Troubleshooting Shotgun Microphone Levels

Video Transcript

"Now I'm going to talk about troubleshooting audio problems with your Shotgun Mic. What those problems are and how to fix them or the easiest way to fix these basic problems. Probably your most basic problem with the Shotgun Mic, maybe you're just hearing some odd noises and like rubbing against things. If you're using a Mic holder, similar to this, where it's in direct contact to the microphone, that can cause some noise issues just the clinking around on the microphone. You can actually see on the XH A1, this is kind of a similar holder so, if I had this microphone set up with my tripod, if I just flick my tripod I can hear that in the microphone, you're hearing those vibrations. I'm just real careful when I've got it hooked up to my XH A1. But the solution to that, if you're on a Boom Pole or on a Mic stand, is definitely get a good Shock Mount like we talked about and that will get rid of that problem. Because, as you can see, it's centered and absorbs any kind of vibrations. Even on a Mic stand, just somebody walking by can actually send vibrations up the stand and you'll pick those up on your microphone. The other main problem with a Shotgun Mic is wind noise. If you don't know what wind noise sounds like, it's just "Crrrrr!" right in the Mic, kind of hard to describe. But, the solution to this is a Wind Screen, like this one, or this Wind Screen I have for my old Cardioid Mic. I just always have it on. They're pretty cheap, so definitely buy a Wind Screen. If you're buying an expensive microphone there's no reason why you shouldn't just buy a Wind Screen at the same time. Fairly cheap, helps to get rid of that wind noise. They do offer more expensive ones, but, depending on your situation, just buy what's going to work for you. Typically, if you're inside it's almost unnecessary, but I use it anyway. If you're outside on a windy day, you might you might need one of those more expensive, better quality Wind Screens. But, just a couple things to think about when troubleshooting audio problems on a Shotgun Mic."