Rycote is set to release new high-end shotgun microphones later this month. It appears as one of the microphones will be called the HC-22.
According to Rycote, for the past 2 years, they have been working hard to make the best shotgun microphone you can buy for less than £700 / $900 / €800.
For that price, the direct competition is bound to come from shotgun microphones such as:
- Sennheiser MKH 416-P48U3 ($999 USD)
- Sanken CS-M1 ($895 USD)
- Sanken CS-1e ($850 USD)
- Rode NTG3B ($699 USD)
- Rode NTG8 ($999 USD)
- Audio-Technica BP4029 (AT835ST) ($749 USD)
- Sony ECM-680S ($799 USD)
- Shure VP89M ($899 USD)
The HC-22 will have a hyper-cardioid pick-up pattern and needs to be powered via a +48V phantom source. The HC-22 will be 22.1cm long and it will weigh 268g. The microphones is said to have a claimed self-noise of only 6dB.
Rycote has been around for more than forty years, and they have become the industry standard for shock & wind protection for field production sound. To my knowledge, this will be Rycote’s first time making actual microphones.
Given their close association with so many microphone companies, I wonder if a third-party company will be actually making the shotgun microphones for Rycote.
More details and the official microphone launch will be announced later in September.
