I finally get why people swear by cheap mics over expensive ones

For the longest time I was convinced you needed at least a $500 mic to get decent audio for indie shorts. I saved up and bought a used Rode NT1 for $250 and still felt like my dialogue sounded thin. Then a buddy let me borrow his $40 Behringer dynamic mic just for kicks, and I tried it on a scene we shot in a loud coffee shop last week. The background noise dropped way down and the voices cut through cleaner than with my condenser. I think I was just chasing specs online instead of matching the mic to my actual shooting environment. Has anyone else had a cheap piece of gear outperform their expensive one in a weird way?

3 comments

3 Comments

mason84711d ago

Didn't you read that article about how placement matters more than price?

david7399d ago

Agree completely, I left a decent lawnmower by the curb once and it sat for days till I dragged it closer to the road.

nina14711d ago

Didn't that whole thing totally miss the point though? I remember when my buddy tried to sell his old truck and parked it in the back of the lot because he was too lazy to move it. Nobody even noticed it was there for two weeks. But the thing that really bugged me is how everyone online acts like there's one magic answer to everything. Placement helps, sure, but if the product is garbage or way overpriced, nobody's gonna care where you put it.