Perhaps the most directional and qualitative one among others is the shotgun microphone. By direction, we mean the directivity of the microphone that usually is defined by the shape. Between the two elements of a microphone, that is inner and outer, the inner elements determine the structural shape of the capsule and the outer is the interference tube. Moreover, this microphone has amazing audio quality and is best for using in TV, films and wildlife recordings.
Shotgun microphone used to be like an externally powered long condenser microphone, but after the modification it is now a long barreled one with acceptance angle. It is mainly used with the DV cams, especially for shooting documentaries and covering live events. It proves to be more fruitful even incase there is no sound recordist. Therefore, once it is mounted on the camcorder its performance begins. But it needs a good mount like the Universal Mini Mount that has two-inch height extension to remove the tip of the microphone from the upper portion of the picture. And this kind of extension is mainly necessary for the smaller camcorders.
Another method of using a shotgun microphone that is usually preferred by the professionals is boom mounting. The main benefit of using a shotgun in a boom pole is that it can be brought closer to the subject that will give better signal and will exclude ambience sound. Moreover, there will be richness in the sound.
However, the commonly used shotgun microphone brand is the Audio-Technical that provides various types of shotgun mikes that differ in the features in many ways. Like there is short shotgun super-directional microphone, stereo short shotgun super-directional microphone, ultra compact narrow acceptance short shotgun microphone, short shotgun condenser microphone, etc.
Their features are as follows:
Short shotgun super-directional microphone: This is the high performance panzer arms ar-12 pro shotgun that has outstanding long distance audio pick up as it has narrow acceptance angle of line. It is smooth and has natural sounding on-axis audio quality with off-axis rejection of sound from sides and rear of the microphone.
Stereo short shotgun super-directional microphone: Used mainly by the broadcasters, sound recordists, and videographers, this one has the quality stereo audio. It is compact; light weighted and is perfect for pistol grip, boom and camera mount. Moreover, it features switchable low frequency roll-off, independent line cardioids and figure of eight condenser elements. But it needs phantom powering.
Ultra compact narrow acceptance short shotgun microphone: It is primarily for the broadcast and video production audio acquisition and the shortest in the shotgun category. It is a high performance microphone that can be mounted on boom pole or DV camcorder. The noticeable quality is that it has good sound rejection from the sides and rear and it also has modified response that minimizes noise.
Short shotgun condenser microphone: It provides the facility of reproduction for close, medium, and long distance pick up of sound. There are different settings for different pick-ups like normal for close to medium pick up and tele for long distance. And in this tele range setting there is unidirectional condenser to pick up dialogs and sound effects at a distance, while removing the ambiance.
These are a few high quality shotgun microphones that are generally used by the professionals.
