I've got the possibility of a really good deal on sennheiser equipment, and need some mikes for narrative drama. I'm using the sony v1p -> blackmagic intensity for sound and image, according to my current plan! So - what mikes should I get? I want to avoid doing ADR as much as possible, I think. I have little to no experience in live sound recording on set. My previous projects have had sound created entirely in the studio in post. Thanks!

Oh, with perhaps $2K to spend.

I recently bought a Sennheiser MKH416 and have been pretty pleased with the results so far. It sounds great outdoors, perhaps not the best for interiors, I still find it performs well.

I've got the possibility of a really good deal on sennheiser equipment, and need some mikes for narrative drama. I'm using the sony v1p -> blackmagic intensity for sound and image, according to my current plan! So - what mikes should I get? I want to avoid doing ADR as much as possible, I think. I have little to no experience in live sound recording on set. My previous projects have had sound created entirely in the studio in post. Thanks!

Oh, with perhaps $2K to spend.

Hmmm,

Well the MKH418-S is a nice mic. It requires Phantom Power on BOTH channels even if you are only using one, but if you have a good mixer, that's not a problem.

The 418-S sounds a lot like a 416, but has a slightly airier top end.

It can be either a shotgun or a stereo mic. The stereo might come in handy.

I have a attached the review I wrote when it came out.

Regards,

Ty Ford

I'd second the 416 from personal experience. I've never use the 418-S so can't comment on that one.

For wireless work the Sennheiser G2 series are very popular. If you keep in touch with wardrobe then wiring everyone might be a way to go to avoid ADR - however, you'll then find yourself with zero audio perspective and you might then spend time faking it in post. But your dialogue tracks signal-to-noise should be more controllable than booming, especially wide exteriors. Wireless is a different discipline to booming though, with a different set of potential problems.

Yep,the mighty 416 rules. I bought one about a year ago and use it for 90% of my shoots.

Thanks very much for the suggestions! I'll have a look into that mike. I'm not fully against ADR, so I may decide to go with it. Cheers.

My vote goes to the CS3e. Most useful mic I've ever used. Does really well in interiors.

If you have 2k for a mic, I would really check out the new Schoeps. The blue metallic one, don't know the model number. In my experience the Schoeps are some of the best sounding mics I have used. I haven't used their new one but hear that it is excellent and is about 1700.

A guy I worked with swears by a shotgun from Sanken, but again don't know the model.

"A guy I worked with swears by a shotgun from Sanken, but again don't know the model."

That would be the cs3e.

I have reviews of both the 418 and C3e in the Online Archive on my site. The CS3e has less low wnee than the 416 and 418. In most places today, the low end is rolled off a bit or a lot anyway.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Unless the difference is huge, i'm quite keen to go with sennheiser simply because I get such a great deal on them. Much thanks for the suggestions though.
On the same thought... do Sennheiser make a mixer that would allow me to use the 418-S without all that dematrixing jazz whilst still going through the camera for sync (audio is should be uncompressed but i dont know the figures via the intensity card) I quite want stereo but not the hassle of two mikes. The 418 looks like good solution. Or is it easy enough to use the camera's phantom power and mix/dematix in soundtrack pro?

Isn't the metallic blue Schoeps the CMIT 5U? There's a good review in dv.com where it got a perfect 5/5 score.