mic suggestions for boom use specifically

M

matthewd5

Veteran
hello.

i have a sennheiser me-66 and i have tried using for a boom mic and it just sounded o.k. whereas when i use it as a shotgun i'm quite happy with it.

a couple weekends ago i did a short for a local college student and someone who was helping out had a sennheiser 7?? i don't know the exact model, i asked him and it was a 700 something...

the mic i used that weekend gave me wonderful sound with a boom operator who had never done boom work before!

so the question is, is there a difference about the 700 series sennheisers that make it sound a lot better for booming?

also, the series names, the me-66 vs mke etc. that would guide me as to which is better for what use?

matthew
 
i appreciate the link.

listened to a bunch of them.

so the characteristic i'm trying to describe is the off axis rejection.

normally for a shotgun mic that is exactly what you want but for boom work it would seem that in the real world (meaning you have a boom operator who isn't a pro) its better to have a mic that isn't quite so good at eliminating sounds that aren't directly in front of it?

i mean unless someone is very good at the boom work they aren't going to be right on the person who's talking every time.

with the mic i used that weekend the 7?? sennheiser, the mic didn't have to be right on the person and a lot of the time there were two actors a few feet apart and the mic sounded great when it was just about center between them.

it picked up both voices equally well and it didn't pickup any of the sounds around us even though more than half of the recording was done outside.

i guess i should buy a 416 or better level of mic if i'm going to do boom work.

matthew
 
matthewd5 said:
with the mic i used that weekend the 7?? sennheiser, the mic didn't have to be right on the person and a lot of the time there were two actors a few feet apart and the mic sounded great when it was just about center between them.

it picked up both voices equally well and it didn't pickup any of the sounds around us even though more than half of the recording was done outside.
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Cool. Mics like that are very useful sometimes. I think the term here would be "pick up pattern" which is expressed in degree angle. The narrower the pattern the more directional. I personally think the 416 is a bit too directional to use as described. I often use a Neuman KMR-81i for situations when I need to capture multiple faces without moving around too much. I do prefer the sharp crisp sound the Sennheiser offers over the warmer/mushier tone of the Neumann. But, the Neumann appears to be less directional and therefore is better suited to this certain task. Different tools for different jobs, that's all. I'm curious to find out what mic your friend was using, too. I personally am not familiar with a 700 series mic. Would be interesting to hear more about it. Thanks.
 
The one Sennheiser I can think of with a 7 is the MKH70 but that is the most directional mic they got. It is a long shotgun and has a super narrow pickup. Usually takes a talented hand to get good coverage on that mic.
 
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