Shotgun vs Hypercardioid Microphone for Dialogue Indoors: Quick Comparison

Recording indoor dialogue for your film or video projects can be tricky, especially when you're working in a room with a lot of echo or other acoustical issues. Most of us enthusiast, low-budget film-makers learn early on that a shotgun mic is the tool for the job, but many more experienced sound engineers suggest that a hyper-cardioid mic is better in rooms with lots of echo because they reject echo more effectively than a shotgun. In theory, shotgun mics do not reject low-frequency sound from the sides very effectively whereas a hyper-cardioid mic does.

In this short episode, we quickly compare the RODE NTG-2 and the Audio Technica AT4053b in a very echo-y room to see how they sound.

The difference is not night and day from what I can hear. The NTG-2 has more low-end and some may prefer that sound. However, most of that additional low-end response seems to be proximity effect--the radio voice sound you get when your talent is very close to the mic. The Audio Technica seems to handle the echo just slightly better and has less proximity effect.

We'll do a full review of the Audio Technica in an upcoming espisode.

Here is my previous review of the RODE NTG-2 shotgun mic: