Audio-Technica ATR-6250 Dual Cardioid Stereo Condenser Vocal/Recording Microphone

After reading mixed reviews, I bought this mic from Amazon's scratch and dent. Part of the reason for the purchase other than the price was that it is designed to be used in many different ways, not just for a video camera. After a month I feel that I can give an adequate review. I also feel that many who gave poor reviews did not know what they were actually doing, and this product has suffered unnecessary complaints. Let me rectify those first.First, many complained about the microphone making a lot of white noise. I must address this issue first. Microphones do NOT produce white noise, a microphone pre-amp is what makes white noise. Some microphones require a lot of gain to pick up sound, and with high gain comes noise. I used this microphone on my AG-DVC30 Panasonic, and a cheap $5.00 karaoke machine I bought second hand. Neither preamp produces ANY noise with this mic. Perhaps many DSLR owners won't like to admit their thousand-dollar camera's preamp makes noise but that is the bottom of it. Microphones don't produce white noise.Secondly, many complained that the mic was too quiet. In the reviews I searched on Youtube, ALL camera operators stood 6 feet or more away from the camera and mic. This is not a shotgun mic, it is a stereo mic and is used for differing purposes. This microphone is more for picking up ambient room noises and things, not for long range pickup. At most I'd use this microphone no more than 5 feet from the talent and it captures wonderful sound, while recording the room environment. I also use this mic to record at my desktop, with the camera about 6 inches from my mouth it records great sound that would make a webcam or stock laptop mic sound pitiful.In short, giving bad reviews on this microphone because it doesn't do what it was never designed to do is like complaining about you Toyota sedan not towing your 32 foot travel trailer up a mountain well. It does what it was designed to do and does it well enough to keep it in use in my kit bag.Some things to look out for if you purchase this mic. First, discard the given battery, and replace it with something like the Sanyo rechargeables. Second, the mic doesn't have a light to indicate that it is on, so triple check to ensure it is off, or remove the battery for storage. Also, constantly monitor your audio quality to ensure the battery isn't failing. Third, use the wind filter at all times, even inside. I have found that the mics are on the side, facing out, not forward. This allows them to pick up some reverberation on walls in small settings like a bedroom. The foam helps reduce that. All in all, for $20.00 I feel I have gained a great entry level mic to my kit. It is superior than my cameras stereo mic, and can even be used for different purposes like Skype, and narrating my videos.

I am using it on an old Sony PC105, which has lousy microphones that point upward and are super quiet, and has rather loud motors for the Mini DV tape.I know, I know... Yes, I'm still using tapes...Sound quality, sensitivity, and directionality are quite good, actually. Some bass loss, but pretty good for voice, and pretty clear treble response. Left-right isolation, direction, and balance are good, contrary to someone else's complaint. Sound level is consistent with other condensers, louder than dynamic.Handling noise is not perfect, but good enough. A little bit of the motor noise does get transmitted through the socket, but not much. Tapping and rubbing on the handle gets picked up, but it sounds like you are making the noise right by the mic, rather than like you are tapping on the mic; i.e., there is some isolation. The real bugger is the cord. Every little noise you make on the cable gets transmitted right to the signal. So, don't touch it.One complaint I have is that there is no power indicator light. Remember to turn it off. Still, the battery was fine after being left on a couple of days. Another complaint is that the pick-up pattern of the mic is such that it still picks up the motor noise, but that's not its fault. It makes sense, since the motor is within the cardoid, right below and behind the elements. I am going to experiment with a mount extender or a shock mount, but putting a piece of foam or cardboard under the microphone did the trick; this, incidentally, proves that it is actually picking up the motor noise (mostly) through the air, rather than through the mount. Even with a shock mount, of course, you shouldn't touch the cord.

I find this microphone to be an excellent purchase decision. Granted, this microphone's performance is nowhere near the quality that I am used to from professional microphones, but on it's own merit, it is outstanding.I purchased this microphone to use with a new HD camcorder that I recently purchased. I wanted something better than the built in microphones, but not something so expensive that I would be worried about it more than the camcorder. This microphone delivers everything I expected. It gives good sound quality without costing very much. I was actually quite surprised at how much better this microphone sounds than the on camera microphones. Voices sound more present, and the frequency response is a lot better. The dynamic range also is greatly improved.Now, I do have a couple of complaints.1. The self noise is pretty high. It's not any worse than the self noise of the camera's built in microphones, but it's still pretty noticable. However, it's not so bad that a good noise reduction plug-in inside your NLE program can't fix it.2. The right channel is about 3-4 db lower than the left channel. Again, nothing that can't be fixed in pretty much any NLE, but kind of annoying to have to do that.For fun, I also compared it to my Sennheiser ME66/K6 which makes this microphone sound like a child's toy, but again, compared to the on camera mics, this one is a vast improvement. For the price, I highly recommend it.

It's a good mic for low budget film makers. The quality is not crystal clear but with a little finesse and sound editing software you can make some good sounding audio. I do not recommend out doors recording with this mic. Even with a dead cat pulled over the foam windscreen the noise is muffled at best. The mic still picks up sound from all around including the directors voice. Not recommended for large enclosed areas, but it is good for close dialog between two or more characters in a room or around a table. You just got to play around with it, but for the price this is okay for the low budget independent film maker. However, if you are making something big and want high quality sound this is not the cheap alternative you are looking for. Sorry.

I bought The audio technica ATR250 But i Recived the ATR 25 But im not really that fussed Overall This Mic is a big improvement from my camera audio but does not compare to my Rode Mic.Pros: SmallEasy to use3.5mm Jack for lower end cameras2 different mountsCons:Very quietAudio quality Not too good.

Great sound quality for the price range. I tried a recording on my laptop and it sounds great! So in all I would recommend this product.

Slightly hollow sound quality, delivered quickly.

Un micro electret (1 pile 1,5v type AA) stéréo, interrupteur on/off livré avec des accessoires :1 câble stéréo JACK 3,5mm stéréo sur JACK 3,5 stéréo très court (trop court !)1 câble d'env. 3m JACK 3,5mm stéréo sur 2 JACK 3,5mm mono (pour les entrées séparées ! bien vu ! et en plus avec 2 adaptateurs pour les JACK 6,35mm génial)Deux adaptateurs de montage un pour pied micro et un pour monter dans la semelle flash de boitier photo ou caméra1 bonnette en mousse qui sert à... rien !Copie presque conforme du "vieux" BST CD25 des années 80 du siècle passé (qui lui avait une sortie en XLR3 beaucoup plus adaptée) le tube métal semble résistant mais la grille est en avant du corps et fragile elle peut être enfoncée très facilementL'embase de micro permet le montage dans la griffe pour flash d’un reflex ce qui au passage est le pire endroit pour placer un micro !En dévissant cette embase on peut la remplacer par une embase à vis femelle permettant le montage sur un pied micro et avec un réducteur de vis sur un pied photoLa sortie JACK femelle est à vissage c'est à dire que le JACK mâle du câble entre dans la prise femelle et se visse pour être verrouillé ! si un jour le câble est inutilisable je ne sais pas si un câble "normal" sans pas de vis pourra le remplacerPoint de vue qualité c'est bien pour enregistrer un signal fort qui couvrira les parasites induits par le micro, dans mon cas pour l'enregistrement de sons Nature il est inutilisable dommage ! trop de bruits parasites souffle et de plus il est très sensible aux bruits de manipulations !Pour ceux qui souhaitent enregistrer de la musique, par exemple un groupe en répète ou une course de F1 pas de problème le bruit (signal fort voire très fort !) couvrira les défauts du micro, si comme moi vous voulez enregistrer une Mésange bleue au nid ce n'est pas ce qu'il vous faut !Pour ma part quand je l’utilise (rarement !) c’est toujours dans une parabole avec un « deadcat » et le tout sur trépied ce qui limite les bruits parasitesA ce prix cela reste raisonnable le plus gros inconvénient est qu’il n’est pas utilisable pour prise d’un signal faible

Compré dos de estos microfonos que vienen indicados para usos de poca distancia, como micrófono de reunion o de cámara.Calidad de construcción, ya que estan construidos en metal.El cable va asegurado por una rosca en la base.Pack de accesorios que lleva incluidos para poder trabajar con el sin necesitar nada mas.Calidad de sonido, no esperes la calidad de un microfono de 300€, pero responden realmente bien.Versatilidad, igual que se puede usar para grabar videos, puede usarse como micrófono de instrumento...En mi casó los usé como micros ambientales para una obra de teatro en un escenario de unos 7 metros.