Topic: Mic for home/indoor spoken word recording

[sdroakton]

I will be recording a series of interviews in a home (family room) with an 8 foot ceiling.  What mic and arrangement would you recommend to capture truly clear spoken word audio with as much "character" as possible? 

I have some nice lavaliers but find they don't give me quite the audio character I'm looking for.  I have a great shotgun mic but that's not good for indoors with the 8-ft ceilings.  I read that small diaphragm condensor mics may be the answer.  Do you agree?  Which models do you like and why?

Would prefer to spend $150 or less (used is fine).  My gear is Sign Video ENG-44 mixer and Marantz PMD661 recorder with Oade Super mod.

[rastasean]

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-TFB-2

Probably the high sensitivity and you can always dial down on the pmd 661 to make sure you're not peaking. Put them mics up on a table and it will sound real good. I recommend these because they are unobtrusive and you're likely to get more of the character that you speak of. If you're not going to be talking, put them in your ears and let people just talk as they typically would for a complete character capture.

After you get better and are pleased with the results, I then would recommend an upgrade.

[guysonic]

Professonally used for linguistics/documentary projects for over two decades, but well beyond your stated budget is most natural sounding DSM1S/H  model HRTF stereo-surround microphone array made by my company.  Maybe use this mic as the standard by which all others are judged for your purposes.

Usually headworn by recordist during any conversation, and working consistently in any ambient where both sides can hear each other clearly. 
Examples of this mic's usage/natural response for speech and other subjects can be found at: www.sonicstudios.com/mp3.htm

[chris319]

Why doesn't your shotgun mic work well? I recently made a recording with a shotgun mic in a room with so-so acoustics and the results were very good.

[sdroakton]

The shotgun (Rode NTG3) is an excellent mic but I'm getting a lot of echo/reverb off the walls.  Shotguns are hypercardioid so you get some noise from the back in an enclosed space.  I've heard that small condenser mics avoid this problem.  Any suggestions?

[Shadow_7]

Is the microphone to be seen?  i.e. Part of the video.  You might try putting your shotgun on a stand and use one of those sE reflection filters.  If that's "good enough".  You could probably move a few things and change the acoustic space and other options.  I'm not really a fan of lavs and the likes that are geared more for live / stealth use.  Too much of a compromise in the sound IMO.  But a necessary evil at times.

[sdroakton]

Microphone ideally is off camera.  The sE filter is a good idea - hadn't thought of that.  Would like to know if that successfully reduces room sound when mounted behind a shotgun mic before dropping the $299 though.  Does anyone have one?  With a shotgun mic?

I'm with you on the lavs.