Microphone help needed

[the9one8]

Hello yttalk friends. We at the9one8 are equipmentally challenged. Currently we use the built in microphone on our Sony HXR-MC2000 camera. As you may have noticed (if you watch any of our videos) our audio is usually lacking in the hear-ability department and we are often plagued with the overwhelming amount of cicadas and other annoyingly noisy insects when we film outside; compliments of rural Oklahoma.

Fortunately, I am in charge of the promo and marketing area at my place of work. This allows me certain liberties in purchasing additional equipment which I can then use for personal recording. I am limited to a budget of about $250-$300, tops.

What external microphone would you recommend I purchase? I prefer something that helps reduce or eliminate the background noise but also that could pick up voices at a range of about 20-30 feet away.

Also, should this microphone be something I plug directly into the camera, or should I look in the direction of recording separately and syncing the audio to the video in post production? And if it is a separate system, what should I use to record on? We use Adobe Premiere Pro CS 5.5 to edit, but I am not sure if that makes any difference.

For anyone who has not or will not watch our videos, we do sketch comedy, so it is NOT a microphone for vlogging or gaming that is needed.

Any and all help or advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Miketastic]

visit rode's website: http://www.rodemic.com/mics
(for accessories like boompole or others): http://www.rodemic.com/accessories

They have tons of selections to choose from and they're really good quality. I'm guessing a videomic or a videomic pro is the best choice to choose for your sketch films .
rode VideoMic: $149.00
rode VideoMic Pro: $229.00
(if you go on amazon.com)

heres an example of the two:

 

[the9one8]

visit rode's website: http://www.rodemic.com/mics
(for accessories like boompole or others): http://www.rodemic.com/accessories

They have tons of selections to choose from and they're really good quality. I'm guessing a videomic or a videomic pro is the best choice to choose for your sketch films .
rode VideoMic: $149.00
rode VideoMic Pro: $229.00
(if you go on amazon.com)

heres an example of the two:

Thanks so much for the info. I am def gonna check those mics out. I really appreciate the help.

 

[jake weber]

Nice Find! Tho remember since you have premiere pro i think soundbooth also comes with it so you can take the audio from the mic and eliminate background noises pretty easy in soundbooth or any other higher quality audio editing programs.