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Christian Spaeth

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Posts posted by Christian Spaeth

  1. 21 hours ago, Morpheus said:

    Sennheiser is quite prevalent in Europe. For instance, Eurovision, one of the most complex audiovisual shows in the world, uses Sennheiser equipment.
    From 1983 to 1993, they used Sennheiser SKM 4031-UHF and SK 2012-UHF with EM 1036-UHF.
    From 1994 to 2005, they used Sennheiser SK 50 and SKM 5000.
    From 2006 to 2012, they used Sennheiser SK 5212/II and SKM 5200/II.
    From 2013 to 2019, they used Sennheiser D9000.
    (This is information I found online, I don't know if it's 100% correct, since I don't watch Eurovision)
     

    As for the USA, they also use Sennheiser (I have seen some in pictures that were used in these big shows, which are some of the most popular out there, e.g., The Ellen show, Jimmy Fallon, Conan O'Brien...). They change quite frequently, so I'm not entirely sure, but I've mostly seen them use SK 5212 and SK 50 for bodypack...

    Here in Croatia, we have HRT (Hrvatska Radiotelevizija), which purchased Sennheiser D9000 in 2014/15. One channel cost around 10 000 euros, these are very expensive systems that not everyone can afford easily.
    I had the opportunity to hear the Sennheiser D9000 at HRT (Croatian National Radiotelevision), and I must say the sound is perfect (I think it is the only system on the market that is able to wirelessly send uncompressed PCM (with very little delay).
    Practically you can't hear the difference between the cable and that system. I consider it one of the best systems currently available, even though it was released in 2011/12.
    Providing nearly untouched pure sound.

    Pretty sure Eurovision are on Axient now, as pretty much everything is on high level events. 

  2. that was me you quoted 😉

     

    My review is three years old, but I absolutely can recommend the MCR54/SK5212 (I or II doesn't matter soundwise) combo for a not so high budget but great sounding pro wireless kit. I've been told that Wisycom sort of emulated the sound of the Sennheiser HiDyn compander for their own, so in this case it really sounds great to use this combo. They also emulated the 5212 in terms of layout, by the way, except that the 5212 is quite a bit smaller than the 41. 

     

    Battery life has been mentioned here - Wisycom is unbeatable in that respect, except – 5212 are even better. Crazy how long it goes with one battery. at least 6 hours with a Ladda I'd say.

     

    Only real downside IMO is manually having to set frequencies on the 5212. But you can custom make banks on the MCR54 so you're quicker.

     

    I'll have to try how the 5212 sounds on a boom (with additional phantom supply) as I don't like the wisy's sound (at least in quieter environments) in that respect vs. Lectro hybrids. 

     

     

  3. On 11/7/2020 at 11:26 PM, DanieldH said:

    These things produced "noise trails"* aka "Rauschfahnen"* for me, back in the days. That can be dealt with but may raise questions in post before it is.

    * I don't know better words for this. The internal gate re-initiates sluggishly, after relevant sound (e.g. speech) ends.

     

    I am using this every day at the moment, not having this issue at all. Yours must have not been working properly. Soundwise this combo is on par with my Lectros or Wisys.

  4. Not what you asked but my recommendation for great low budget wireless especially if you're in Germany is to get a used Sennheiser SK50 and EK3041 with a MKE-2 or better MKE-1 second hand. Much better sound, build quality and range than all the ones you mentioned, go for quite cheap used and are almost indestructible, and compatible with many other Tx/Rx.

  5. Same experience with me, using ERX1TCD or 1st gen Tentacles. Problems on day 1, all fine from day two with no different settings. I usually try all the ARRI tc voodoo tricks I know: Regen/Jam, check project rate, plug/unplug, different output voltage on ERX... in the end it always worked but I am puzzled as to how I got it to work eventually.

  6. Hey. If you're can boom well you should be able to get well paid work quickly in Berlin. At the moment Netflix and others are ramping up EU productions and from what I hear in the process wages have gone up in Berlin, which is a place with lots of competition of course. But good boom ops are scarce and even if you write to some mixers you might get a job in high season like that. If you're looking for mixing jobs it will be much trickier in any of the places you mention. For that you need a good network of contacts with other mixers and producers who will book you. 

  7. If portability is important I think you should have a look at the Ambient Emesser and make a double MS rig with it. It's very light and sounds good (on a standard M/S combo anyways - both with Schoeps and Sennheiser hyper/shotguns in my case). You probably know the limitations of double MS (same as Ambisonics) - nice stereo imaging but not very exact localization. Personally, I could live with that considering that it's very portable and works well outdoors.

    Only reason I would go MKH30 over the Ambient would be if you are going to record very quiet ambiences where signal to noise is of high importance, and if the additional weight of the 30 isn't an issue. I wouldn't go Ambisonics over this combo (since both are coincidental arrays and the Sennheiser capsules are surely of higher quality than the Rode's).

    To get beyond that quality-wise I think non-coincidental setups are a must. The only more or less portable one I would consider is double ORTF like Schoeps offers, but that is quite expensive for the kind of work you mention. I have been playing with the idea of building an affordable double ORTF setup for the occasional surround recording with two Superlux ORTF sets stuck back to back but that might be hard to fit into a regular windshield. 

  8. Any production anywhere would be wise to cancel any shoot in the next two months because if they don't they are quite likely to be shut down anyway by the governments who will have to ramp up whatever measures they can think of in order to limit social interaction. Basically it comes down to lockdowns all over. Until the vaccination is here (some voices are now saying that could be as soon as this fall) things won't fully go back to normal. Travel restrictions might stay in place for many more months.

  9. I strongly advise against trying to make an exposed lav „almost invisible“ by colour choice. I‘d rather see a lav in shot that can easily be identified as a microphone than seeing something weird that somebody unsuccessfully tried to mask. Either proper hide it or proper expose it. Nobody ever minded people talking into handheld microphones on TV either. A bit OT, but I also hate to see the „skin coloured“ (both pink or black) headworn mics on TV talk shows, even worse when the foamies are on. Not invisible at all! Much prefer a thin silver headworn like the MKE1, much less obtrusive. 

  10. The 416 would be an upgrade, yes, but you'd still have the off axis issue. You can get an expensive mic like a Schoeps CMIT, but pairing that with a Zoom H5 is pure blasphemy, so your own suggestion (Mixpre 3) would make sense. A nice M/S mic could be good idea too, like the MKH 418.

  11. I'm shooting a corporate video and sync the cam by TC. I will also do the post so I want to make sure editing does it right. Problem is, they're shooting on 4.6 K RAW and since the files need to be converted before they go to edit, I'd like to give them some advice as to at what stage audio should ideally be synced with the video files - before/after conversion? Or even sync to proxy video files? If anybody here is familiar with picture editing workflows, any advice would be welcome! 

  12. On 4/13/2019 at 1:31 PM, Vincent R. said:


    Loads of manufactures make the products in China, no surprise there. Deity is no different.

     

    Maybe so in the prosumer markets, but I'm pretty sure that all of the pro brands we use do not produce in China, from wireless to boom poles to microphones to accessories. Which is why the products are expensive, and also, great. 

  13. 1 hour ago, chrismedr said:

     

    unfortunately in europe they run near 200EUR, and direct import is still about 150EUR with awkward repair/warranty situation. 

     

     

     

    I can totally vouch for OST, having ordered about ten of their lavs to Germany, repair and replacement was very easy, their service was fantastic. That was a few years ago but I suppose it's still like that. They're not DPAs of course and they also break, but the value is still terrific. The TL 40 is small but the cable is pretty thick and, depending on their stock and color, can be a bit stiff, soundwise a bit on the thin side, great on very bassy male voices or if buried deeply. My go to mic for necktie mounting, where a 4060 would usually sound too bassy/low-middy. Not an all round lav but always good to have a few of these in your kit.

  14. Exactly, a logical step for Zaxcom. I feel like we were expecting them to reinvent the wheel, which is hard to do in the production audio world. But for those looking for a lightweight bag solution with that amount of channels this is surely very attractive. I personally still feel absolutely ready to take on any job challenge with an over 7 year old Nomad at the heart of my kit.

  15. Pretty impressive package. I wouldn't discard it just for the 19 ms on paper but would really like to get my hands on them to see how they fare in the field. Anyhow these should probably take a big chunk of the Rodelink, G4 etc. 's market share. I might get a couple for additional channels if the delay doesn't present big problems.

  16. Thanks for sharing. He seems to be a great dude, always willing to share his knowledge despite the somewhat asshole image he used to create for himself back in the 80s. With headphones you can hear the different rooms nicely. The video was probably done without a sound person (the pedals part demonstrates how not to place a lav for example), which is unfortunate given the subject. Is that a Lectrosonics screwdriver in his pocket by the way???

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