# Picture of the Week: How Not to Use a Shotgun Mic

**URL:** <https://forum.podcaster.community/t/picture-of-the-week-how-not-to-use-a-shotgun-mic/4136>\
**Category:** Workbench\
**Created:** [March 24, 2024, 3:09pm UTC](https://forum.podcaster.community/t/picture-of-the-week-how-not-to-use-a-shotgun-mic/4136 "2024-03-24T15:09:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@Jey](https://forum.podcaster.community/u/Jey)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2024, 3:09pm UTC](https://forum.podcaster.community/t/picture-of-the-week-how-not-to-use-a-shotgun-mic/4136/1 "2024-03-24T15:09:55Z")

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![howNotToShotgun](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/podcaster1/original/2X/a/a3a24ec2141ea26dafa68915812cc40ef0d2170f.jpeg)

This was a really great Youtube vid but my podcasting Spidey Senses kicked into overdrive every time time I glanced at his mic setup.

That mic could easily be out of camera shot. Which would make the pop filter redundant. And his sound wasn’t great either.

Such a shame as he’s invested a lot of cash in this set up.

If you’re not familiar with shotguns - then the usual setup is to boom the mic about 30cm or 1 foot away from the speaker and aim the mic at the speaker’s chest area (to avoid plosives). Looks like he’s got the shotgun plumbed into a recorder - I’m guessing a Tascam with 32bit float and wide dynamic range which means it will compensate for bad mic placement, but still…sigh.

Sorry, I just needed to rant with folks who might understand.

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**Author:** ![craigconstantine](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.podcaster.community/craigconstantine/32/2322_2.png) [@craigconstantine](https://forum.podcaster.community/u/craigconstantine)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2024, 3:28pm UTC](https://forum.podcaster.community/t/picture-of-the-week-how-not-to-use-a-shotgun-mic/4136/2 "2024-03-24T15:28:27Z")

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AND I’ve never seen a handheld recorded mounted on an arm like that either.

My Zoom H6 does have a threaded mount socket, like the Tascam in the photo. But the mount option is for on top of a camera, where you stand behind the camera so you can still work the controls on the handheld. Even when I put my handheld into interface mode, I still use some of the controls (level setting, but that wouldn’t be a thing on a 32-bit)…

It’s just… odd. `¯\_(ツ)_/¯ `

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**Author:** ![craigconstantine](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.podcaster.community/craigconstantine/32/2322_2.png) [@craigconstantine](https://forum.podcaster.community/u/craigconstantine)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2024, 4:15pm UTC](https://forum.podcaster.community/t/picture-of-the-week-how-not-to-use-a-shotgun-mic/4136/3 "2024-03-24T16:15:59Z")

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A classic error though, is to talk to the end of a side-address microphone. The mic in this picture, one should be facing the gain knob…

 ![maxresdefault-269664024](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/podcaster1/original/2X/f/f891bcd5581243123829fb91592fd772ce47d246.jpeg)

I admit, this stuff is actually not at all obvious… 😛