I'm in a significantly small-budget movie production group taking care
of all of the sound duties. We're making a movie where a good 3/4 of
shots are outdoors in a rather noisy area. I figure, unless there's
some other alternative, that a shotgun mic would be my best choice for
booming. Unfortunately our budget prohibits us from buying anything
much past $250 ($300 is really the limit). Quality is not a huge issue
here, however time is, and we don't have enough time to do all of the
voice overs (the movie is 90 minutes long).

If you guys (and gals) could recommend some shotguns keeping in mind my
said limitations that would be great. I've been looking at Azden's
mics, as well as the more budget-priced Audio-Technicas. Any recs
there? Any brand I'm overlooking? I also saw some at
www.soundprofessionals.com, who apparantly have their own brand of
shotguns. It's a long shot, but has anyone tried these? Thanks as
always for any help.--Matt

Matt wrote:
I'm in a significantly small-budget movie production group taking care
of all of the sound duties. We're making a movie where a good 3/4 of
shots are outdoors in a rather noisy area. I figure, unless there's
some other alternative, that a shotgun mic would be my best choice for
booming. Unfortunately our budget prohibits us from buying anything
much past $250 ($300 is really the limit). Quality is not a huge issue
here, however time is, and we don't have enough time to do all of the
voice overs (the movie is 90 minutes long).

If you guys (and gals) could recommend some shotguns keeping in mind my
said limitations that would be great. I've been looking at Azden's
mics, as well as the more budget-priced Audio-Technicas. Any recs
there? Any brand I'm overlooking? I also saw some at
www.soundprofessionals.com, who apparantly have their own brand of
shotguns. It's a long shot, but has anyone tried these? Thanks as
always for any help.--Matt



You should really ask this question in rec.arts.movies.production.sound
(where I recently replied to a thread titled "Shotgun mic + Boompole.")

Matt wrote:
I'm in a significantly small-budget movie production group taking care
of all of the sound duties. We're making a movie where a good 3/4 of
shots are outdoors in a rather noisy area. I figure, unless there's
some other alternative, that a shotgun mic would be my best choice for
booming. Unfortunately our budget prohibits us from buying anything
much past $250 ($300 is really the limit). Quality is not a huge issue
here, however time is, and we don't have enough time to do all of the
voice overs (the movie is 90 minutes long).

Rent.

If you guys (and gals) could recommend some shotguns keeping in mind my
said limitations that would be great. I've been looking at Azden's
mics, as well as the more budget-priced Audio-Technicas. Any recs
there? Any brand I'm overlooking? I also saw some at
www.soundprofessionals.com, who apparantly have their own brand of
shotguns. It's a long shot, but has anyone tried these? Thanks as
always for any help.--Matt

The Azdens are basically worthless crap. The low end AT mikes sort of
work. But you will find that if you want to use a shotgun outdoors,
you _need_ a zeppelin, and that alone will cost you more than $250.

But for $250 you can rent a real sound kit, with a good hypercardioid mike,
a shotgun, a couple lavaliers and a little mixer. And a zep and a pole.
Ask your local film rental outfit. If you don't know where they are, ask
the state film office.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

In article . com writes:

a shotgun mic would be my best choice for
booming. Unfortunately our budget prohibits us from buying anything
much past $250 ($300 is really the limit).

Can you work fast enough so that renting is practical, or is this a
year-long project? $300 should get you a respetable shotgun mic for a
week. If you can plan your shooting around it, you'll be able to get
the right stuff instead of a look-alike.



--
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

"Matt" wrote

booming. Unfortunately our budget prohibits us from buying anything
much past $250 ($300 is really the limit).


Search eBay (and the Classifieds, etc.) for a used Sennheiser ME80. You
should be able to get one in the $300 ballpark, and it will smack poo
outta the A-T (which, in turn, should beat the livin' hell outta the
Azden).

The A-T's are okay, but I wouldn't WANT to do a whole picture with one.
They're pretty thin and weak sounding. As for Azden, I have never ever
ever ever used a piece of their gear that I thought was good for
anything other than destructive testing. YMMV.

--
"It CAN'T be too loud... some of the red lights aren't even on yet!"
- Lorin David Schultz
in the control room
making even bad news sound good

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