Sennheiser MKE 600 and Mackie soundboard

A

Areku

New member
I've got a Sennheiser MKE600 going into my Mackie Profx12 (feeding phantom power). Problem is, I'm having to boost the gain WAY up (around +40db) in order to get decent levels. Is this normal? Or do I need to send the mic into a preamp before the mixer? (which doesn't make sense). I'm worried about not having enough headroom if I have to boost the gain all the way up.

Any tips or help would be much appreciated.

thanks!
 
First question under the circumstances is how far is the mic from the talent? If it is outside of 24", your audio will suffer.

Grant
 
Hi Grant, thanks for your reply. The shotgun is pointed at the audience to capture spectators' questions. Probably about 15-25 feet in a fairly quiet room. The talent has a wireless lav mic. I did some tests today and it picked up voices in the room alright, but having to boost up the gain so high concerns me a bit. Should I have gone with a different mic? Maybe a Rode or the Sennheiser ME66?

- Alex
 
Areku said:
Hi Grant, thanks for your reply. The shotgun is pointed at the audience to capture spectators' questions. Probably about 15-25 feet in a fairly quiet room. The talent has a wireless lav mic. I did some tests today and it picked up voices in the room alright, but having to boost up the gain so high concerns me a bit. Should I have gone with a different mic? Maybe a Rode or the Sennheiser ME66?

- Alex
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Shotguns are NOT "telescopic microphones" and do not magnify distant sounds. They are no more sensitive to sounds than are any other microphone. Their working distance for normal speech is around 20 to 24 INCHES, not feet! They also need precise aiming. You need to rethink your strategy.
 
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VERY basic rule...... If the microphone is beyond the reach of the person talking........Its to far away.
 
Aside from the distance/proximity issues, most Mackie boards have preamp (solo) and post fader metering. What does this tell you?
 
Areku said:
Hi Grant, thanks for your reply. The shotgun is pointed at the audience to capture spectators' questions. Probably about 15-25 feet in a fairly quiet room. The talent has a wireless lav mic. I did some tests today and it picked up voices in the room alright, but having to boost up the gain so high concerns me a bit. Should I have gone with a different mic? Maybe a Rode or the Sennheiser ME66?
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Rule of thumb - a short gun mic. will only double the distance of a comparable omni mic.

So - whatever an omni mic. will pick up at (say) 1-meter distance, a short gun will pick up at 2-metres distance.

So, you putting your short gun at around 20-feet away, is the equivalent to using an omni mic. at 10-feet!


And - no - A Røde or K6/ME66 would have given you the same result as you got.

This is why, to capture audience questions, a broadcaster always has a couple of bods (or more) with fishpoles so they can get the gun microphone to within 1 to 2 feet of the person speaking.
 
John Willett said:
This is why, to capture audience questions, a broadcaster always has a couple of bods (or more) with fishpoles so they can get the gun microphone to within 1 to 2 feet of the person speaking.
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Two other, perfectly viable alternatives:

1) Have a couple of PAs with wireless handhelds to pass around, OR

2) Place a couple wireless handhelds on mic stands in the aisle on either side of the room (center-left and center-right), and ask that anyone with a question from the floor step up to one of those mics (this also makes it quite a bit easier for the cover cam to get shots of the questions).
 
Thanks all, for your suggestions and feedback. I've decided to go with Alex H's solution and have some wireless handhelds on stands for audience members to ask their questions.
 
Another option I've used, get the question the best you can with the room mics, but have the event moderator repeat the question. This request is best stated with a note on the podium... otherwise verbally, it's 'in-one-ear-and-out-the-other'. Example: 'NYB Notice.jpg
 
Areku said:
Thanks all, for your suggestions and feedback. I've decided to go with Alex H's solution and have some wireless handhelds on stands for audience members to ask their questions.
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You can start a score sheet. Put another tic-mark on the card for every time someone says "You all can hear me, can't you? I don't need a microphone!"

IME, the suggestion from RickR is the most practical. Have the event organizer or MC (or whatever) repeat the question for the microphone.
Trying to get the presenter to do that faithfully is typically a losing battle (unless they do it all the time and they are in the habit).
Getting microphones out into the audience is expensive and of questionable reliability unless you have a big budget for gear and experienced crew.
 
Mic's in the audience will work great IF you can get the audience to use them. This really requires the moderator to stay on top of it and insist. I just did post on a show that had two wireless in the house for questions and the moderator never mentioned it to the audience so they were not used at all. In the end they chose to scrap the Q&A but if we were going to use it we were going to have to Dub in questions. We got enough bleed to make out what they were asking but not good enough to use.

Either way it really rests on the moderator, or possibly stage manager to make it happen.
 
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