Thank you for your inquiries, yeppie.
The description of the MKH 70-1 at the Sennheiser wesbsite sounds really good. However, 1566 is a lot of money, considering that there were no recording opportunities in the last two weeks and that the weather is still more than lousy. I also expect a near to zero chance to get one of those via ebay.
In the meantime I found some reviews of the MKE 400. It should be a nice microphone, yet directionality is not one of its strength. Maybe I give it a try - it would also fit to my camcorder.
As always I would be happy about further suggestions!
Urgent: Excellent Microphone Needed
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dad1
- Member
- Posts: 5
- Joined: 22 Jun 2008 03:25
Re: Urgent: Excellent Microphone Needed
Tell you what, forget I mentioned Sennheiser. They're one of the top companies, but their stuff is just too pricey.
For your particular situation, and others like it, the shotgun pickup pattern* is the most important feature. You're recording from a distance and you basically want to de-emphasize (and there will be plenty of it) distracting ambient sound.
Trying to record sound on location (an environment in which you can't control what is contributing noise) is much more difficult to accomplish well if there isn't a corresponding visual reference. Your brain, through your eyes, actually functions as a strange sort of sound mixer in real life. Without sight, and especially through a mono recording, it becomes much more difficult to guage depth and establish physical positioning in order to achieve separation of sounds that the brain can then "turn down".
Sight is such a dominant sense that I'm even using it to describe hearing.
So that's kind of a philosophical frame of reference, but I think it's very beneficial for anyone wanting to train their ears and brain for listening through a microphone. A good ear, with a decent setup, can hear whiny streetlights, electrical hum, harmonics from appliances and motors, and correlate frequencies from one thing to resonance in another.
That being said, it's not about who can hear better than whom, or who knows more shit. It's about the practicality of hearing something when you're recording and trying to find the best way to get around it. There's only so much you can do after it's been recorded. It's a fun challenge and, especially in the case of this forum, a fun payoff.
This stuff might sound nerdy or snotty, but it's something I enjoy (getting paid for it is nice as well!).
I love the stuff that this community has recorded. Raw sounds real.
BTW, I wouldn't go with the MKE 400 for your situation.
I'll hunt around on google later tonight to see what else fits the bill.
*I said hyper-cardioid in the other post; this was a mistake.
For your particular situation, and others like it, the shotgun pickup pattern* is the most important feature. You're recording from a distance and you basically want to de-emphasize (and there will be plenty of it) distracting ambient sound.
Trying to record sound on location (an environment in which you can't control what is contributing noise) is much more difficult to accomplish well if there isn't a corresponding visual reference. Your brain, through your eyes, actually functions as a strange sort of sound mixer in real life. Without sight, and especially through a mono recording, it becomes much more difficult to guage depth and establish physical positioning in order to achieve separation of sounds that the brain can then "turn down".
Sight is such a dominant sense that I'm even using it to describe hearing.
So that's kind of a philosophical frame of reference, but I think it's very beneficial for anyone wanting to train their ears and brain for listening through a microphone. A good ear, with a decent setup, can hear whiny streetlights, electrical hum, harmonics from appliances and motors, and correlate frequencies from one thing to resonance in another.
That being said, it's not about who can hear better than whom, or who knows more shit. It's about the practicality of hearing something when you're recording and trying to find the best way to get around it. There's only so much you can do after it's been recorded. It's a fun challenge and, especially in the case of this forum, a fun payoff.
This stuff might sound nerdy or snotty, but it's something I enjoy (getting paid for it is nice as well!).
I love the stuff that this community has recorded. Raw sounds real.
BTW, I wouldn't go with the MKE 400 for your situation.
I'll hunt around on google later tonight to see what else fits the bill.
*I said hyper-cardioid in the other post; this was a mistake.