When it comes to capturing pristine audio in challenging environments, interference tube microphones – or shotgun microphones – stand out as the go-to solution for professionals in various fields, including film, broadcast, field recording, sports and wildlife sound capture. These specialized microphones are designed to mitigate unwanted noise and deliver excellent sound quality.
Interference tube technology allows us to create microphones with incredible directionality and performance, yet to use them optimally, it is important to understand what they can deliver and what they cannot. You can learn more about these amazing microphones below.
The interference tube and its use in shotgun mics
A complex acoustic phenomenon occurs inside a microphone with an interference tube. Its underlying theory asserts that the key to useful interference is the different distances or traveling paths that any sound incident will have. Creating wave cancellations for off-axis directions and thereby increasing directionality, is the main purpose. Learn more here
How to specify the directivity of a shotgun mic
All shotgun microphones exhibit a directivity that changes with frequency. This is why it is problematic to name the directivity of a shotgun after standard polar patterns like, e.g., supercardioid. This term would only be valid up to a particular frequency. Instead, it is better to express the directivity as Directivity Index (DI) vs. frequency either in a curve or in numbers. Learn more here
2017 Shotgun Microphone
The 2017 Shotgun Microphone is an extremely directional mic that combines crystal clear, authentic sound and stable, consistent performance under harsh conditions. With an extreme SPL (Sound Pressure Level) handling of 143 dB SPL Peak, low self-noise of 13 dB(A) and a 130 dB dynamic range, the 2017 excels where other good shotgun microphones fail, making it useful in applications where shotguns traditionally do not perform well.Low self-noise is useful when you need to capture/amplify quiet sources or when many microphones are open at the same time. Learn more here
