I have heard good things about the MBHO, very 'Schoeps-like' I'm
told, and I think they even make figure 8?
I've never been impressed with Earthworks. I tried a pair of QTC1's I
think they were, and they were very noisy. Self noise was up around
22dB I think which is insanely high for a high quality omni mic. I
know they're supposed to sound good, but all I heard was noise. I
think for nature recording, they are simply too noisy.
My honest opinion, is that with any high quality set of mics, you
should be able to record most of what you want. Some of us have
multiple rigs, but in fact, for years I only had my Schoeps MS rig,
and it recorded everything I needed it to. Of all my mics, it's what
I would grab if I had to keep only one thing (although that might
change once I've played with the MKH's a bit more).
I think that's why I propose MS as a great starting set of mics, you
get portability, you get by default a single mono facing mic for FX
gathering or recording dialog, etc. You get an adjustable, mono
compatible stereo image that can sound amazing.
If you really want to go small, consider either the Schoeps CCM
series or the Neumann KM series with detachable capsules. I know
several people with these rigs (or the CCM Schoeps XY setup). The
problem I've found is that the Rycote ball-gag system for those
capsules aren't very secure, there is a fair amount of mic movement
in there. The CCM Schoeps XY is very hard to hand-hold, the Rycote
suspension just doesn't seem sturdy enough. The Neumann MS with
detachable capsules, or Schoeps MS in CCM form is easier, and
incredibly compact. The CCM's are very expensive, but have no 'body'
and so a very tiny rig can be made. I have my Schoeps CMC mics
mounted in a size 1 zepplin, so it's still very small, the suspension
is stronger and better isolated, and it's not 'that' much larger than
the ball-gag system. A Sennheiser MKH set be quite a bit larger.
I know people only seem to want to recommend the MKH's, but I would
tell you to at least check out the Schoeps and Neumann's and MBHOs.
If you don't think you'll be doing most of your recording in the
jungle, you'll probably have no problems with humidity. My Schoeps
have been around the world, recorded in 95% humidity and 95 degree
heat all day, and never failed me. Doesn't mean they're immune to
humidity problems or that they won't someday, but I think the
humidity problem is often quite overstated.
I would be happy to post some a few sounds to my FTP recorded in
Schoeps MS that I think illustrate a nice stereo image, not to try to
convince you, but just so you can start to hear some different mics
and configs.
I would love to someday get together about 10 people and their
respective rigs, and record identical program material using various
setups. Volume equalize them, and have a great and true comparison of
rigs. Record all using say 722's from Sound Devices for consistency.
Too bad we're all scattered across the planet.
As for MS decoding, you've just about nailed it. There isn't anything
more than adjusting the various amounts of the different mics. But
some MS plugins are also 'spatialization' plugins that do have the
ability to 'widen' the stereo image artificially. The Waves imaging
plugin can do this. I don't much like the effect, but it does sort of
work.
Also remember that if you have the 722 set to decode the MS into an
XY signal for recording, it's very easy to 'undo' that later and get
back your MS signals, which is kind of fun. Most MS plugins for
digital audio workstations can do this. You can even take an XY
signal recorded XY, and 'derive' an MS signal from it, then adjust
the width, and put back into XY.
On Aug 21, 2006, at 10:52 AM, evs wrote:
> >
> Posted by: "Tim Nielsen"
> > Poke it up close
> > to something, aim it all around, and hear what I can hear. With
> stand
> > mounted stereo pairs, this just seems like it'd be much more
> > cumbersome. With the MS rigs, I'm just so much more mobile and
> > flexible.
>
> Posted by: "Walter Knapp"
> > This is one reason why you should probably not choose a mic
> > you dislike, your brain will make everything it records sound bad
> > because you dislike it. Just as with a mic you really like you will
> > overlook it's faults and not hear them.
>
> yes, that sounds true. maybe the best way is to try a few
> combinations befor buying. (and thats not easy, find a dealer who
> gots all the combination you want to try:-))
>
> Tim, When i hear you talking, ms is getting more and more sympathetic
> to me. in the end i maybe just have to try different things out for
> some days. you=B4re right, the big plus for ms is that you are
> flexibel. its a even bigger plus because this sounds true to my
> application as well, because to aim the mic around, just to hear how
> different it will sound, is even interesting if i just record some
> subtle wind.
> with some ms schoeps you are even more flexibel because, if you
> just have the capsules in a windshild, its really tiny compared to
> the sennheiser ms rig. but if the sennheiser make less noise and
> sounding better its maybe better to carry a little more...
>
> but i want to throw in 2 other words. anybody tryd earthworks
> microphones? the sr series or the qtc series? maybe they are not so
> resistant for using outdoors?
> and anybody used MBHO microphones? just read about them a few minutes
> ago, so i don=B4t no anything about them. anyone has a idea?
>
> all the best
> evs
>
>
>
>
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