More mic tests....

[Mike Peter Reed]

Originally Posted by Wayne Brissette

For those of you wanting to hear the Sennheiser 418S (in stereo mode), here is a short sample done during a recent interview.

http://homepage.mac.com/wayneb/KittyKitty_boom.mp3

I can post wav files if people want those.

Wayne

Sweet. I've been thinking of adding in a M/S mic to my kit, I like the idea that the 418S is "self contained" (as far as I know). Does it usually ship with a XLR-5 to 2 channel XLR-3 cable or is that an extra to buy? I'd be feeding into either my 302 or 702T.

What applications do you think the mic is best suited to? (perhaps I should've started a new thread rather than hijack this one). I thought spatially the KittyKitty.mp3 gave a good demo of mono and stereo characteristics, though at times I thought I heard chorus-ing.

Another reason I'm looking at M/S is because I heard Cloverfield was pretty much recorded M/S, and although I was nonplussed by the visuals I thought the audio stood out as "different" (in a good way) - though with soldiers and tanks rolling by I do wonder how much production audio was dropped.

I do a lot of indie one-camera shows and often wonder if doing M/S might add value to the production. One thing I'm not sure about is workflow. I must find time to hire a M/S mic and play around with recording and importing into NLE .....

[Wayne Brissette]

Originally Posted by Mike Peter Reed

Does it usually ship with a XLR-5 to 2 channel XLR-3 cable or is that an extra to buy? I'd be feeding into either my 302 or 702T.

What applications do you think the mic is best suited to? (perhaps I should've started a new thread rather than hijack this one). I thought spatially the KittyKitty.mp3 gave a good demo of mono and stereo characteristics, though at times I thought I heard chorus-ing.

You have to buy the 5-pin to dual 3-pin XLR cable. I had to order a new boom pole for this mic as well since I use internally wired poles and only had 3-pin XLR poles. Apparently I have the first 5-pin XLR wired boom pole that K-Tek has shipped direct from the factory. Previously you had to either wire it yourself, or have somebody like Trew/Remote Audio wire it up for you.

Applications? Primarily I would say that this is not your "go-to" mic. This is one of those mics you have in your kit that when asked to get ambient sound, or gather wild sounds you pull out. In the case of the Kitty Kitty Bang Bang interview. I had to cover seven individuals sitting around a large sofa and some chairs. I knew that they would be stepping on each other and since this was an interview, you simply have to pay attention to who looks like they are going to speak next... many times it's two or three people more or less fighting to be heard. I made the decision to try the 418S since I knew what I would be up against. I also had two plant mics spread out, but wanted to have all my bases covered.

I ended up doing the MS decode and providing that to them after the fact. Which is probably the hardest thing.... If the production staff isn't ready to handle MS (and unless things changed recently Final Cut Pro still won't do a decent MS decode), you end up with a very strange sounding stereo image. The Deva doesn't do MS decoding, it simply records the two tracks and let's you decide what to do them in post. Not sure how the SD744T or 722 handles MS, I know the SD mixers (and most other ENG mixers) have a MS decode option on the output. But usually it's not as intelligent as the software for MS, where you can change the amount of the spread without changing the levels (which really doesn't change the spread, but it's the best you usually can do with most of the ENG mixers I've seen).

The 418s, like all shotguns isn't the best option indoors, but it can be used if you're willing to play with the audio a bit more later, and with any MS mic, I think you'll have to do work in post with them.

Wayne