Shotgun

Shotgun and parabolic microphones

Shotgun microphones are the most highly directional. Their directional pattern has a very narrow lobe in the forward direction and rejects sound from other directions They have small lobes of sensitivity to the left, right, and rear but are significantly less sensitive to the side and rear than other directional microphones. This results from placing the element at the back end of a tube with slots cut along the side; wave cancellation eliminates much of the off-axis sound. Due to the narrowness of their sensitivity area, shotgun microphones are commonly used on television and film sets, in stadiums, and for field recording of wildlife. Parabolic microphones have similar characteristics, but often have poorer bass response.