Yeah some of us are not yet working professional soundies, and just doing it for free, and when a greater budget does arrive there is always the option of renting
Decent alternative to MKH 40/50 for Interiors
- Thread starter klk
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Yeah some of us are not yet working professional soundies, and just doing it for free, and when a greater budget does arrive there is always the option of renting
Noiz2
Sound Ninja
Yeah some of us are not yet working professional soundies, and just doing it for free, and when a greater budget does arrive there is always the option of renting
Now I'm not a guy opposed to cheap products but I think you missed the point. Unless this is a total BS for laughs thing for you then you need to set a bar for quality. It doesn't need to be as high as it is for professional gigs but it should be at least in the decent range. You might interpret "career" as meaning professional career but I think Rick was speaking more broadly.
So figure where your bar is and then the question is "does this mic make it?". It might, I don't really know. I do have their very cheap hot shoe mount (Rode VMPesqe) mic. It's better than the built in and my primary, non screwing around, use is to get a better guide track on the video and it seems fine for that. I think one of the British guys on this list has liked one of their mics, maybe even this one, so?
But you are talking about a cheap mic for interior dialog not really an "alternative to a MKH-50" as that implies that the quality is at a similar level. While this mic may meet your bar I think it's safe to say that it is VERY unlikely to be a "decent alternative to a MKH-40".
As a side note most professionals I know get really PO'd when referred to as "soundies", as most theatre crew is also offended by the term "techies". These terms are really only used by folks who are not doing it professionals so by definition you wont find any "professional soundies". It's probably not the best idea to call your doctor a "pill pusher" when going in for a consultation either. I don't care that much personally but Just something to keep in mind, especially if you go on forums that have a lot of professionals.
OT - "soundies", probably a safe bet NOT to call people that, particularly if the person using that term is someone who is personally NOT a sound professional. That said, if you ARE a sound professional, you may get away with it... to wit, on the jwsoundgroup discussion site, I've seen the pros repeatedly refer to working guys/gals as "soundies" - though it may be the case that as with certain ethnic or other minority slurs, only the group affected can use it themselves in a certain "ironic" way, but someone outside of that group would be best advised to refrain.
Andrew Stone
Veteran
To the OP, if you are located in LA, Location Sound rents the MKH 50 for $25. a day.
Every time I use one, which is every interior shoot, I am blown away at how good it is. A 416 inside will often yield bad results. The Sanken CS3e is the only hypercardioid boom mic that you can sometimes successfully use indoors in a pinch but I wouldn't depend on it working inside.
Even if you are plugging a MKH 50 directly into a camera, say a Sony, you will hugely benefit from the extremely low noise floor and the sonic purity of this little gem.
When you look at the value proposition of what it brings to a shoot in relation to a camera or a lighting fixture, it is well worth the money in my view.
Rent it when you have to do an interior shoot and I think you will be convinced it is not worth compromising to a lesser microphone.
Every time I use one, which is every interior shoot, I am blown away at how good it is. A 416 inside will often yield bad results. The Sanken CS3e is the only hypercardioid boom mic that you can sometimes successfully use indoors in a pinch but I wouldn't depend on it working inside.
Even if you are plugging a MKH 50 directly into a camera, say a Sony, you will hugely benefit from the extremely low noise floor and the sonic purity of this little gem.
When you look at the value proposition of what it brings to a shoot in relation to a camera or a lighting fixture, it is well worth the money in my view.
Rent it when you have to do an interior shoot and I think you will be convinced it is not worth compromising to a lesser microphone.
Eric Coughlin
Veteran
Noise capturer.
LOL! Nope, not using that seriously
I do post on jwsoundgroup as well, and I often see "soundie" used there too, and often heard that used on set too.
Noiz2
Sound Ninja
How about an actual job title. Otherwise it's like referring to everyone from a nurses assistant to a brain surgeon as a "medic", or maybe that should be Medie. I find generally adding "ie" to make a group is usually used by those outside the group as a derogatory name for members of the group. And like some more "explosive" names sometimes gets picked up by members of that group as an "inside" name. But kind of like those more "explosive" names it's always a tricky thing to use the name if it can't be applied to yourself.
I tend to use "sound folks" if I'm referring to the wide group of people who work in sound. But really there are few questions that can be answered in a cohesive way by that large a group.
So for instance your question on mics. THE answer depends a LOT on who in sound you ask. I have all kinds of mics because I record SFX mostly and sometimes I want the sound quality that a really cheap mic has. Or I'm going to put a mic where it has a low survival rate. Someone doing hard rock probably doesn't care much about most noise issues on a cheaper mic because it will be completely masked by what they are recording. Someone doing chamber music though will have a BIG problem with a noisy mic. If you are doing dialog you don't need a 20 - 20K response and in fact may chose specifically to not have one. A mic that pretty much rolls off at 80Hz is not generally a problem. But for SFX work that may be a real problem.
So in your case you selected already by picking the forum, in that this is much more production sound focused, but you will still get answers that are closer to what you need if you target your question. So if you are looking for a mic to do no budget short films, folks who are doing that are going to respond with answers that are closer to what you need and fewer recommendations to drop $$$$$ on a mic. On this site you will also get some input from others and that will round out the pool a bit.
To your question, a bit, The "cheap" mic I have a number of are CAD CM217's. Cardioid small condenser, has a roll off and a -10 pad. Incredibly light and short (only ~3" long) they can often be found in pairs for about $25USD a piece. They are not great mics. Even with out the roll off they are light on bass. They are fairly quiet have a decent sound (as long as thin is OK) are well built and essentially disposable so you can stick them places you are not going to put a $$$$ mic. I have also used them in shows for some vocals and they were fine (for that voice). They are so light that you could literally boom with an actual fishpole. So depending on what you are doing they could be a nice upgrade as a boom mic. I wouldn't show up on a set with a budget and propose using one, but there are a lot worse choices for no budget work. And if you upgrade later you have a plant mic for that not so great location.
I tend to use "sound folks" if I'm referring to the wide group of people who work in sound. But really there are few questions that can be answered in a cohesive way by that large a group.
So for instance your question on mics. THE answer depends a LOT on who in sound you ask. I have all kinds of mics because I record SFX mostly and sometimes I want the sound quality that a really cheap mic has. Or I'm going to put a mic where it has a low survival rate. Someone doing hard rock probably doesn't care much about most noise issues on a cheaper mic because it will be completely masked by what they are recording. Someone doing chamber music though will have a BIG problem with a noisy mic. If you are doing dialog you don't need a 20 - 20K response and in fact may chose specifically to not have one. A mic that pretty much rolls off at 80Hz is not generally a problem. But for SFX work that may be a real problem.
So in your case you selected already by picking the forum, in that this is much more production sound focused, but you will still get answers that are closer to what you need if you target your question. So if you are looking for a mic to do no budget short films, folks who are doing that are going to respond with answers that are closer to what you need and fewer recommendations to drop $$$$$ on a mic. On this site you will also get some input from others and that will round out the pool a bit.
To your question, a bit, The "cheap" mic I have a number of are CAD CM217's. Cardioid small condenser, has a roll off and a -10 pad. Incredibly light and short (only ~3" long) they can often be found in pairs for about $25USD a piece. They are not great mics. Even with out the roll off they are light on bass. They are fairly quiet have a decent sound (as long as thin is OK) are well built and essentially disposable so you can stick them places you are not going to put a $$$$ mic. I have also used them in shows for some vocals and they were fine (for that voice). They are so light that you could literally boom with an actual fishpole. So depending on what you are doing they could be a nice upgrade as a boom mic. I wouldn't show up on a set with a budget and propose using one, but there are a lot worse choices for no budget work. And if you upgrade later you have a plant mic for that not so great location.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/201312998375
Well drat... it has arrived. But.... they shipped the CM61, not the CM60! Messaged the seller to now send the CM60 that I want. They're totally different microphones. As the CM61 is an omni-directional microphone.