Mics for Rooms with Echo: Cardioid vs Hypercardioid

Conventional thought among indie filmmakers is that a shotgun mic is the mic that will get you the cleanest dialogue audio when shooting indoors. But if you talk to most audio engineers, they’ll say that shotgun mics have some pretty serious problems in rooms with echo and that a hypercardioid mic is usually a better choice. And now I’ve recently heard one filmmaker suggest that a cardioid condenser mic may be better than a hyper cardioid in rooms with echo because it picks up less of the echo from behind the mic. In this episode, we put that idea to the test in my own nightmare of an echo chamber!

This episode shot with the following:

—————————————————————————————

RODE NT1A Cardioid Condenser Microphone
https://geni.us/6jTqhj

—————————————————————————————

Audio Technica 4053b Hypercardioid Microphone
https://geni.us/LWeH

—————————————————————————————

RODE NT5 Cardioid Condenser Microphone (smaller and more convenient for film and just over $200 USD)
https://geni.us/LRlI

—————————————————————————————

Tascam DR-60D Audio Recorder
https://geni.us/yNyO

—————————————————————————————

Mic Boom Stand (On-stage Stands):
https://geni.us/0EBFszJ

—————————————————————————————

Panasonic GH4:
https://geni.us/15yPmX

—————————————————————————————

Atomos Ninja II HD Recorder
https://geni.us/H7qseJ

—————————————————————————————

Olympus 45mm f/1.8 micro 4/3 Lens
https://geni.us/62se

—————————————————————————————

Nikon D600:
https://geni.us/KrdgMf

—————————————————————————————

Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AF-D Lens
https://geni.us/BjRP9

—————————————————————————————

Music copyright Curtis Judd 2014

Ethics statement: Some of the links above are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, or other affiliate links.