An  introduction to microphones


  for television news gathering

 


    *DYNAMIC MIC*

 

Here is our friend the dynamic mic (above), sometimes known as an
"icecream cone". This microphone is not highly sensitive, so you need to
hold it close to your own mouth or that of your talent (whoever is doing
the talking). When you are using a dynamic mic, it is perfectly
acceptable to see the mic onscreen during the interview. There's no
alternative - you have to keep it close to the mouth, so it will
inevitably be in shot. (Note that in the real world, this microphone is
not often used in news reporting.)

 


    SHOTGUN MIC

This is a POWERFUL, SENSITIVE mic. It is highly directional - which
means that it will pick up what's directly in front of it in a
trajectory following the angle of the cylinder. It won't pick up
anything much behind it. This means it's great for getting grabs from
talent hurrying away from court. But it's a good all-purpose mic IF YOU
HAVE A CREW. Unless you can set this one up on a stand, it is hard to
manage with a one-person crew. This one is naked. Sometimes, when they
go outdoors, they like to wear a big fluffy coat to cut down on
windnoise. Sometimes these fuzzy covers are brushed to keep them neat.

 

 


    LAPEL MIC

Working alone? The lapel mic is the VJ's friend. The lapel mic works
when you are interviewing a cooperative person (this should be most of
the time, during student days!). You clip the mic to the interviewee's
collar and ask them to help you disguise the cable running back to the
camera. You can get them to thread this under their cardigan, under
their jacket - whatever works. This mic is easy to use as an individual,
because once you've mic'd up your talent, you're free to focus on the
interview.

 


    RADIO MIC

Again, this is a great option for the VJ. You mic up your talent (it's
common to attach the unit with the aerial to their back pocket or belt
or somehow under their clothes), you switch the unit on at your camera
and there are no cables! The signal is trasmitted over the airwaves. The
great advantage of this is that you can send your talent (the reporter a
farmer...) off into the middle of the paddock and you'll pick up their
sound, loud and clear! They are great for doing a "walking" piece to
camera, because you can start on a wide shot and not see any mic cables.
These microphones are expensive.

 


    HEADPHONES to monitor sound

No point in carting any of this equipment around if you don't have a set
of headphones to monitor the sound! Even the most expensive mics on
earth won't save you if the battery was flat or it wasn't plugged in
properly - things you'll only know about if you were monitoring the sound.

 


    BATTERIES

And don't forget to check the batteries. The dynamic mic doesn't have
any - it's a piece of miracle analogue technology. The others have
batteries that can go flat at the most annoying time.