From: Rob Danielson <>
>
> At 8:33 PM -0400 7/16/05, Walter Knapp wrote:
>>>Others have noted the lack of standardization in Rode mics, one price
>>>you pay for that cheap price.
>
>
> I had the pleasure of working with recordings from about 8 different
> kinds of mics in "matched" x-y or spread omni pairs. None of them
> have been that well matched really. I'm interested in folks with
> DPA's and other expensive mics taking a shot at describing the
> improvements they feel they hear because the frequency responses (or
> other qualities) of their mics are very closely matched. Comments
> about MKH 80's or 800's (in X-Y or spread omni) would be interesting
> to hear about. M-S is inherently less demanding on tonal martching
> but I guess uniformity could also affect M-S polar patterns. Come to
> think about it Walter, it would be great to hear your mkh 30/40's
> stereo field compared to your 80/80's or is it an 80/800?
Back, several years ago, when I first assembled my MS MKH setups I put
up a page with photos:
http://frogrecordist.home.mindspring.com/docs/my_ms_setups.html
At the same time, I also put up photos and information on making the
SASS/MKH-20 mod, starting here:
http://frogrecordist.home.mindspring.com/docs/my_mod_sass.html
And, finally, at about that time, I put up some of my first recordings
with these mics. In there you can find the same site recorded with
different mics. I should probably bring it up to date as I know better
how to use the mics after several year's use. But then if nobody notices
the site is there, why bother? I've put these links up frequently in
replying to one or another question:
http://frogrecordist.home.mindspring.com/docs/mic_samples.html
If no one is interested, I've plenty of other uses for my limited webspace.
>>>
>>>Have you seen any polar patterns for Rode mics that go above 4 khz? The
>>>stuff I've downloaded off their site is very disappointing, the bottom
>>>end frequencies are easy to get good polar patterns compared to the
>>>higher frequencies. Is Rode just showing the good stuff? Sennheiser,
>>>Schoeps and such like all give polar patterns up to 16 khz, much more
>>>useful to evaluate a mic for nature recording. Even if those curves at
>>>the upper frequencies are not as pretty. Giving polar patterns only up
>>>to 4 khz is just evaluating the use of the mics with voice frequencies.
>
>
> The pdf I have for the Nt1A goes to 8K. It seems like all mics I've
> used, even omnis have considerable off axis drop from 8K up.
Where did you get that pdf, I have only found 4k polar patterns on their
site? Even a limited polar pattern up to 8k would be better.
> Based on field results, the area uniformly covered at 8K with an NT1A
> pair is around 120 degrees of coverage. You should check my
> computations, but using Sennheiser's chart for a pair of mkh40's, I
> get a whopping 180 degrees of coverage within 5db at 8K. The cardioid
> pattern in the NT2A looks very similar to the 40, even little wider.
> The omni pattern in the NT2A only shows up to 4K, but its tad wider
> at 4K than an mkh 20 (if we believe the chart). Such performance
> doesn't make a lot of sense for a large capsule mic, but note the
> 20's off-axis response isn't that good either. It seems to have
> about same coverage of a mkh 40 within 5dB at 8K.Now, the mkh 80
> could be in a different league-- a pair, in X-Y cardioid, seem to be
> able to cover about 210 degrees within 5dB at 8K. The pdf I have has
> no omni pattern for the 80, is the omni pattern wider at 8K too?
Compare the multipattern Rode to the MKH-80 or MKH-800. Multipattern
mics have some compromises in their patterns.
The pdf's available from http://www.sennheiser.com/ show all the polar
patterns for all the MKH. The MKH-800 has the patterns graphed up to
32k, the others only to 16k. They also put out a pdf "Microphones
Brochure" that contains the info on all their mics in one document, not
just the MKH. Not sure just where I got that pdf, it's dated 06/02.
Handy to have it all in one.
I use the MKH-20 in the mod SASS, where the housing modifies it's
natural polar pattern. I would like, someday, to have access to good
testing to work out the polar patterns of this mod. On the basis of
actual use I find it's pickup to be good out to 270 degrees.
>>>
>>>You seem to be saying that if the Rode and 30/40 MKH were the same price
>>>you'd be using the MKH? That the Rode is only under consideration due to
>>>it's price. What would be your mix of mics if the prices were reversed?
>>>Or equal?
>>>
>>>Most of us are not trying to equip a university class, we need only one
>>>set. If you were choosing one set, what would it be?
>
>
> I did decide to buy the Rode 2A they sent me to create another M-S
> pair with an Nt1A. I'd love to be in Aaron's and your position and
> play with 80's or 800's, but the gain in the spatial imaging with the
> higher noise for another 30/40 pair is not where I'd spend my money
> at this point. I bring 8 mics along when recording surround.
So you are back to saying you have to have all these mics. That's not
the case for very many in this group, they don't record surround. That's
what I'm trying to get at. You have specific requirements using sound as
part of your video efforts and surround systems. That too is not
common in the group. Think about what would be appropriate for the
person buying just one stereo setup with the sound recording itself
being the goal, not adding it to something else.
I prefer the M/S MKH-80's to the MKH-40/30 M/S. May have to do with
lower self noise, may have to do with that extra high sensitivity, twice
the sensitivity of a MKH-20 with the same self noise. Mostly I just like
the sound better. I take my recorded sound as it comes, don't try and
make nature fit my ideas of how it should sound, so don't eq the sound
or other modifications much. And note, M/S is only one way I record. My
recording approach is very different from yours.
>>>This may depend on where you live and time of day you record. Certainly
>>>the SE has a great deal of humidity to deal with, and mics that cannot
>>>be trusted out in it are a bad deal. When it's calm, humidity is often
>>>high, so the very times when you could record because the wind is down a
>>>mic likely to fail with humidity is even worse. Especially if you have
>>>burned some expensive gas to get to the recording site.
>
>
> The only way we can test this theory is if you get some Rodes! Rob D
I think my money was better spent this week on a Minolta Maxxum AF Macro
3X-1X Zoom Lens off ebay. See how well that will substitute for my old
micro bellows lenses and setups. If nothing else it will be more
convenient. Nature recording is only one of the things I do.
Now if someone wants to give me some Rodes, I won't say no. But for me
they have little value. Far too awkward for a hand held mic system. And
I don't have any money to spend on them just for playing around.
You don't need me to test this, just wait for them to be used enough by
enough people in enough parts of the world. They are, at this point, a
near unknown. As I've noted one of the big reasons I went with MKH was
they were a known mic for nature recording, I was not taking a risk, so
could invest more. The MKH do just fine in the heat, humidity, cold,
actual rain, wind and so on I've taken them out in.
I did have a MKH-60 with a capsule failure, though it was in use inside
at the time and had been sitting on a shelf for several months before
that. Sennheiser put in a new capsule, essentially making it a new mic.
And it sounds and performs just like my other MKH-60, which is not new.
It does not matter which of those I use I can expect the same
performance out of them. The same sound.
Walt
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