When recording sound with a microphone, and especially when recording outdoors, the kind of mic you choose to use is way less important to the quality of sound you get than how you windscreen the mic, how you shock-mount the mic, and where you place the mic. Mic manufacturers would like us to believe that there are big differences between mics, and that each mic has a specialty. No surprise. That way they get to sell us more microphones! But in my almost fifty years of recording sounds for film, video, and radio, I’ve learned that obsessing about what microphone I am using, or which one I need to buy next, is mostly a waste of time and energy.

My point is not that all mics are the same or that all the mic brands are lying to us. They aren’t. But there is less difference than most of us, and the mic brands, would like to admit. In double-blind tests, even pros often struggle to identify what mic they are listening to, and they frequently judge cheaper mics to sound as good or better than more expensive ones. It’s almost always the case that a little EQ on one mic can make it sound identical to another mic.

When recording outdoors, unwanted ambient sounds are the biggest problem. Contrary to popular belief, mic choice is a relatively small factor in addressing the problem of ambient noise. There is no magic microphone, yet, that knows what you want to record and eliminates all other sounds. Yes, some mics are more directional than others, but it’s rare that a problematic noise will be coming from a distinct enough direction that it is controllable by the directionality of a microphone. Most often, the undesirable sounds are coming from, or being reflected from, close to 360 degrees around you.

There are mainly two ways to minimize unwanted ambient sounds.

First, pay another visit to the location when the ambient noise (vehicles, leaf blowers, general urban roar, insects, wind in trees, etc.) are less loud. Second, get whatever microphone you do have closer to the sound you want to record. An omni mic five feet from a sound source will usually give you a better recording than a shotgun mic thirty feet away.

Wind is frequently a huge problem. I’m so used to battling wind problems that whenever I am outdoors and there is no wind, I feel guilty if I’m not recording something! There are two kinds of wind problems. One is wind blowing on the microphone, which is something you rarely want. In addition to using good wind-screening on the mic itself, it will help to find a way to screen the general area around the mic from wind. It may help to position the mic downwind from a boulder, a building, or some other large object that will block at least some of the wind. If you have a couple of friends who can help, they can hold a blanket up so that it blocks some wind from getting to the mic.

One great thing about outdoor sound recording expeditions is that the most interesting sound you wind up recording is often a sound you didn’t anticipate being there.

Happy sound collecting!