favorite uses for a shotgun mic?

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ubertar
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favorite uses for a shotgun mic?

Post by ubertar » Mon Mar 17, 2014 10:03 am

I've got one on the way. An old Calrad I got off the bay for next to nothing. I'm thinking it might be cool pointed inside a hand drum... what interesting uses have you found for these?

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Post by LupineSound » Mon Mar 17, 2014 11:41 am

If you have a high ceiling, put it all the way up there and point it straight down at the snare drums. Sounds cool. 8)

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Post by JGriffin » Mon Mar 17, 2014 10:06 pm

I use mine for voiceover and sound effects recording.

That's probably no help.
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Post by ubertar » Tue Mar 18, 2014 5:02 am

dwlb wrote:I use mine for voiceover and sound effects recording.

That's probably no help.
Hey, Joe. No, that's interesting. What do you get from it on voice that you don't get from, say, an LDC? What distance do you use it from the source, and why? Can you give more detail about using it to record sound effects?

I'm mainly recording one thing at a time, so I'm not going to be using it for the hyperdirectionality to avoid bleed from other sources. I used water as a percussion instrument (slapping the surface with a spatula) in a recent piece-- the shotgun might have been good for that. It was a chance to use my hydrophone, which worked very well. If I do that again, I'll try both.

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Post by ubertar » Tue Mar 18, 2014 5:07 am

LupineSound wrote:If you have a high ceiling, put it all the way up there and point it straight down at the snare drums. Sounds cool. 8)
Does that give you a sense of distance without adding much room sound? I would guess that's how that would work out. That could be cool for guitar amps, too, in addition to a close mic, as a way of adding depth without too much room verb. I'm not sure why something far away would sound different from something close if not for the reverb of the room, though, except maybe for bass frequencies that need more space for the waves to unfurl, so to speak. I'd love for someone to chime in who knows about the acoustics behind this...

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Post by vvv » Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:32 am

Googling "Shotgun mic theory", I found this what might help?
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Post by JGriffin » Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:53 am

ubertar wrote:
dwlb wrote:I use mine for voiceover and sound effects recording.

That's probably no help.
Hey, Joe. No, that's interesting. What do you get from it on voice that you don't get from, say, an LDC? What distance do you use it from the source, and why? Can you give more detail about using it to record sound effects?

I'm mainly recording one thing at a time, so I'm not going to be using it for the hyperdirectionality to avoid bleed from other sources. I used water as a percussion instrument (slapping the surface with a spatula) in a recent piece-- the shotgun might have been good for that. It was a chance to use my hydrophone, which worked very well. If I do that again, I'll try both.
Ube,

The guys out in LA who do movie trailers started using the Sennheiser 416MKH short shotgun for VO about ten or fifteen years ago. They found that if they worked right up close to it (2-3 inches, with a good pop filter) they got a very powerful, impactful sound. It soon became one of the big go-to mics for VO (along with the Neumann U87). I usually go with a shotgun if I want that over-the-top huge announcery sound; that said, I find the U87 much more forgiving of various types of voices and performances and more natural-sounding.

Using it to record SFX: for mono sound sources I like the hyperdirectionality and the clean signal. SDC/LDC can be good for effects recording as well, but if I really need to focus in on something the shotgun is very helpful.
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Post by lyman » Wed Mar 19, 2014 11:02 am

I've got a sennheiser ME67 shotgun mic, and I remember trying out on vocals, up close like dwlb describes. I was expecting it to have lots of low end - my thinking was that if an omni mic doesn't exhibit the proximity effect, then maybe a hyperdirectional mic would exaggerate proximity.... but I recall it being quite bright and detailed actually with less lows than an LDC. Shows what I know! 8)
Last edited by lyman on Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by kayagum » Wed Mar 19, 2014 11:25 am

BSW just sent me an email ad touting the Sennheiser MKH416P48U3
shotgun mic as a voice over mic.

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Post by jhharvest » Wed Mar 19, 2014 5:55 pm

I've used shotguns as audience mics in live gigs.

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Post by JGriffin » Wed Mar 19, 2014 9:19 pm

kayagum wrote:BSW just sent me an email ad touting the Sennheiser MKH416P48U3
shotgun mic as a voice over mic.
Makes sense; it's become one of the standard mics for VO.
lyman wrote:sennheiser ME67 shotgun mic, and I remember trying out on vocals, up close like dwlb describes. I was expecting it to have lots of low end - my thinking was that if an omni mic doesn't exhibit the proximity effect, then maybe a hyperdirectional mic would exaggerate proximity.... but I recall it being quite bright and detailed actually with less lows than an LDC.
Yeah, when I've tried to use it for singing I don't tend to prefer it.
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Post by AndersonSoundRecording » Mon Mar 24, 2014 11:49 am

VO, audience mic's, boom work, some field recording - I've got a 418S M/S shotgum which is essentially a 416 shortgun on mid and a fig-8 for the side.

Gives some interesting possibilities.
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Post by emrr » Thu Apr 24, 2014 7:05 am

Across the room from very loud guitar amp, mixed with close mic, lots of ways to approach it.

If you need a super clicky kick drum attack, you can get some interesting things there as well.
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Post by brenthahn » Sat May 24, 2014 3:28 pm

I use 416's for VO all the time. When you're getting right up on it, you're really not, because the capsule's actually halfway back.

I also like it sometimes as a distant mic for loud guitars, but I like to turn it around so it faces away from the amp. Might not be great for everyone everywhere, but it works in my room.

And maybe my weirdest use for a 416 is on my cheapo Indonesian no-name nylon string guitar (it doesn't deserve to be called classical). I discovered it by accident -- just putting down a quick scratch part with the wrong guitar and the wrong mic because they were handy. Here's a couple short snippets:

http://tinyurl.com/cheapo-nylon-with-416

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