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the Sennheiser ME66. anyone?


ross e lea

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looking to buy this on our humble $200 budget....I'm

a firm believer of Senn's, so this is the cheapest

shotgun they make.

 

looking for anyone whos used it?

 

OR any comparible shotguns that you might

think that is better, I'm open!

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looking to buy this on our humble $200 budget....I'm

a firm believer of Senn's, so this is the cheapest

shotgun they make.

 

looking for anyone whos used it?

 

OR any comparible shotguns that you might

think that is better, I'm open!

 

 

I've used this mic for many years. I highly recommend it. I've used it for narrative and documentary films. The audio quality is good.

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I own this mic, and yes, it does pretty well.

 

 

The thing is, even if the mic itself is $200 or less, you can't just use the mic, you MUST also own the K6 power. . .module. It's a system, so the capsule (the mic part) plugs into the K6 (power), which also has the XLR output. Together they should run you about $400ish. I may have gotten the system for $360 or so, but it was so long ago I could be wrong. The neat thing is that there are other capsules besides the ME66 that can plug into the K6, so if you get the ME66 and later decide you want a handheld mic, or a cardioid mic, you can buy them and swap them out with the ME66, and it's relatively inexpensive (the ME64, a cardioid mic, is around $150).

 

As for how well the mic works-- it's a supercardioid/shotgun mic, so it's meant to pick up sounds from a distance (as opposed to a handheld mic or something), and it has really narrow pickup pattern. For a super clear recording, around 2 feet from an actor is a good distance, with it really becoming echo-y around 6 feet. You also want to point right at the actor, and make sure they're speaking right in the direction of the mic. If they, for instance, are talking, looking in the exact direction of the mic, and then turn their head 90 degrees left/right, you'll notice the volume level/richness drop off significantly.

 

Some people also complain about it's "coloration of off-axis reflections", which means (I think) sound hitting the mic from directions other than in front of it. The Audio Technica AT4073a, at $550 or so, is allegedly a much better mic. I haven't used it.

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  • 1 month later...
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A bit late in the thread but: I just helped out on a short film shoot. I brought some lighting gear over and helped gaff and then since I was the only one on the set with recording experience served as location recordist. It was my first chance to be on the recordist end of a Sennheiser MKH416. The best way to describe the way it sounded in my headphones (my personal Sennheiser K240M's) was it sounded exactly like professional, well recorded dialogue always sounds; clean, quiet, and uncolored. 416's ain't cheap but boy are they worth the price tag.

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Yes, but then you're jumping from a $400-ish system to a $1200-ish one.

I agree 100% with that but I wouldn't buy anything without A/B'ing it against an MKH416 to know what I was giving away.

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