AudioTechnica BP4029 for noisy dialogue as an alternative to Sanken CS3e?

L

lonewolf2koc@hotmail.com

Well-known member
I'm in a special situation where I'm out of the US for several months and don't have my usual dialogue mics (Sanken CS3e, Schoeps CMC641). Due to very tight size and weight restrictions imposed on international flights, I only have the AT BP4029 stereo shotgun primarily for stereo ambience sound rec. It is the best bang for the money for stereo ambience, but I don't know how well it perform in noisy dialogue such as a bar, outdoor festival with lots of background noise. Never used the BP4029 exclusively for dialogue. The Sanken CS3e is very good at rejecting side noise and works well in uncontrolled shooting situation for me in the past 6 years since I bought the CS3e. But was a fool not to bring it because I thought I would never use it until now. Can the BP4029 be an comparable alternative or I'll have to use the right shotgun (CS3e) for rejecting the most ambience noise? Hate having to wait another year for the event to occur again but also need to record cleanest possible dialogue sound without putting lava on the subjects.
 
Might be OK as long as room/space isn't reverberant in a way that affects the 4029 (I have one- a reverberant room recording on the 4029 motivated me to get a 641). Otherwise it's a decent shotgun (mid channel. Side channel is a bit noisy).
 
Looks like the 4029 doesn't have the same reach and off-axis rejection as the C3e, but I'm not familiar with the 4029. However, I own (though now rarely use) a 4073a, and it's a decent mic. So quality wise, you're probably fine. And along the lines of what jcs says, I'd either record just the mid channel, or both channels discretely (i.e.- I wouldn't use the mic's internal Mid-Side matrixing). I mean, it looks like you'll have some rejection. But you'll have to experiment to see if it'll work for you in your environment.

And then like PD says, is renting what you want and are familiar with an option? If you can't just roll with what you have.

Don't miss the event! Post pictures!
 
Use the non-matrixed M-S mode on the 4029. In post, do not use the 'side' channel. I do not think it is as 'tight' as the Sanken CS3, but it should work. Use a lavaliere as well, I assume you have a few of them with you.
 
I was going to suggest the same thing Rick did. The Mid is a cardioid pattern so a bit wider than is common but not that much.
 
Finding a rental place in a 3rd world country that has a Sanken CS3e is not working out. They want a caretaker for a Rode NTG series shotgun. It gets expensive after 10 days of shoot.

I'll experiment with the M-S setting (M: ch1, S:ch2) to see if it helps. Laving people and desiring to be hidden will be very difficult to do because this is an outdoor festival event with thousands of people walking. All I can say now is the regret of not adding the CS3e to the luggage.

On a side note, I looked into buying the Sanken CS-M1 for this. The hassle and expenses for shipping overseas are approaching to the CS3e in costs. But after two real-world recording samples on Sanken web site, the CS3e still has the highest amount of rejection against background noise. CS-M1 just can't filter out all of those extraneous noise in the background for clean dialogue.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top