rethinking the me66 k6

B

brianluce

Carbonite Member
This was my first mic and it's still my only shotgun. I had originally planned to buy an AT 815 (I think that was the model #) but the nice lady at Location Sound told me it was junk and why not get the me66 instead, she let me listen to both and the me66 blew it away. Fast forward a few years later and the me66 has become the Dan Quayle of mics. I think even David Letterman ridicules it on late night TV.

Who still uses it and in absolute terms--not bang for buck, has does this think really rate. I just don't see how something could go from hero to failure in a few years--it's not like digital cams where the bar is always getting raised, it's just a mic.
 
Bwaaaa-haaa-haa! My sinister plan is coming together perfectly! Death to the me66 oh yes! I bought a hundred of them and after the market collapses I'll begin touting them again and make millions... millions I tell you.

Funny what mosquitos and lack of hygiene can do to you after a week in Haiti... can you believe that I can haunt this forum even from HAITI? Man I can't... I'm gonna' try to score a ride on a UN helicopter tomorrow... I totally had it NAILED and my freakin' sound guy BLEW IT for me! He said "no way we can keep the door open if you want to shoot from the chopper you'll have to shoot out a tiny window"... AFTER we went to a lot of trouble to even get to talk to the UN head here in Cap Haitien... I said, "I'll gaff my DVX to the strut dude!"... too late... apparently that was a 1 in 100 chance to talk to this guy... we'll see tomorrow. Oh... where were we?

Yes, the me66... well don't toss it in the trash can... I always say this, but for anybody who ALREADY HAS ONE (<key point) I think they are fine. Don't sweat it... use it... it's a fine mic... it just happens that you can get a lot better for just a little more dough now-a-days.
 
It's true Mattin, when you recommend a mic it's like Oprah recommending a book. Soundroom should have a shrine dedicated to you, or perhaps the owner of Soundroom should have a custom license plate saying "ILUVSTL" on his new Ferrari.
 
Well, what happened is the price of the 4073 came way down and the ME66 went way up. The 4073 used to be a lot more expensive than the ME66, now they're about the same price. So buying an ME66 today is not a wise move. Not that the mic is BAD, per se, but there's a lot better ways to spend your money.

It's like the PD150. Great camera for years, but as soon as the DVX came out, that was the end of the line for the PD150. Doesn't mean the PD150 is any less than what it was before the DVX came out, but as soon as the DVX came out and offered true manual control, 24p, better audio etc, the PD150 just didn't shine any more.
 
I can say one good thing about the Me66K.....someone bought mine last week on ebay for nearly 600 dollars. Yes, I made a profit on a two year old microphone. Now that money is going to buy my new Macbook which should be on it's way next week! Oh yeah and I bought a Pelican case for my audio gear. It's prety much the coolest thing ever.
 
In addition to what Barry said, the ME66 was popular because it could be powered with a AA battery. Back when DV cams were just starting to be used for pro work, cameras like the XL1s and VX1000 did not have phantom power. The ME66 was the easiest/best solution for an on camera mic (the rise of DV seemed to have started the phallacy that you can get good sound from an on-camera mic).

The other part was the modularity of the K6 system. You could put together a budget set of mics with a common amp. In theory it would save people money and space for a budget audio kit. Again, with the rise of DV, so started the phallacy of a shotgun (ie ME66) being the one mic you need for audio. In the end, people just bought the shotgun (ME66) cap and called it a day, thus defeating the advantage of the modular system.

With that said, I aggree with Matt. If you already own one, it is fine and build up the rest of your audio kit. Only when you get to a point where you can say the only way to get better sound is with better mics, then upgrade.

If you don't own one yet...don't buy it. There is nothing but better choices out there.

Cheers
 
This year I decided to jump in the video waters again, building a kit based around the DVX100B. As you all know, the camera is just the tip of the iceberg gear-wise and I put deciding on a decent shotgun towards the end of the ever expanding list. While I really wanted a 416, it's just too much on top of lights, wireless, Oktava, etc etc. I was super close to going with the ME66/K6 (not a bad sounding mic under ideal conditions, like a thinner-sounding 416) which was 309.00 on B&H's used section last week, then whaddaya know, a 4073a appeared there as well for 399.00 and I pounced. I got the Rycote softie for it as well. Can't wait to hear the danged thing after all the positive reading I've done on it.
 
It's funny how things come and go...A well respected and very experienced mixer just posted on his site that he dumped the 416 a number of years ago in favor of Schoeps and Sanken (of course, he has 6 Schoeps, 3 sankens, and various others...) It's so funny the way things swing...if I hadn't picked up my 416 for $500, I might be disappointed now...but now I can justify (someday even afford) a CSE3 to add to my mix of mics. ;-) Unfortunately, the CSE3 is just too new and too popular to be showing up on the used equipment boards I haunt. ;-) BTW, on one of the sites, a COS-11 just sold for $175 (I missed it by about a day). Oh well. ;-)

Phil
 
yup, the 416 in higher circles is completely past it. here in SA, quite a few sound guys only carry a 416 as a backup and it never leaves the bag! ha ha! I also got my 416 cheap, so its case in point really.

everything sucks after a couple of years, but buy clever and you can stretch the useful life of a piece of gear out indefinately. well, sort of.

my first kit was shure fp32, me66, sony wireless. then i started renting to get away from crummy stuff. now im have or am getting 302, lectro 100's, 416 and oktava.

in a year or two, hopefully that will read: 442, schoeps, CS3e, lectro 401's.

Cest la vie, as long as you make what you paid on a mic back, and it pays for the next one, you're golden.
 
I'm no audio expert, just a guy who bought an ME66 because that's what a few production companies who make shows for Discovery Channel, History Channel, NatGeo (etc.) recommended to me. So far, it's done a great job as an on camera mic for man-on-the-street interviews, in busy and loud trains, and interviewing a guy as he walks through six lanes of traffic.

Maybe for my humble purposes it's good enough.
 
So the 416 is passe? Mic technology hasn't advanced much in the past five years has it?

Or is it that newer models offer more bang for the buck?
 
416 and ME66 are two very different mics. The 66 is a "prosumer" mic that fills in that middle ground between pro and crap. The 416 is a pro mic and has been around for over 15 years. The new model, the MKH60 was released to replace the 416 but so many mixers who were in love the with 416 still preferred it to the MKH60 so they sell both.

Walk onto any big budget set and you will either find a 416 or Neumann 81 almost all the time. The Sanken CS3e is gaining in popularity for it's very even rejection but the new Schoeps shotgun might have cut them out of the market before they could really eat a good portion of the market.

As I pointed out above, the ME66 gained a lot of popularity as a cheaper mic for videographers to have in there kit. It will work fine but the market has changed since it first gained popularity and there are better choices of how to spend your money at the price point, mainly the AT 4073 (or even the Rode mic sounds pretty good to some).

So, again, the point is not the me66 won't work, it does, it just is overpriced for what you can get today.

Check them out for yourselves and decide. Mic choice tends to be a very personal decision.

Cheers
 
brian - well, yes and no.

what wabbit mentioned about the CS3e may not be entirely true in the really high circles of sound recordists (like Oleg, and C.A.S. guys) - most of the these people swear by the CS3e, and dont even want to see a 416 after using the Sanken. But Im sure there are vast amounts of features being shot with 416's, just probably not Hollywood level stuff. Im open to correction though, its not like Im a Hollywood guy, or even live in the US. :)

I think the Schoeps CMIT is going to kill the CS3e, but it'll be up to high end users like Oleg and Jeff Wexler and company to determine what they stick with.

Just to round up, though, the high end shotguns are:

Neumann 81, Sennheiser mkh416, Sennheiser mkh60, Sanken CS3e, Schoeps CMIT-5U.
 
why the f. i need the schoeps -
it doesnt come close to cs3 rejection
for interiors the regullar hyper is good enouth
 
ExileOnTheMainStreet said:
why the f. i need the schoeps -
it doesnt come close to cs3 rejection
for interiors the regullar hyper is good enouth
Click to expand...
Very true. But the popularity of the Schoeps sound will keep the new CMIT flying off the shelf....despite the crappy blue paint job.

From everything in my experience I gotta disagree with you Tim. The 416 is still very much the go to shotgun standard on most Hollywood sets. Without dropping names, the "big hollywood mixers" I have talked with are almost all using the 416 as their primary shotgun. Why? It sounds great, it's built like a fricking tank, and more then anything else, they already own it.

The Sanken is a newer mic and is very popular. If you took away everyones mic today and we all had to go out and rebuy our short shotgun then the CS3e would most likely eat up a huge chunk of the market (a purely speculative guess). But as to what is actually out there now, from what I have seen, 416 is the hands down leader.

Putting the popularity contest behind us, if you are in the market, test each of them out and decide for yourself.

Cheers
 
fair enough wabbit, you got more experience than me so i wont pretend to be smart here :), i guess what i should have said is that the big pro sound guys I know of use the Sankens - i wouldnt doubt there are way, way more 416s out there.

but i know that if i didnt have a 416, and someone gave me back the $1000 or so that they cost here in SA, Id pay 300 more and get a Sanken.

id really love to get a sanken in one hand and a schoeps in the other to try them against each other, but its hard enough to just get hold of one of em at a time!
 
A lot of pros do prefer the Sanken, like Oleg, and I plan to add one to my kit someday. Personally though, if I could only have one shotgun mic it would still be the MKH60. The rugged build and resistance to humity is really important to me.

At the same time there are many times I would like the rejection pattern of a shotgun indoors, the Sanken is pretty sweet for that purpose. I mean look at that pattern:

cs3-pol1.gif
cs3-pol2.gif


Frickin sweet :thumbsup:

416....meh:

01511_pd.jpg
 
Regarding the ME66, I have purchased this mic seven times... Let me say this again, I have PURCHASED the ME66 seven times. Everytime I get it I turn around and sell it almost immediately or return it (AmericanMusical.com told me I am no longer able to order it from them because I have used their return policy four times).

I am in love with the idea of the ME66. I like the modular system and I think that it is a good looking mic. More than that, the ME66 just has a softspot in my heart. I order it and then once I use it I think the sound quality is just not there.

Here is a good reason why:

The Rode NTG line sounds fuller, offers slightly less rear rejection, and has a slightly wider pattern. The sound is better though.

The ME66 is something that a lot of us have had in our bags, but in my opinion it just doesn't hold up to the competition above and below it. I can hear and pick out an ME66 in any indie film. It is the mic that sounds thin and without the bottom end.

Would I keep it if I already had it? Nope, that simple.

Regarding the 416 and the 4073a, the 4073a is miles ahead of the ME66 and to my ears the difference between the 4073a and the 416 is very tiny.

To my ears, as I have said before, the 416 sounds a little more polished and it has a tighter pattern. The 4073a is a hotter mic and has a looser pattern and not as good rear rejection (back to the pattern).

Regarding sound, but balancing levels in post or using a 3 band EQ I can get a 4073a to sound exactly like a 416.

I haven't used the higher end shotguns, I'm not a pro, and I can't afford them, but as an owner of two 416's, I'm getting ready to unload them and just stick with the 4073a (I've already sold a 416 to come back to the 4073a... I just don't learn my lessons I guess).

I don't know if my experience will help anyone, but hopefully people won't waste money like I have.

-Jeremy
 
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