Sound BIFF needs help to choose mic

spa_edwards

spa_edwards

Active member
Hello fellow dvxuser members.

I have been reading over many, many posts to choose a shotgun mic and have narrowed it down to three and I just cant decide. What I need from the mic is to be quite an all rounder for recording short films, interior and exterior, and this is due to I can only afford one shot gun at the moment. And the choices are.

1) AT4073a
2) Sanken CS-3
3) Sennheiser 416

Please could you tell me what mic you would reccomend? Why you would recommend it? Why is it better than the others? Are there any samples of these mics in comparison? And, if you would recommend a mic that I may have overlooked - Afterall, I am most definately a sound BIFF!

Sorry to bug you guys, but even though that sound isn't my thing, I find its extremely important to get the best I can afford as dodgy sound puts me off watching things if it sounds crap.

Many thanks.
 
Steven there is tons of info on here about all those mics. They are all quality mics and it really comes down to the user/operator and placement on how well they will perform.
there are several stickies at the top of this forum with tons of audio samples.

personally im kinda waiting on the new Rode NTG3 to come out.
 
I scored a 4073a used off B&H for 399 a couple of years ago. Great mic for the $$$, but I've finally found a 416 for 700 and it easily sounds superior. Like Matt said, it's really all about the application, though.
 
Thanks for your comments. I have read through the stickies, been on to the links for external sites and have kept reading. But with all this overwhelming information, Im really struggling to make a choice. I was hoping that a sound guru could point out an industry standard, or indie filmmaking standard mic to me.

Now to add to the confusion, im thinking about the Neumann KMR81i, which i just heard on a sample and it sounds great.
 
cs-3 without any doubt ,
but it cost about twice then 4073 , so you can buy 4073 and aother short mic for the same mony , may be better option
 
Shotguns in general can sound 'hollow' when used in reflective spaces such as normal untreated interiors. The CS-3 looks like a shotgun but actually isn't, getting its directivity without the problems inherent in the interference tube design. If you're forced to only have one mic to do double duty on both interior and exterior work, bite the bullet and get the Sanken.
 
Thanks for your help.

Ive decided that i have narrowed my search down to only two mics.

1) Sanken CS-3
2) Neumann KMR81i

Ive heard great things about both of these mics................. still undecided on which one to pick.

Thanks for helping
 
spa_edwards said:
Thanks for your help.

Ive decided that i have narrowed my search down to only two mics.

1) Sanken CS-3
2) Neumann KMR81i

Ive heard great things about both of these mics................. still undecided on which one to pick.

Thanks for helping
Click to expand...

The Neumann is a conventional interference tube shotgun, albeit an excellent one, and is subject to the same drawbacks shared by all shotguns when used in a reflective environment.
 
Spa,

Sorry to say, but poor choice.

If you can "only afford one" you should have gone with the AT4703a and then gotten an Octava hyper for interiors (you probably could have gotten both for less than the cost of the Neumann). You will struggle with the KMR on interiors. The CS-3e is better for interiors, but still not as good as a hyper.

Best of luck.

Phil
 
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