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Hi, this is Jay P. Morgan. Today on The Slanted Lens we’re taking a look at the Sound Shark from the same guys that brought you the sounds of the NFL. This parabolic mic is designed to record audio without picking up unwanted ambient noise. We tested it indoors, where it held it’s own against Rode mics, and outdoors, where it performed better than the Rodes from further away.

Why Use a Sound Shark

Once you start shooting video you’ll find there are many times where you can’t or don’t want to use a mic on your subject. A wedding, an interview, a play… the list goes on. On camera sound is an elementary solution, but it’s not a very good one. Rode mics have been around for a long time, and perform very well. But we wanted to see what would happen when we put the Sound Shark parabolic mic up against them. We found that it did very well. Another great benefit of the Sound Shark is that you can pair it with a preamplifier from Beachtek, and it also has a spot for two Lume Cubes when you need a little extra boost of light.

Record Audio Indoors

We found that the Sound Shark was able to go head to head against the Rode mics in the theater we recorded Brad reading Green Eggs and Ham. There’s really not a huge difference between them. We recorded audio starting from 5 feet away, and moved all the way to away. That was good. There was no audience, so it was quiet in the theater, with really no ambient noise.

Record Audio Outdoors

The difference between the Sound Shark and Rode mics stood out when moved our test outdoors to record audio there. There was a lot of ambient noise since we were shooting on a busy street. As we got further away, the Sound Shark was able to cut through that ambient noise better in order to pick up the audio we wanted. The same principle will apply as you shoot a wedding, for instance. You can’t put a mic on a bride and groom or pastor, and the venue will not be completely quiet. As you stand back down the aisle, or off to the side, you’ll be able to pick up the sound from the vows without also recording Aunt Bertha coughing, or Cousin Mary shushing little Susie.

The Sound Shark parabolic mic is a great system for when you want to capture audio without directly miking on those you need to record, especially if you need to do so when you don’t have a quiet venue.

Keep those cameras rollin’ and keep on clickin’!
-Jay P.