Railfan Technology > Audio-Technica AT8024 questions

Good morning y'all!

I was planning on upgrading from the internal Iphone mic to an actual microphone and I stumbled across the Audio -Technica AT8024. I don't really record videos when railfanning but I do like recording audio samples for various projects. I was wondering if the AT8024 was worth the money, from what I read on their page is they are good and don't distort when theres loud sounds which is really useful especially when trying to record horns and bells. 

Can anyone confirm if they are good or provide any alternatives? (preferably cheaper without the downside of lower quality lol)

Thank you!

I did a deep dive on the spec sheet https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/at8024  The AT8024 looks like a very good mic for video recording.  I like the extended bass response when the high pass filter is turned off.  Many "video mics" have a fixed bass roll off, which often isn't desirable, especially for real sounding trains.  It has a three position attenuator switch so that you can prevent the camera's mic preamp from overloading, causing distortion on loud sounds.  Get the AT8124F fuzzy windscreen for outdoor use.  I'd say buy it.

Thank you for the input! I will buy it!

I've been underwhelmed by A-T mikes throughout my career as a News Camera Guy, preferring gear from either E-V or Shure.  Their stuff tended to hold up better under the rigors of newsvideo shooting in all environments.  Of late, Sennheiser has brought out a prosumer line which seems to work okay -- it's just their previous gear seemed somewhat fragile in the field.  Their recent line of wireless lavelier mikes has changed my mind somewhat.

Anyway, if I were in the market, I'd think about one of these:

Shure VP83 shotgun microphone for DSLRs/HD video cameras

KurtBWNews Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've been underwhelmed by A-T mikes throughout my
> career as a News Camera Guy, preferring gear from
> either E-V or Shure.  Their stuff tended to hold
> up better under the rigors of newsvideo shooting
> in all environments.  Of late, Sennheiser has
> brought out a prosumer line which seems to work
> okay -- it's just their previous gear seemed
> somewhat fragile in the field.  Their recent line
> of wireless lavelier mikes has changed my mind
> somewhat.
>

I was a Sennheiser ME-80 fan. Gave mine to my colleagues when I retired from the news biz.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/25 11:50 by Alco251.

KurtBWNews Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've been underwhelmed by A-T mikes throughout my
> career as a News Camera Guy, preferring gear from
> either E-V or Shure.  Their stuff tended to hold
> up better under the rigors of newsvideo shooting
> in all environments.  Of late, Sennheiser has
> brought out a prosumer line which seems to work
> okay -- it's just their previous gear seemed
> somewhat fragile in the field.  Their recent line
> of wireless lavelier mikes has changed my mind
> somewhat.
>
> Anyway, if I were in the market, I'd think about
> one of these:
>
> Shure VP83 shotgun microphone for DSLRs/HD video
> cameras

The VP83, like most consumer video mics, has a permanent reduction in bass response to enhance speech in noisy environments.  That's fine for most things, but disappointing for trackside recording.  The AT simply has better bass because it allows the user to choose the response they need.  Frequency response graphs on spec sheets are still worthwhile to see.