T.Bone EM9900 - a 'True' Shotgun? Here's a Test .....
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- Опубліковано 25 чер 2019
- I have had quite a few emails since I reviewed the excellent EM9900 asking whether it is a 'true' shotgun type of microphone. At first I was puzzled but then I realised that they may be referring to the Neewer or Tonor shotguns where the capsule is at the top of the barrel rather than the bottom. This means that the interference tubes do nothing.
So I checked to see what's going on and here are the results of what I found.
The EM9900 is a great budget shotgun mic. I like it a lot and it really is more sensitive on the front than anywhere else. So I have always assumed it is a shotgun.
I still think it's a bargain microphone if you don't mind it being the size of a rifle.
I’ve had numerous emails since I first looked at the EM9900 shotgun mic asking whether it’s a ‘true’ shotgun. This got me wondering so I checked and made this video in answer.
Thanks to Allen (Soundspeeds) - he sent me the original frequency response graph that came with the mic which is very detailed. It does show that the sides are indeed different and was there all the time on that graph.
Always like to hear from people since I often feel that I’m mostly talking to myself like a looney......
If talking to yourself makes you a looney, then I'm one!
But as a Danish folk singer once said: It's always nice to chat with a sensible fellow.
It has a plastic tube inside. I removed the end cap (it`s threaded) and inserted a led strip all the way in.
It is interesting because 2 or 3 slots are completely blocked. It made me think that it is somehow tuned, or optimized.
In my opinion, the mic sounds as good as some of the more expensive ones, but being from an unknown company
most of the big channel UA-camrs would not do unsolicited/unsponsored reviews.
It’s an odd design for sure. The covering seems to block more sound on one side. I agree, the sound is pretty good. Weighty sounding for a cheap mic.
Soundspeeds is a great reviewer and he had a look at it on his channel as well.
I don't think, that it is an unknown Company in Germany. T.bone is a Company from Thomann, the biggest seller for Music Stuff in Europe :)
Greetings from Germany
Hi Ian. Can you do a review on the Ikan E-Image PM500 short shot gun microphone and the saramonic NV-5 ?
Hey ian...nice and informative video....so do you think I should follow through and purchase the microphone, to use as my start up voice over mic?
And what do you think of the Rode NTG1, how does that sound to you...I'm thinking about taking your advice and go with the Rode
If you’re concerned about the T.Bone not being a ‘true’ shotgun, then it might be best to leave it. You might find the Rode mics are better, although I would take a listen on UA-cam first. Some don’t like their sound.
If you want to record voiceover, I’m not sure a shotgun is best unless you have an acoustically dead area. Shotguns can do weird things with reflections indoors.
If it’s isolation from noise that you want, a supercardioid might be better. I often use a Sennheiser MKE600. Not cheap but has a very natural sound.
You might also consider a larger mic. You get a much fuller response from them for voiceover. A cheap one that is fantastic is the Rode NT1a. It is fantastic value for money. Some find it a bit toppy, but personally, I really like it and it is one of the quietest mics in the world. Even better but more expensive is the Rode NT1. A bit smoother than the NT1a.
Shotguns aren’t always the best for voiceover. A good polar pattern for in room is a supercardioid or cardioid mic. The type of mic kind of determines its sound at different distances as well. For instance, a shotgun will give kind of the same result as an omni at about 1.7 times the distance. So if an omni sounds good at 1 foot away, a shotgun will sound similar at 1.7 feet. So shotguns are more suited to noisy environment recording since the closer you bring them to you, the less surrounding noise they pick up. Cardioids are around 1.3.
Just to give you an idea of what they do. In a room for voiceover, I use a super cardioid. It’s a kind of ‘compromise’ between cardioid and shotgun. If you can afford something in the range of the Sennheiser, it’s a very capable mic and can double up as a shotgun ‘type’ of mic on camera since it also runs on a battery as well as XLR if you want.
So to start, you can even save on preamps and go straight into your camera if you want!
To be honest, the only person to judge whether or not a mic works for you is yourself. If you rely on others to choose a mic for you, you might be very disappointed. What works for me might not work for you. It’s an expensive game, but also, I have found more and more, one mic just doesn’t do it all unless you’re not going to move it.
@@iancraig hmmmm, very interesting info here ian....wow......but the Sennheiser mkh416 shotgun is now widely used by pro voice over artists , like Joe Cipriano, Mike Delgaudio just to name a few......but I do like shotgun microphones a lit more than I do large condenser....and yes I do have a treated space to record ..... I also like the audio technica at897 and at875r shotguns .... just to.mention ian, I did listen to the Rode ntg1 on UA-cam and it sounded great
The Audio Technica sounds great but the self noise is a bit higher. If you have a treated room, then I’d go for something better than the T.Bone for studio conditions.
The Senn 416 does sound great, but then again, Sennheiser make some fantastic headphones and microphones. I like the MKE600 a lot. It has a good sound, low noise and can even be used mobile as well. But then, it’s going into a different league than the EM9900.
If your room is treated, then shotguns won’t be as touchy. There should be no reflections of significance for the mic to mess around with. That's why VO people sit in a booth.
In all honesty, that's not a great look for video in my opinion. Looking at people in a black booth is good for just imparting information I guess but visually, it's not very nice to look at. I love the videos where those guys in booths come out of their boxes and make a video. Then you hear what their mics sound like in the open world of video. When it's contained in a sound booth it's fantastic for audio overdubs, adverts, books but visually, it's quite boring to watch. Content is verbally driven, almost like an audio recording rather than video.
So mic decisions need to be based on what you mainly want to do. If it's pure VO, then that's quite different to making videos.
I’d still look at super cardioid for both though. Pure shotguns can be a bit tight for coverage if you move your head.
Personally, I love the large condensers. I’ve even boomed a Rode NT1a and it was great. The low noise allows for more adjustment without worry of noise becoming too high.
For pure VO, purity of sound and fidelity are most important. Doesn't matter what it looks like or how big it is. So, very quiet preamps, treated room and extremely high quality mic are important plus a very high quality recorder.
Video is a slightly different ball game. Portability, ‘lowish’ noise mic and directionality become very important with perhaps other things like high pass filter being more useful. Noise isn’t so problematic with video mics since you are mostly surrounded by noise anyway and quiet stuff can easily be fixed so for instance, the Rode Videomicro is great for camera work. It’s tiny, directional, mostly treble and less bass (less traffic noise) but self noise is not so great. However, for being outdoors, that is not a great problem. In a booth, it is. I use either a Deity D3 pro or the Rode VideomicPro+ because they are better mics for more situations than the Micro. However, they come at a cost.
Because a VO guy sounds great in a booth doesn't mean that the mic will suit you. In fact, their choice of mic might even disappoint you outside a booth! They go to great lengths to make the room add as little as possible to the mic sound but unfortunately in video, we rarely get the opportunity to treat our surroundings so the mic needs to do a completely different job.
If you have a booth then I would use something along the lines of what Mike uses but I’m not sure about
a) taking a massively expensive mic outside in weather/wind
b) how the mic would sound in a variety of noisy situations and how it would reject surroundings
c) are you wasting a lot of money on a mic that you don’t really need. For instance, if you are using it mobile on camera, does the noise floor ‘need’ to be that low? You can pay quite a premium for a low noise floor, which is why I quite liked the EM9900. It’s quiet ...... and cheap.
So first decide what you want to do with the mic and then hone down the list to suit the purpose. I wouldn't just buy a mic because whoever sounds good on it. That's an expensive road.
@@iancraig hi Ian, here is a copy of the response from a high level technician , at Thomann..I took your advice and emailed Thomann, with my concern...
'' Dear Mr Inniss,
thank you for your e-mail. what exactly makes a shot gun microphone a "true" shot gun microphone opposed to a non-true shot gun microphone.
Do you have a link to this YT video?
From my perspective it is a "true" shot gun, although maybe not a really good one but in this price range it is okay.
Kind regards,
Thomas Becker, Studio - Synthesizer - Computer department
Tel: +49 9546 9223-30 | Fax: +49 9546 9223 28
@@iancraig you are very audio savvy Mr Craig, along with Allen Williams from sound speeds. You guys bring understanding to where and when it's needed. I'm sure I speak for a number of people , who learns a great deal from you guys . Don't know why your subs are not shooting upwards already , but I got a feeling , before year's end, if you keep this up, it's gonna climb.
So in closing Mr Craig, so you are saying I'll be better off going with the Rode NTG1 or the Rode NT1A?.....to be honest, I love a shotgun mic., but, at least you brought me to two very good microphones and now, the choice is mine.
Thank you so very much Mr Craig, for allowing me to stress you out, in.my quest for knowledge and understanding of microphones
Sir what's the name of the music you used in the introduction of this review?
Sorry, I don’t actually know Antoine. For some videos, I compose and record them myself and for others, I get them from a site called Epidemic.
Interesting that one side is open
Yes, a bit weird. I only found out by accident as well because I’ve had emails asking me if it’s a ‘true’ shotgun. So it’s just fractionally ‘deafer’ on one side than the other. In all honesty though, when I tested out in the garden, it’s not that detectable although now I know about it, I will always try to point the open side away from any source of noise. (Not that I use it a lot, it’s just too big!)
Maybe they are not assembled properly? We are talking about two samples, yours and Allen's... Who knows :D
Well, it is a cheap shotgun really.
@@iancraig That, it is :D
Why would you have the open side facing up in case of an aeroplane, unless you live beside an airport? I'd want the side that rejects most noise facing wherever 'most unwanted noise' is coming from for example traffic on a busy street or that bloke mowing the lawn off camera.
Yeah, I must be nuts. 👀
The point of this video is that the mic is uneven on the left and right, so you have to know which side to point at ‘most unwanted noise’. Point the wrong side and ‘most unwanted noise’ is actually louder than the other side. That’s why I suggested pointing the deaf side up .... because you then get even rejection on left and right.
Most people would buy a massive shotgun like this for rejection and depending which way it’s pointed, rejection can be good or actually not very good because one side picks up better. It doesn’t behave like a normal shotgun.
I wasn’t suggesting that you need to do this IN ORDER to to reject planes. It’s just an added bonus.
When ‘that bloke is mowing his lawn’ again, I can only face one way or else the mic pics up ‘that bloke’ a bit better!
In my garden, I have distant traffic sounds on one side. I found that the traffic sound was louder on one side in comparison to the other, so had to face only one way which wasn’t great for the video! I got by this, by pointing the deafer (open) side up so I had seemed to have better rejection on left and right. (Being masked by the body of the mic) so I could face any way I liked!! (Except directly towards the traffic and up at planes of course 🤪)
I don’t mean that you should use it all of the time this way but maybe useful if you get planes and helis around, like I do here. (Other than doing this, wear headphones and listen then)
Great Video. You said point the open side down and the blocked sides up? Did you use the roll off for this video?
To be honest, I can’t remember!