Best stereo mic for (mostly) field recording

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Petrus

Well-known member
After getting the SD722 I am thinking about replacing the venerable Shure VP88 with something with less self noise. Not many contenders out there, looks like the Sanken CMS-9 is almost the only one. Promises about the same or more dynamic range as the recorder.

Experiences, anyone? Do you have better candidates for me?
 
THere is a Neumann that a bunch of folks like (at ~$3k). I used a Senheiser stereo mic, it was OK but tended to pick up stray electric fields like radar. I use an Oktava pair inside a single Zeppelin. A number of recordists I know use a pair of Neumann capsules with the remote body (it's something like KM100??) anyway the pair is small enough that the zep is about the size of a nurf ball and is quite light because the power units for the capsules are not in the zep.

Both of the latter sound really good. The Oktava's are around $400/ pair (from the Sound Room) and the Neumans are around $3,000 / pair. For the Neuman's there is a special Zep made for them (~~$1,300). For the Oktava's you probably have to rig something. Also with the Oktava's unless you get a pretty fat Zep your angle is going to be narrower than some would like. Personally for FX I like the narrower angle so it's no problem, but if your doing big wide outdoor tracks you might want a wider angle.
 
Documentary, nature, ambience, music in the order of importance.

VP88 has served me well, but it has a bit too much self noise for quiet places. A single body like CMS-9 would be ideal as far as handling goes.

I have a matcing set of Octavas, 3 caps, maybe I rig something out of them into a zeppelin. Have to devise ways of hanging them at an angle, could use ORTF with the zeppelin sideways...
 
check the pearl, single stereo ( 1300euro)
or mbho figure of 8 with 604 body to add your oktava ( about 800euro
 
depends what you need more directional or less
if you have ms matrix on your mixer i wouldnt go with stereo outputs mics (2/8)
 
You can also look at taperssection.com to see what mics they are using and help decide which type of stereo recording you want to do. I would assume M/S would be your best bet since you can manipulate the stereo field in post. Many people use a 416 and an mkh 30 for this. I would also look at the ambient emesser since it is a small figure 8 mic that piggybacks on almost any shotgun in it's zepplin.
 
Just found out that Oktava is coming out with an figure-8 head for their 012 system. Placed a pre-order for one.
 
nobody has mentioned the sanken css-5.. and I want to know why! answers people, i want ANSWERS!

I use the ambient emesser and like it. Its especially good for louder stereo applications. I just keep in on my 416 all the time, then can go stereo quickly if i need to without swapping mics.
 
What I am looking for is low self noise and good low end, if possible. What I have read CCS-5 is not perfect in those areas, better than VP88 but not enough to warant its price for me. Now I am considering mic combinations (going to test Oktavas) or Pearl MS 8 (low end not perfect, self noise ok). Best Sennheiser/Neumann/Shoeps MS combinations cost too much.
 
why - do you have 2grand for spare mic :-)? for 1% of the time
good mic not good as the cs-3 for mono operation
 
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