Mark Blevis

You’ve probably seen them used to capture on-field audio during a sporting event. If you’re a movie buff, you’ve may have seen them used in on-location movie shoots or to capture very specific audio in nature and other settings. They look like cattle prods.

They are shotgun microphones.

A shotgun microphone is very directional (some say telescopic). That is, it pics up audio in a very narrow field in the direction in which the microphone is pointing. The sonic field is so focused that signal just outside of the field sounds very distant.

Don’t rule out shotgun mics in spoken-word settings. Two years ago I observed a CBC producer using a shotgun mic to interview people at a conference. She held the microphone at her hips and gently rocked it back and forth to aim it at the mouth of either herself or her guest — whoever happened to be speaking at the time. And, because the microphone was so low and her technique so subtle, her guest probably never noticed the microphone was there since interviewer and interviewee were face to face. Unfortunately, the producer happened to be wearing headphones to ensure her aim was accurate which takes away from the there’s no mic here illusion.

I once borrowed a shotgun mic (I don’t own one) for an interview on a noisy trade show floor and to capture audio at a reception. I also managed to track a bird as it flew between hydro wires and trees near my house. In the process I discovered that shotgun mics have little shielding and will pick up the sound of your hand moving along the handle — you need a very still grip.

While it’s unlikely you’ll need such a specialized microphone, it’s good to know they exist in case you ever take your game up a notch or move into something more specialized. Entry level shotgun mics are a bit more than $300 — and the price keeps going north.