Interior New Purchase - Oktava 012, NT-5 and Sennheiser E614

H

Hiro Nakamura

Active member
Hi guys,

After realized that my shotgun NTG-2 is not the right type of mic recording indoor, I am thinking of buying a hyper-cardioid mic for my indoor recording.

I have read lots of threads regarding indoor recording, but the more I read, the more I confused on which mic is more suitable for the indoor recording.

There are three mics that I think I have read the most for indoor recording, aparts from AT4053b...which is too expensive to me. I think the three I listed above are the one I could afford with sweat too much.

The Oktava 012 and Sennheiser E614 are hyper cardioid, and NT5 is cardioid,
I got a picture of what is the difference between hyper cardioid and cardioid, but in fact, I don't completely understand how it affects the sound, apart from the direction of getting the sound.

so... I wanna your advices and opinions on choosing the right indoor mic.
I mainly record interviews and stand ups from news, some voxpop in the conventions for news channels and documentaries, indie films. for indoors stuff, I work a lot as ENG crews.

Of course, as outdoor, I will have my NTG-2 which I think it gives me good quality audio without any complain from my clients, will upgrade myself with a NTG-3 after this year I guess.

SO...
Oktava 012
RODE NT-5
Sennheiser E614 ( this mic, didn't have lots of reading on this mic, I got info from B&H)

OR any mics from your opinion and experience as a good for indoor audio recording.


Thanks to you guys in advance


Hiro
 
The e614 is a super-cardioid really aimed at drum overheads. So may not be your nest choice.

Actually a cardioid is probably better as a general purpose mic. as it is more tolerant if someone goes slightly off-axis and maximum attenuation is to the rear.

So a Sennheiser K6+ME64 or an e914 would be better choices.

The Rode NT5 is also a good value for money cardioid.
 
Personally I love the Oktava, but I think it's probably not the best choice for what you want to do. The Oktava's are really susceptible to handling noise, lots of low end. But you don't need a mic with a lot of low your doing ENG kinds of stuff. I would look at a cardioid or Hyper with a built in roll off and it probably is a good thing if they don't say it goes below 30Hz or so. The Senn. are probably a good choice. Rode is a good company but some of their mics are a bit heavy so I would get one in my hands first and see if you want to be holding it for any length of time.
A really off the wall, but cheap enough to try, choice is a CAD CM-217. I've been playing with one for awhile and they seem pretty decent. Not much low but seem to be pretty good on voice (probably not on a big bass voice) and are incredibly cheap ($50 a pair or so). I got it for those FX recordings where you might destroy the mic but it's been much better than I thought it would be. And very small and light as a feather.
 
Speaking of drum mics, I've been thinking of using one instead of traditional condenser mic primarily because it’s dynamic and smaller. l can plug it straight into the 5d with a mini to XLR cable without worrying about power. I don’t have any experience with drum mics, can folks that have use it chime in on whether something like the Beyerdynamic M 201 TG be decent for the same thing the OP is asking for? Thanks.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/92699-REG/Beyerdynamic_406910_M_201_TG_Microphone.html
 
Noiz2 said:
Personally I love the Oktava, but I think it's probably not the best choice for what you want to do. The Oktava's are really susceptible to handling noise, lots of low end. But you don't need a mic with a lot of low your doing ENG kinds of stuff. I would look at a cardioid or Hyper with a built in roll off and it probably is a good thing if they don't say it goes below 30Hz or so.
Click to expand...

Just wondering the Oktava 012's noise handling. For instance, an interview shoot, an air conditioning noise is from the top ceiling, would be picked up by the Oktava, thought it doesnt get any sound from the behind, or It's like super clean sound, because its too clean , you can get a bit hiss as background....

Read more about the Sen ME66/k6, lots of people like the mic, so...the choice narrow down to ME66/K6 and Oktava 012 I guess...

Lots of soundman like Oktava 012, but they dont really mention a lot about the noise.... I think why I am still thinking of Oktava, its because 1. I think it's slight cheaper, and second is more recommended from sound guys...
 
The ME 66 is a shot gun microphone capsule , but putting on a k6, ....which becomes a shotgun mic, with hyper cardioid pattern..... confused HERE!!! in this case, if I have a k6, then I can keep changing the capsule to have the effect of hyper cardioid / cardioid, shotgun....


HIRO
 
Hiro Nakamura said:
The ME 66 is a shot gun microphone capsule , but putting on a k6, ....which becomes a shotgun mic, with hyper cardioid pattern..... confused HERE!!!
Click to expand...

A shotgun mic is basically a super- or hyper-cardiod capsule with an interference tube in front of it that further rejects off-axis sound.
 
The Oktava sounds pretty much the same as a Schoeps with about 5dB less output (or 5dB more noise depending on how you look at it). And it has a lot of the problems (benefits) of the Schoeps, like a BIG low end and great sensitivity. In using both you have to be really carful of handing noise and ANY wind getting neat the capsule. So with a good shock mount, a zeppelin and careful handling you can get great sound.
If your running and gunning and your on your own they are not a great choice because you probably can't do the three things above and that means your going to get some big low rumbles and bumps and such.

Mics are as a rule not dead in any direction, they just record less outside the pattern than in. AC noise may be coming from above but it is everywhere because you have walls and floors that it bounces off of. It's probably pretty low so the Oktava will do a great job of recording it. In that case I would probably be rolling off high like above 100hz.
All electronics generate noise. The two things that play a lot into the "perceived" noise are the signal level relative to the noise and the quality of the noise. Some noise sounds worse than others. The perceived noise of the Oktava's are low, what the actual numbers are compared to others I don't know. Unless some third party does real scientific tests it's hard to compare since the manufactures use different criteria and units and tests to create the "specs" so it's near impossible to compare across brands. Inside a brand you can use the noise spec to say X is quieter than Y and be pretty accurate but across brands it's a crap shoot.

Cheers
SK

Hiro Nakamura said:
Just wondering the Oktava 012's noise handling. For instance, an interview shoot, an air conditioning noise is from the top ceiling, would be picked up by the Oktava, thought it doesnt get any sound from the behind, or It's like super clean sound, because its too clean , you can get a bit hiss as background....

Read more about the Sen ME66/k6, lots of people like the mic, so...the choice narrow down to ME66/K6 and Oktava 012 I guess...

Lots of soundman like Oktava 012, but they dont really mention a lot about the noise.... I think why I am still thinking of Oktava, its because 1. I think it's slight cheaper, and second is more recommended from sound guys...
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top