Suicide Squad Microphones

M

Milk and Coffee

Member
See attached. Can somebody help me identify what kind of mics the crew is using? I would imagine they would be using shotgun microphones in this scenerio, but these mics are shaped more like dynamic microphones. Anybody know what kind of mics those are? If they are dynamic, why would they use dynamic instead of condenser?

Thanks!

Suicide-Squad.jpg
 
I guarantee you they're not dynamic mics. They're likely the Schoeps CMC541. Or perhaps the Sennheiser MKH50.
 
The Schoeps CMC641 is thinner, grey (vs. black), and the foam screen is more shaped like an egg (symmetric curves; no abrupt edge).

Indoors the CMC641, MKH50 etc. are better than shotguns as shotguns can have phase issues with reflected sound, whereas super/hyper cardioids are still very directional, but don't have potential phase issues. That said, shotguns can work fine indoors in many cases, however you'll want a non-shotgun for those reverberant rooms which can make the shotgun completely unusable (that happened to me and I immediately obtained the CMC641 and Audix SCX1-HC (backup, sounds very similar to the CMC641)).
 
Hard to tell from the photo but they look a bit like Beyerdynamic mics.

I agree that it is very unlikely they are dynamic mics. I could see dynamics in that kind of space but only if you could get a lot closer than those mics are.

Generally you do not want shotguns in a bouncy space like this looks like. It's hard to tell what it is actually like because BTS shots are just like shots in the film, they are set up to tell a story so what you see is not necessarily a very accurate depiction of reality.

From the placement and angles I would guess cardioid rather than hyper since they would be pretty off access if they were hyper. Though again in the still are they shooting? are the mics actually in place on a take or is this just a rehearsal?

There are a number of different designs for shotguns, but most use an interference tube design which does not work well in reflective environments. There are other designs that don't have as much of that problem but as a general rule shotguns tend to not work that well in interiors and generally not well at all in reflective spaces.

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Explanation on dynamic mics. The reason I would consider them here, if I could get close enough, is that they fall off faster with distance so will tend to pick up less of the reverb in the space. But you would really have to get close or they just wouldn't be hot enough.
 
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From the horse's mouth....."we had 18 channels of wireless, using two six-channel Lectrosonics Venues plus some SRb Series receivers working all the time. Lectrosonics gave me some pre-release SSM transmitters to try. We had two of those that we used to great effect. They worked very well and proved very durable. In fact, I bought two of them as soon as the show wrapped. Other than that, we used Zaxcom transmitters on our booms, which sound very clean. I prefer to have the booms cabled whenever possible. But on this show, we had to be wireless so much of the time, and the Zaxcom TRX742/QRX200 combos worked well for that. I used the Deva 16 as my primary recorder with a Sonosax SX-ST8D mixer. We used Schoeps and Sennheiser microphones on the booms and for plant mics. For body mics, we used mostly DPA lavaliers, although we also utilized Countrymen and Sanken lavs in specific instances."
 
MKH50 foam shape, shock mount, and color match (perhaps 2nd is MKH50 with tape on foam):
1263219730_IMG_143147.jpg


MKH50 (and the CMC641) are super cardioids; perhaps that still shot the mics are not in position for recording? (agree mic placement isn't optimal for SC mics).
 
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