Anyone uses the Audio-Technica BP 4029?

M

MartinF

Active member
Hi All,

I am preparing for a documentary shoot, very verite and I will be shooting alone, so no sound recordist. As recording audio is going to be a struggle shooting alone, I was thinking of getting the Audio Technica BP 4029 to replace my Rode NTG1 as the on camera mic (after having read this article: http://kino-eye.com/2014/11/24/audio-technica-bp4029/ ). With it's additional figure 8 recorded to a seperate channel that might expand my possiblities to get better audio in post quite a bit I was hoping. I plan to record two more lavs to channels 3&4 on the FS7 for cleaner dialogue, but that might not always be possible.

Does anyone of you use this mic, any opinions or alternatives? Or should I just get a Sennheiser MKH 416 and be done with it?

Thanks,
Martin
 
Looks like a very flexible mic as you can choose what is being put to the output:

I am a big fan of M/S mic's for stereo location capture as you will always have the M capsule pointing at the action and can remove the S content later if you wish. (you can get free plug ins for Pro Tools etc to do this or adjust the width of any stereo signal) https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/products/bx_solo.html

I personally use a sony M/S mic off camera to get stereo ambience but as with all mic's the placement is the key element and on camera the stereo content from this mic may include camera zoom servo and generic plastic creaking noises etc.

On a boom it may be useful for low budget indie production as you will always have the dialogue in mono from the M capsule but can then use wild track or grabbed material in stereo for ambience etc.
 
The AT 40 series mics are very good (they sound nice and have a output), so I would expect the 4029 to be good. Otherwise +1 to Gary's post.
 
Well... The M is a cardioid pattern. I have said before that sometimes I actually like that for dialog, but most will insist that you need a hyper or you will pick up too much extra junk. So how well that works for you is kind of dependent on what you are doing but it's not a replacement for a 416 since, despite the articles mistakenly calling it a short shotgun it is clearly a cardioid if you look at the pattern graph.

I have mixed feelings on M/S. I used to be rather against it because of the logistics of decoding. Since it is now not a big deal at all to decode that isn't so much an issue. But I personally don't see a lot of advantage unless M/S is part of your normal work flow.
The main down side are that you can not listen to (or use) the files (in stereo) with out a decoder.
The supposed up side is being able to change the width in post but it is just as easy to change the width in post of an L/R stereo file in post so...

A real up side is that if you mostly use mono you have a clean center with no processing. But you can extract that from a L/R file in basically the same way you would create a stereo file from an M/S file. So if you mostly do stereo, as I do, L/R is a more convenient format. If you mostly do mono, as a radio producer I know does, then the M/S is a more convenient format.

My worry with camera mounting, aside from the usual issues, is that with such a wide choice of patterns it would seem like camera noise would be an issue.

Again a LOT depends on what kind of work you are doing. If it's a run and gun shoot that is closer to a doc. or "news" in it's finished form then the acceptability of a less "clean" track is a lot higher than for say feature work. And the wide pattern may be a decent trade off for getting something where a more focused mic may get you in trouble if you have things you want happen off axis.
 
MartinF said:
Or should I just get a Sennheiser MKH 416 and be done with it?
Click to expand...

Leaving aside the argument that a mic mounted on a camera is a sin, get the 416 and be done with it.

Dialog is inherently mono, it doesn't improve when recorded in stereo. And audience members tend to really not like a moving stereo field (as in, panning your camera with a stereo mic attached). Do some research on that, you'll turn up some AES papers on it IIRC.
 
Have a look at the polar patterns of each of the M/S mics.... the Mid mic is a cardioid pattern, (would you be happy with a mic of that pattern as a dialogue pickup?) No its to wide, so why accept it when its in a M/S combination.
Does EVERYBODY in the production chain FULLY understand the concept of M/S, how it works and how to use it?..... If not you are asking for trouble.
With M/S production make sure you cross check the mono mix OFTEN..... Despite all of the "wonderful" things people think it will do it can fail BIG TIME if you are not careful.
 
Thanks for all your comments. I am in deed a little scared of the post production side with M/S and if the extra information provided by the mic would be helpful at all or if it just would be more useless noise... There might be a reason why no rental house around carries that mic :)
Just had the idea that it might make good use of that one audio channel I got left on my camera.
 
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