost when held too close.
If you even better wind and handling noise suppression go with an RE-50
omni...

Rgds:
Eric

"Distracted" wrote in message
oups.com...
I was under the impression that an omni would bring in too much ambient
noise, whereas a cardioid would limit that ambient sound?

On Wed, 11 May 2005 22:54:38 -0400, Distracted wrote
(in article .com):

I was under the impression that an omni would bring in too much ambient
noise, whereas a cardioid would limit that ambient sound?


In theory, yes. In practical use you want an omni because you can shove it
into the face of the person you're interviewing and flip it back to catch
your own question more easily. BTW, Don't forget the RE50, also a standard
kit omni.

Ty Ford


-- Ty Ford's equipment reviews, audio samples, rates and other audiocentric
stuff are at www.tyford.com

In article .com writes:

I was under the impression that an omni would bring in too much ambient
noise, whereas a cardioid would limit that ambient sound?

This is true if the subject being interviewed is quite some distance
from the mic. But if the two of you are talking across a table or
desk, the inverse square law works. The mic is much closer to what you
want to record than to what you don't want to record, so you'll record
what you want to hear.

A cardioid mic has rejection in only one direction and chances are
that isn't going to be where the less desirable sound is coming from
anyway.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

In article .com,
Distracted wrote:
I was under the impression that an omni would bring in too much ambient
noise, whereas a cardioid would limit that ambient sound?

This is true. BUT, it means that it will also limit the sound of anyone
off-mike. This is a much more serious disadvantage in an on-camera
interview situation. Also an omni will give you much less wind noise.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

In article , (Scott Dorsey)
wrote:

Also an omni will give you much less wind noise.

And is MUCH more forgiving in the hands of an amateur/semipro interviewer.

--
Regards,

Klay Anderson
http://www.klay.com
+801-942-8346

"Klay Anderson" wrote

Also an omni will give you much less wind noise.

And is MUCH more forgiving in the hands of an amateur/semipro interviewer.

Especially the RE50 mentioned as it has good shock mounting to prevent
handling noise. A RE50 is a 635 with a different case.

Julian

"Julian" wrote ...
Especially the RE50 mentioned as it has good shock mounting to prevent
handling noise. A RE50 is a 635 with a different case.

Actually, it IS a 635 inside an additional case. :-)

(or it was last time I took one apart)

A big hearty thank you to everyone for your time, suggestions and
information. Shall give some feedback (no pun intended) when I make
the decision and get to play.