Professional Sound?

Question

Movies and commercials have crisp clear sound...where can i get these types of mics? and at how much money? can u give my a model name and company?

Answer 1

There is a lot to producing great sound. You are on the right track by looking for a good microphone.

There are many types of Polar patterns:
Shotgun, Cardoid, Subcardoid, Bidirectional, and more (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphone and scroll about halfway down the page - you'll see drawings of these Polar patterns).

Those patterns show where it will pick up most of the sound from. So with a Shotgun microphone you can see that it will pick up most of the sound that is directly in front of the camcorder. There is little pickup from the sides and back. This would be perfect for an interview.

Compare that to the Bi-directional which picks up a lot of front and back with a bit on the sides.

Then compare that to a Cardoid (which is what most consumer camcorders come with). The Cardoid picks up an equal amount of sound from all directions. This is not good for interviews, especially when there is noise all around you.

There are a lot of things that go into producing a good mic, but I'd start by determining what Polar pattern will work best for you.

Movies and commercials often insert the sound effects and sometimes even talking *in* a studio, which is another option.

Another sure way to get great audio is to use a room with foam cells on the walls to prevent the sound from bouncing and echoing off the walls.

Good luck in your search!

Answer 2

This is not an easy question. The final sound you hear on TV commercials or programs have been run through some very expensive digital audio processing equipment and rendered into a full spectrum audio output.

Most camcorders try to use a 'generic' electret condenser microphone that is omni directional. You pick up background sounds seemingly from everywhere around the camera.

You can purchase "Shotgun" type add on mics, which will help target the sound to a source directly in front of the camera an eliminate extraneous sounds. This is all a function of how much you want to spend!

The camcorder uses digital audio, so it is capable of capturing all the low bass and high trebel sounds given the right microphone. To bad you can't experiment with different mics, but it's a research project and choose one you think best suited for your use.

Do a google search on "shotgun" microphones, then start reading and studying up on it.

Finally, there are some computer applications that allow you to 'tweak' sounds and use digital equalizers to enhance or remove unwated sounds. That's a little advanced though.

GOOD LUCK

Answer 3

You could try to find a good music shop in your town ( the ones that sell drums and guitars and all sorts of musical instruments), they would help you by 1) educating you on sound and 2) maybe they have a rental program in place for use of microphones for a day or two. Then rent different microphones and equipment and in no time you will have videos with good sound.