Hello everyone,
I've own a 2nd handed Sennheiser MKH 416T for a few years now; I mainly use it for dialogue recording on location but also for FX and foley recording. While it is a good mic that has served me well, I think it has a considerably high self noise for quiet locations or low level sounds (some foley stuff); apart from this I would also like a mic that can help me to get better dialogue on noisy environments (off-axis rejection).
I'm now considering on getting a used Neumann KMR 81i (as they can be found in the market from time to time) to record "warmer" dialogue and also for studio work. I haven't used the KMR 81i myself and won't have the chance to test it because of where I live (I would have to import the mic) so I'm not really sure if moving from a MKH 416T to a KMR 81i would be the big upgrade I expect it to be...
I've done my research (reading online reviews and listening to Dan Brockett test) but without the chance of testing the mic I just feel insecure about the decision. Can anyone with experience with this two mics please comment on the next points:
- quality for dialogue recording
- self noise
- off-axis rejection
- quality for foley/fx recording
Any advice on this matter will be greatly appreciated!
All the best,
Andres.