For a talking head desk setup where the mic must stay out of frame, what beats a short shotgun mic like the MKE 600 at 24 inches, or is that the wrong tool?

41:07Next question. this question is coming in from another paul valhuis question from austin texas for a talking head desk oh that desk can talk i didn't know that and they have heads uh where the mic must stay out of frame what beats a short shotgun mic like the mke 624 inches that's a sennheiser mic or is that the wrong tool and i should hide a lav jeff so this is interesting and paul's obviously

41:38investigating the full range of mics. This is that Sennheiser mic. And now, of course, you could go for the $1,000 Sony that we looked at. You know, this is more targeted towards mounting on a camera because it's a little bit smaller. If the goal is simply to have it out of frame, I mean, again, that's what, you know, these things are designed for, right? So you just

42:04take this and just, you know, get it so it's right out of frame and you don't see it and you have a microphone. Of course, you adjust accordingly. So now I don't like answering the question that a person didn't ask, but I will this time. I'll make an exception, which is, this is just my opinion as far as the talking head. I mean, depending on what that rationale or reason for not having a

42:29microphone, it must be out of frame. I would encourage you, if it is at all possible to have that conversation. As far as I'm concerned, when you compare it to other folks that don't, it lends credibility to just the look and feel of what you're doing, not to mention better results. So that's what I would try for. Mickey? yeah um if if what you mean by talking head desk is just like a you know what a typical meeting

43:01setup like what people on the panel here are um are uh joining the panel on um and if the limitation is a microphone being out of frame there there are other variables i would say um how controlled is the environment um how um how much reflective surfaces are in the room i assume there might be computer screens somewhere in front of them or not if it's just like if it's a proper like insert

43:31studio um then maybe the the closest display would be the prompter that's um you know uh three five uh ten meters away depending on the shot size so and and yeah another uh variable is how large is a shot how far away does the microphone have to be i personally would not put use a shotgun indoors especially in a smaller room environment like a little insert studio definitely not use

43:59a shotgun because uh because of how the interference tube design works uh you will get a much thinner sound of someone's voice um so avoid shotguns if you need something that can be mounted on a boom or a pole, I would go with a hypercardioid or a supercardioid. Sheps CMC 641, very popular option there. Also the Sennheiser MKH 50 or the younger brother, the Sennheiser MKH 8050.

44:30That's another option. There are also a variety of options from Neumann, like the... Which one's the hypercardioid? The 151, is it, Jeff? I think the 151 from Neumann. That's another option there. I would definitely avoid shotguns indoors unless you really have a very controlled environment that has very little reflections. If the shot size is pretty tight, than like what the even a large diaphragm

45:10microphone like this I can place this like just off frame here just below the frame line and I can get away with that so there's a lot of variables but end of the day I wouldn't use a shotgun indoors if I have the option not to I also want to say MKE 600 don't waste your money on that super noisy just never mind