Noise Canceling audio...

King Goldfish

King Goldfish

Hi, You may have remembered me asking about an inexpensive way of making a microphone for my camcorder with no hotshoe.

I know there are shotgun mics that are battery operated, but what I want to do is try and remove any noises over the voice.

I think this can be done based on the idea that I read off of a science site. If you are in a nightclub and there is a band playing, you can actually hear a person talking to you better if you cover your ears. The reason had something to do with your voice being narrowband (or static) while music is broadband and more dynamic.
Is it possible to find a microphone like this, that is fairly inexpensive? I know shotgun mics are unidirectional while the cheap mics on your camcorder are designed for stereo and pick up everything (omni).

I tried the suggestion of buying a uni directional mic (which I did at radioshack) and hooking it up to a preamp (as to not blow out my audio device on my camcorder). it work about the same as the mic that comes with the camcorder. And it picked up everything around, so it wasnt very uni directional.

Need ideas, so I dont have to depend on dubbing scenes or using an audio gate in post production.

basically, I have no money, i have some mics sitting around the house but have no energy to be picked up on the camcorder. The preamp helps but there is way to much humming. I returned the preamp and got another and it did the same thing.

Im guessing the preamp is picking up somekind of disturbance somewhere.
 
cheap shotgun microphone should do the trick...make sure the microphone is pointed either toward the ground or the sky with just the audio source you want to catch between. If you point it horizontally, it'll pick up a cone of audio extending out to the horizon from the end of the microphone. I have an Audio Technica ATR55 that is working well for me (now that I've figured out how to connect it to my camera correctly - shush !).

I took it apart to see what made it different than other microphones and found...duh duh dummmmm. 2 microphones, one just behind the other so the rear one captures the same stuff as the front, except for what is blocked by the front one. The rear is subtracted from the audio signal electronically leaving only what is directly in front of the microphone audible.
 
knightly said:
cheap shotgun microphone should do the trick...make sure the microphone is pointed either toward the ground or the sky with just the audio source you want to catch between. If you point it horizontally, it'll pick up a cone of audio extending out to the horizon from the end of the microphone. I have an Audio Technica ATR55 that is working well for me (now that I've figured out how to connect it to my camera correctly - shush !).

I took it apart to see what made it different than other microphones and found...duh duh dummmmm. 2 microphones, one just behind the other so the rear one captures the same stuff as the front, except for what is blocked by the front one. The rear is subtracted from the audio signal electronically leaving only what is directly in front of the microphone audible.
Click to expand...


aww so it washes out most of what the front one hears?
 
except what is directly in front of the front element. I would assume this performs a wave inversion (noise removal) and since it's the same element from just about the same location in time synch, ths would work quite well.
 
knightly said:
except what is directly in front of the front element. I would assume this performs a wave inversion (noise removal) and since it's the same element from just about the same location in time synch, ths would work quite well.
Click to expand...


well, Im back to were I started off at. I been searching the internet. The cheapest battery operated shotgun mice is maybe 130-140 USD.

I dont know how reliable these internet sites are (even though they were on the first page of google). I'de hate to pay for this with my credit card and get ripped off. Lately my mail hasnt been making it to my door. I suspect as well as some missing USP packages from the past have also been *cough* misrouted.

I still dont know what the hell happened to my free MP3 player I was supposed to get from Globat. :grumpy:

anyways, thats kind of still to expensive for me to invest in to see if it works or not.

Im sure it will since thats what they're designed for. But it would be nice if I could find one for around 50 bucks that works just as well.
 
knightly said:
Here's what I've got...$51 and change plus shipping.

http://www.buy.com/retail/Product.asp?sku=90100054
Click to expand...

Ill check that out.


CootDog said:
I've seen the same type model at Best Buy for around $50.

Is that in your budget?
Click to expand...


I checked best buy and they told me they dont sell shotgun mics. Which bestbuy did you go to? I recall even checking thier website and not finding on. but yeah, 50 bucks is doable if it works. I'de rather buy it at bestbuy so if it didnt work, i could return it.

PS.. or did you mean bestbuys.com?
 
Last edited:
I bought mine on the clearance rack at the St. Cloud, MN Best Buy for $25 as an open box item. They may be hard to find...look by the electronic instruments like keyboards etc.
 
King Goldfish said:
Ill check that out.





I checked best buy and they told me they dont sell shotgun mics. Which bestbuy did you go to? I recall even checking thier website and not finding on. but yeah, 50 bucks is doable if it works. I'de rather buy it at bestbuy so if it didnt work, i could return it.

PS.. or did you mean bestbuys.com?
Click to expand...


It was a regular Best Buy. I've seen them on a peg next to the accessories like batteries, filters, mini-tripods, etc.:yes:

Like Clive said... eBay is a place to go too.
 
I just bought an ATR-55, once I test it out Ill let everyone know how it is. I know this is a big potential indie mic so Ill try to check it out soon.
 
I've got mine running into my XL1s via an Audio Technica wireless transmitter/reciever pair. This attaches via a splitter to the line in jacks on the back of the unit (audio 1). Once I started connecting it here, I got fabulous sound out of it. For $50 mic, it's not as hollow as you would expect. Reviews that I've read have put it up against $100 mics and it fared well. It has a nice crisp rumbly bottom with good highs.

This, riding in my windsock, gives great location sound. We shot in a busy park in the middle of summer and the actors are the only voices you hear. It was quite windy that day as well. I have the raw audio from the second camera that has nothing but wind and the one with the mic attached was pristine (except I wasn't connecting it to the camera correctly at that point and had lots of hiss in it from having the gain cranked up too high).
 
clive said:
I know it's obvious but here's what you're looking for on ebay

E bay
Click to expand...


Nooooo. eBay evil. i got ripped off twice. never again :grumpy: Well, it's been a while, so I'll check it out again.

I need to set up a paypal account. So maybe I will try it again. Im sure ebay has gotten safer since 2001.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top