which mic?

[Gareth Blackstock]

hello all.

 

I was hoping for some advice on buying a mic. here are the choices i have:

 

shure pg48-seems to be a good mike, specifically for voice, which is fine with me. I can get this for AU$70 NEW

 

or:

 

shure sm58-seems to be a great mike, covers everything, but more expensive. I can get this for around AU$150 second hand

 

The recording device will be a mini disc, and i may get a pre-amp later on, although i think i might just try to get the mike closer. Is there a remarkable difference in the sound quality between the two? could a short film audience tell the difference?

 

I currently have an old mike, from the early 90's, non-brand, but sounds good to me, yet i am keen to improve my recording quality. And if i record onto minidisc, will all the benefits of a fantastic mike like the sm58 be lost on the minidisc, if so, would the pg48 be a good middle ground mike considering my system?

 

Sorry if i seem confused, but i have few references with which to judge. any help would be appreciated,

cheers, Gareth

[Brett Blackwell]

As I'm not a sound guy I can only offer what i know, the Shure SM58 is a vocal mic used for live music, I'm not sure if this is the type of mic you're looking for if trying to record dialogue. Another thing to look for with a mic is its pick up pattern, weather its directional or omni-directional, there are many different types of mics for different situations. Any mic you look at in you're price range will be about the same quality its what you want to do with the mic that matters, shotguns are very directional and good for dialogue usually. As for the minidisk player as long as you are recording to PCM audio, you're keeping the sound "uncompressed".

Brett

[Tom Hepburn]

Hi Gareth.

 

The SM58 as Brett mentioned is a live mic. It's also a beast that would probably bend a telescoped pole :)

 

I would look at a shotgun mic. As the name implies, at a reasonable distance you can point them in the general direction of the sound(s) and it should pick it up and reduce the ambient sounds around it.

In terms of the minidisk, I'm not sure what the compression would do to a good well recorded signal.

 

Tom

[Gareth Blackstock]

thanks for the quick replies.

 

the suggestion of the shotgun mike is a good one, but alot of people have told me that as good as they are at picking up dialogue and little else ambient noise, they also warned that one has to be careful not to "aim" the mike away from the source, say at the wall or other reflective surface, say if the source or actor moves around the set.

 

plus the cost is a great deal more than the shure pg48 i am considering. with the minidisc, once i import the file to the computer, i save it as an avi file, and don't seem to loose any fidelity.

 

at least if i buy the pg48 and discover the difference between my cheap mike is minor, then at least i have not spent hundreds for a minor advance in quality.

 

admitedly, if i had a DAT or tascam recorder, a $2000 pre-amp, and a $500 mixer, i guess the quality would shine through, as i guess my minidisc "dulls" any sound i might get.

 

cheers,

Gareth