I am looking to add a handheld mic and wireless kit to my setup. It will be used indoors and outdoors shooting a college radio music show. Interviewing at college sporting events (basketball & football), and also music industry events held in clubs and outdoor events (concerts etc).

I am considering going with the Sennheiser G2 500 kit with either the MD46 or RE50?

I think I would go with the MD46 due to the cardioid pattern if you will be the one in control of the mic and understand how to use this directional pick-up. If it will be out of your hands, then the omni RE50.

I think I would go with the MD46 due to the cardioid pattern if you will be the one in control of the mic and understand how to use this directional pick-up. If it will be out of your hands, then the omni RE50.

Thanks Jay:

The host of the show will be using the mic, so based on your reply, the RE50 would be the better choice.

Thanks Jay:

The host of the show will be using the mic, so based on your reply, the RE50 would be the better choice.

I would hope the host of the show would at least be 'trainable' in proper mic handling technique.

I would hope the host of the show would at least be 'trainable' in proper mic handling technique.

Steve, which of the two do you favor more in this type of application?

Steve, which of the two do you favor more in this type of application?

Because you're going to be recording in the field, to minimize background sounds intruding I'd go with the cardioid since it rejects sounds behind. You might even want to consider a hypercardioid although it would be less forgiving of slight mis-direction.

There's good reason why omnis like the RE50 are so popular with people shooting hand held interviews. Because an interviewer isn't hired for his or her tech abilities, they're hired because of their personalities, looks and grasp if issues in the News. I don't want to worry about somebody's ability to point the mic in the right direction. I don't want to hear weird phase stuff going on as someone is talking and the mic gets pointed towards them in the middle of what they're saying. I also don't want to see a bunch of hand movement at the bottom of the screen. I use an RE50B (the black model) with a bit of bicycle handgrip foam over the handle to minimize handling noise. Handheld in front of the person and whoever's being interviewed, the mic is close enough that it's lack of directionality is not a problem. Tell me, when is the last time you've watch the evening News and during an on location story thought to yourself: "boy that background noise sure is noticable"? An omni is the way to go.

I'm not disagreeing with you except to say that just about everytime I watch TV I think about how bad some of the audio is that makes it into network news, magazine, and reality shows. I think that's partly due to how good some of it is versus how bad some of it is. It used to all be mediocre to good all the time, now it can range from awful to pristine and there seems to be no predicting which programs it will happen on. I'm a freakishly attentive listener though...

There's good reason why omnis like the RE50 are so popular with people shooting hand held interviews. Because an interviewer isn't hired for his or her tech abilities, they're hired because of their personalities, looks and grasp if issues in the News.

Good point Lawrence. In my particular application, the person handling the mic is there for his personality. It seems that most favor the MD46, but that the RE50 is a no brainer for the person handling the mic. I watched boxing on HBO this weekend, and the MD46 was the mic used, however other then sporting events the RE50 seems to be more popular. So is it safe to say the following?

Better Sound = MD46

Ease of USe = RE50

For a college sporting event I would use the MD46.

People don't use directional mics because they sound better. They don't. They sound worse. They use directional mics because they want to isolate a sound from background noise. An omni tends to pick up things that are close to it, then fall of exponentially with distance. That is why people use omnis for close micing in things like lapel mics. The point of a cardiod like the MD46 isn't better sound. It's off axis rejection.

In a regular environment the background ambience will sound very natural with an omni. There are no wierd artifacts because of the placement of background noise generators with regards to the mic pattern and where the interviewer is pointing it at a given time. The effect with a handheld omni in a normal environment is prominent speech with natural area ambience in the background.

In a sports venue the situation is different however. What you'll get with an omni like an RE50 is lots of crowd noise with the interview trying to be heard over the background ambience.

As I see it, an omni is preferrable to a cardiod unless you are in a noisy environment like a sports arena. Since you are doing exactly that: interviews in a sports arena, definately go with the directional mic.