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Shotgun Microphone Comparison

Shotgun microphones are the most highly directional of microphones. They have small lobes of sensitivity to the left, right, and rear but are significantly more sensitive to the front. This results from placing the element inside a tube with slots cut along the side; wave-cancellation eliminates most of the off-axis noise. An omnidirectional microphone is a pressure transducer; the output voltage is proportional to the air pressure at a given time. On the other hand, a figure-8 pattern is a pressure gradient transducer; A sound wave arriving from the back will lead to a signal with a polarity opposite to that of an identical sound wave from the front. Moreover, shorter wavelengths (higher frequencies) are picked up more effectively than lower frequencies.

A cardioid microphone is effectively a superposition of an omnidirectional and a figure-8 microphone; for sound waves coming from the back, the negative signal from the figure-8 cancels the positive signal from the omnidirectional element, whereas for sound waves coming from the front, the two add to each other. A hypercardioid microphone is similar, but with a slightly larger figure-8 contribution. Since pressure gradient transducer microphones are directional, putting them very close to the sound source (at distances of a few centimeters) results in a bass boost. This is known as the proximity effect.

Professional Sound Services carries a complete line of Shot Gun Microphones. Below you will find a comparison of some of the microphones we carry.