M/S Mic Recomendations

H

HansonD

Active member
Hello again,

I've been thinking lately of investing in a M/S stereo mic but am not sure/ unfamiliar with all of the choices. I've only used a VP-88 in the past. I got good results with it for recording a police siren pass-by and pull-up, but noticed that the mic had somewhat high self noise so probably would not be the best for recording soft sounds like rural ambiences and the like...

Models that I would love to hear some feedback on:
MKH-418S
Sanken (not sure the #)
VP-88
any others, I may not be aware of,

Also I own a Schoeps CMC541, and a 416T so buying a figure of 8 mic to accompany either of those would be an option, although I can't afford to buy a Schoeps brand fig8 right now. (nor in the foreseeable future). I saw in a posting a while ago on a similar topic someone posted a link to a product for sale on B&H that was a clip-on fig8 capsule intended to clip onto small diameter mics. Has anyone used this before?

Also any general conversation about Mid-Side usage, techniques, and practical experience would be appreciated.

Thanks again,
-d
 
I've been using a MKH416t/MKH30 pairing for a few years, now, and I've been very happy with the combination. However, I have noticed that the MKH30 is more prone to RF interference than the `416t. Of course, you'll be hard-pressed to find a mic more RF-proof than a `416t. Another issue is that the MK30 requires phantom power, rather than T power. The MKH30 is also much more sensitive to low frequencies and handling noise, although the roll-off switch on the mic brings it right in line with the `416.

I'm not a big fan of the 418, despite its being built around the 416's design. If you look at the specs, the side capsule is actually a back-electret type with a significantly higher noise floor. This isn't a huge deal, as long as you keep the angle fairly narrow, but as you approach 90 degrees, things start sounding rather noisey.
 
the mbho 603 /604 with ka-800
or gefell mv-200 with mbho ka800 ( working grate)
thats about the best bang for the buck ( have them both )

for the cheap you can go with akg se 300 with 94
the ambient ennmesser is noisy and the sennheiser is a piece of **** as you alwais need to power both capsules so you alwais 1 channels less if you like to use it as regullar shotgun
sankencs-5 is terrificc but about 2 grand for new
also used neumann ka20 with ak-100 you can find for less then 900
or just buy avanton stereo mic , good for sfx , place it inside azeppelin
about 88 - one of the best mics but made primery for overhead so he output is 0.5 v to make it in high spl
best for urbanic noise and jets take off , the mid and side adress capsules sound exellent
not good for low level effects ( not that idint take athmosfers in coffe shops with for tv )
 
I made once a radio doc in Nepal with VP88, self noise was never a problem, really clean sound and precise stereo. Heavy piece of brass, sold it and now have Pearl MSH 10, much lighter, nice sounds. Pearl has models with cardioid and hyper M mics, both unprocessed MS and matrixed stereo versions. Not quite as quiet as the best card/8 combinations, but more convenient to handle and blimp.
 
I do a bit of Blumlein stereo recording in my studio, which I guess in theory is a form of M/S. I usually use a pair of ribbon mics, which are naturally Fig 8, or a couple of condensor mics in Fig 8.

I assume you are already familiar with the process for decoding the signal after recording? It is fairly easy to do in a DAW after the fact, so you don't need any special plugins or software, etc to do it.
 
Thanks for the recomendations,

Oleg, I'm in the states so the Gefell and MBHO, though I'd love to try them, are hard to come by. (feel free to reference any US retailers that stock these)

As far as the AKG 422 goes, it looks great, but maybe not very suited for field recording. I may be wrong but it seems rather large and delicate, and difficult to mount on a boom or in a zepp.

The sanken is out of my budget, and the 418 seems to be kind of a black sheep around here.

Suprisingly, these responses are making me more inclined to reconsider the VP88...
Again, I'm not so sure it would be suited to record low level ambiences (crickets at night for example) in a high resolution (192kHz, 24bit) enviroment...
But, what I do like about it is that it's built like a brick. It could probably double as a nightstick for the Chicago PD... Also its very mountable in a variety of shockmounts, not so much so as the sanken maybe, or a double mic type setup, but still a simple AKG universal mount works well to mount one of these. And Rycote makes a softie that fits the VP88 so a Zepp wouldn't be necesary...

I am familiar with M/S theory and decoding and yes it is very straightforward and flexible to work with in a DAW. (which is why I'm leaning towards M/S vs. X-Y) Blumlien I am not familiar with, can anyone give a brief explanation or links? Is it a practical technique to use on location?

Thanks again to everyone,
-d
 
Blumlein is just two Figure 8 mics stacked with their capsules touching. Same basic setup. You bring up the mid mic on one channel, and then clone the side mics and flip the phase of one, just like m/s.
 
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