Freesound Forums

Hi all,

I was planning to buy a battery powerable shotgun microphone to be used with my Olympus LS-10. I've been considering the Audio Technica AT877 but noticed that it goes up only to 14kHz, which is a little worrying. Rode NTG-2 seems to have a full frequency range up till 20kHz.

Any opinions on these two? Signal to noise and directionality are two important issues, but any other considerations are welcome too. Anyone tried both of them or just one?

Are there any other battery powerable shotguns I should consider?

Thanks in advance!

Oh yeah, I know that thread since I started it

However since it only lists and doesn't describe or evaluate, it doesn't really go very far in giving buying recommendations. It doesn't actually mention the AT877, though as a new addition it mentions the Sennheiser K6 modular system that has shotgun heads. I haven't heard of user experiences with them, though...

Thanks a lot for your help!

Yeah, I think the K6+ME67 (or ME66) would be a good, albeit a slightly more expensive alternative. I've heard it's signal-to-noise ratio is very good, which is important when recording quiet sounds.

Otherwise I agree with you that the mono shotgun sound is quite boring. This is why I'd really like to have a stereo M-S shotgun, but AFAIK there's nothing like this that can be powered with battery. At my school I've used Sennheiser MKH 416 and Schoeps CCM8 as an M-S pair, and I find it much less boring and quite handy as I can alter the stereo width later.

Maybe I should just get a stereo shotgun and a phantom power supply...

I wanted to chime in here as I have the Rode NTG-2. I think it's a great mic for the money although if you're used to high end Sennheiser and Schoeps mics you're going to notice a difference! Saying that it features good off-axis noise rejection, and the signal to noise ratio is comparable to other shotgun mics. In my opinion it is "voiced" for dialog - other, non-dialog sounds seem to lose some silky high end..

Listen to some of my vehicle sounds - the Volvo, Nissan Maxima, and Chrysler LHS sounds - they were all recorded with the NTG-2.

I've also used the Audio Technica mic you mentioned and I think it sounds great although its output level seems low compared to other shotgun mics, so probably not the best choice for field/nature recording or if signal to noise ratio is important to you. Good for dialog, though.

Just to second Microscopia you will need to invest in some kind of windshield to use any of these mics outdoors. Take a look at the Rycote S series systems - they work very well and are good value for money. Reinhardt also make a comparable product, the Soft-Zep, although I haven't used it.

And no, I'm not a sales rep for these companies!