Best Shotgun Mic (option of battery or other non-phantom power) under $1,000

[Marc Wielage]

1 - Relatively tight pattern shotgun for recording on a boom in the field (mostly outdoors, but also some indoor talking head stuff)

2 - Some sort of Stereo mic to give a more realistic sound on camera when I'm stuck in that senario and to just capture more realistic sound for all non-interview type situations

3 - Some sort of wider pattern cardiod mic for Public Radio Style interviews (not paired to video) with a warmer and more intimate feel.

I don't think one microphone can do all this optimally. Two MKH50s would work for stereo, for indoor booming, and even for studio VO. Outdoors, I think you need a tighter pattern like an MKH60 or MKH416.

[Vincent R.]

The 'new' Sennheiser MKE 600 appears to be directed at the 'one-man band' wedding videographer type crowd. In the under $500., NT1 and AT897 price range I would assume

Yup. BH website shows 399.00

[Boomboom]

...there's a promo right now at Trew: 416 or 66 series mic and they give you a pair of headphones so you could replace the ones you've been talking about in another topic... heehee

[studiomprd]

" finding the best shotgun mic for under $1,000 or probably more realistically around $500 "

and then adding

" 1 - Relatively tight pattern shotgun for recording on a boom in the field (mostly outdoors, but also some indoor talking head stuff)

2 - Some sort of Stereo mic to give a more realistic sound on camera when I'm stuck in that senario and to just capture more realistic sound for all non-interview type situations

3 - Some sort of wider pattern cardiod mic for Public Radio Style interviews (not paired to video) with a warmer and more intimate feel. "

focus, and figure out what you really do, and need...

then do some homework (I know, you have started, but besides just wildly asking here...

and why do I say that ??

because what is "best" is highly subjective, and will be a personal decision... especially with the qualifiers you have ...

BTW, I would add that as for "realistic" that is also subjective, personal, and also "depends"...

and doing SFX recording is a specialty of its own.

[Ed Denton]

then do some homework (I know, toy have started, but besides just wildly asking here...

and why do I say that ??

because what is "best" is highly subjective, and will be a personal decision... especially with the qualifiers you have ...

journal is asking our opinions on what mics we like to use for these broad uses. Not everyone can afford a different $2000 mic for when the wind is blowing east or west. He's asking some questions and getting some good answers from most people. Perhaps these questions have been asked before but sometimes its good to revisit them to see what people think now. Perhaps what you called your favourite versatile shotgun mic a year ago isn't the same now. You don't always have to be a know-it-all. Be nice.

When people ask what is your favourite boom mic, instead of just throwing back a response like "different mics for different purposes" or "its subjective" try to look at it like this. If you're going out with a news crew or a doco crew and you can only have one mic on your stick all day because these no time to change mics and you're going in and out of buildings all day, what mic would you take? I often do this type of work and invariably I choose the Rode NTG-3.