2 Responses to “How do I choose which microphone to use?”

1. 1 bryan apolinar
   February 11, 2007 at 11:55 pm

   That’s a very tricky question to answer. The rule of thumb is, you use whatever you have available. However; it all depends on the situation at hand. You always want to try to use a combination of a boom microphone and a lavalier. That works well if you’re only having to capture one persons dialogue.

   You always want to have a microphone that offers a pick up pattern of omni-directional so you can only capture the source infront of you and eliminate any surrounding sounds. However; if the situation is something like you having to record a source infront of you but then also wanting to capture some sounds directly behind you, then you’d want a bi-polar microphone.

   The key is, it doesn’t matter what type of mic you have. You can always add EQ during post to give the recorded sound warmth or brightness. The important thing is that you record a strong, clear, and good enough signal for your editors to use during post. Good microphone placement and good recording levels are what’s important. Oh, and don’t be affraid to ask for as many takes as you feel are needed. They’ll be glad you did.

2. 2 stephband
   February 11, 2008 at 3:04 pm

   Bryan is a bit confused. An omni-directional will pick up sound from all directions equally, and if you’re on a noisy street doing interviews or a noisy set that’s exactly what you don’t want. They do, however, give a ‘truer’, more natural frequency response, so in certain situation an omni is exactly what you want, particularly if you can get up close to the subject.

   It definitely does matter what type of mic you have. You want your sound to be as good as it can be, right? Aim to capture as good a sound as possible and NOT rely on too much EQ. EQ introduces other problems (phase incoherence) and the better you can get a pure sound straight out of the mic, the better your finished product will sound.

   So use a mic that has a directionality and frequency response that best fits the subject.