AT4053b Hypercardioid Boom Microphone

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When booming a microphone over your talent indoors, which type of mic "should" you use?

Most commonly you'll see a shotgun microphone on the end of a boom pole but is this the mic you want when recording voice inside? Not necessarily. I have used shotgun mics before indoors such as the Rode NTG-1 and NTG-3 but I've always noticed when watching Hollywood productions that the microphone on their boom, when inside, looks different. The mic was about half as long.

Since these productions are handled by professionals with large budgets, I was very curious to find out what type of boom microphone they were using. Turns out, in a lot of cases, the hypercardioid condenser is the choice of audio pros when booming inside. The (Audio Technica) AT4053b is that type of mic.

The primary reason this type of microphone is used indoors is because it lacks the long rejection tube of a shotgun microphones. This tube on shotguns is great in wide open situations with lots of background noise, especially other voices such as "man on the street" type interviews or on a crowded convention floor.

But indoors where the walls and ceiling are close, you can get some weird sounding issues caused by the rejection tube attempting to cancel out your own voice as it bounces back towards the mic. The AT4053b removes the rejection tube but still gives you a tight polar pattern for rejecting other unwanted sounds in your environment.

I don't think that the hypercardioid necessarily cuts down on reverb (I don't hear a big difference) so much as it isn't as susceptible to the phasing issue that a shotgun mic can cause inside.

Overall I really love with this microphone so far. It's clean and decently sensitive, not producing any noticeable self-noise and still performs well at a few feet away.

Another cool feature of this microphone is its interchangeable mic capsules. You can switch out the hypercardioid pattern for a omni directional (all sides) in situations where you want a larger polar pattern. However the capsule by itself is a large part of the overall price. I found my AT4053b used on ebay for about $150 less than retail.

CC images:
hypercardioid polar pattern by: wikimedia user: Galak76
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Music:
Roots 66 by Richard Heacock
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Quirky Bossa by Olive Musique
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*Gear used to make this video:

AT4053b Hypercardiod condenser microphone B&H: http://podhelp.me/at4053bBH Amazon: http://podhelp.me/at5053bAmazon
Tascam DR-60D http://podhelp.me/tdr60d
Transcend SD card 16 and 32GB Class 10 http://podhelp.me/tr16gb10
Impact Multiboom Light Stand and Reflector Holder - 13' http://podhelp.me/impactmultiboom
F&V LED Ring Light: http://podhelp.me/fvring300day
Pearstone PM XLR cable - 10' B&H: http://podhelp.me/pstonePMXLR10BH Amazon: http://podhelp.me/pstonePMXLR10Amazon
Canon 60D B&H: http://podhelp.me/60dkit Amazon: http://podhelp.me/C60DbodyAmazon
Sigma 30mm 1.4 ART (new, better version) B&H: http://podhelp.me/30mmsigma Amazon: http://podhelp.me/S30mm1-4ArtAmazon
Manfrotto 701 HDV Tripod http://podhelp.me/701hdv055xbkit (discontinued) Amazon replacement: http://podhelp.me/S30mm1-4ArtAmazon
Aspen Mic HQ-S Stereo Lav mic http://thepodcastersstudio.com/aspenhqs
Manfrotto 394 Quick Release Plate and Base http://podhelp.me/394plate
Linco Flora Easy Softbox kit: http://podhelp.me/1floraeasykit

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