Electro-Voice RE16

When we are doing field interviews or location podcast recordings, our first pick from the mic locker is usually the RE16. This mic is a real sleeper now in the general recording community but it's been a staple of the broadcast community since its introduction in the '70s. This is a good sounding dynamic mic that is not too sensitive to room noise and exhibits a bit of presence boost which helps intelligibility of the spoken word.

One of the  characteristics that make this mic so useful for interviews and other spoken word recordings is it's lack of proximity effect.  This is especially useful when working with people who move around in front of the mic. The tone of their voice remains fairly constant as they change their distance from the mic. 

Another advantage of this mic for difficult locations is its supercardiod polar pattern which has a very even response as you move off axis. Again, when dealing with a speaker who moves in front of the mic, this smooth off axis response helps maintain the vocal tone.  The  mic's polar pattern also helps manage the sound of difficult rooms. Reflections and room tone coming in off axis are reduced fairly evenly across the entire frequency spectrum.