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Bad sounding 416 with a SD 552?


Adam Bowick

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Hi Everyone,

 

I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem...

 

I recently got a 552 and I'm finding my 416 shotgun mics sounds like crap with it.

Both of my 416s sound really weak and need a ton of gain to sound ok.

But with the extra gain I'm getting a lot of hiss.

A bad signal to noise ratio I suppose...

 

My 8050 mic sounds fine with the 552 and the 416s sounded fine with my old 442.

I've tried different inputs, switched XLR cables etc...

But both 416s sound bad.

 

Has anyone else experienced this?

Any help is appreciated.

 

Thanks!

 

Adam

 

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Hi Adam,

 

Check to make sure your 552 is set to mic level and Phantom is on. Hold the Mic/Tone toggle towards mic.  Then select the PFL on desired channel.  This will switch between mic and line.  A blue led will be lit if the channel is set to line.  Once on mic level toggle the Mic/Tone switch to tone. Then toggle the PFL switch to desired channel.  This will enable Phantom on that channel.  There will be a blue LED indicator lit under PH on desired channel.  Hope this helps.

 

-Paul

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Hi Vasileios and Paul,

 

Thank you both for your responses.

Phantom power is on and set to 48V.

The channel is set to mic level as well.

 

It's more of a background "hiss" issue...

The mic works, and if the sound levels I'm recording are high enough, there is no issue.

But if someone is talking quietly it sounds unusually "hissy".

It's hard to explain...

In comparison, the lavs sound fine (Sanken COS11/Lectro 211) and I can crank them up if need be with little to no "hiss" issue.

I even tried running the 416 through a UH2000D end plug transmitter and the mic sounded great.

And I could bring the levels on the mixer way up with no "hiss" issue.

But the 416, direct into the 552, is really quiet and needs a lot of gain, which brings on the "hiss".

 

It's possible the 416s have always sounded like this and I am just getting more sensitive?

It could be that the 442 had better preamps and basically just sounded better?

I dunno?

 

Thanks again.

 

Adam

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Hi Dan,

 

No, both 416 mics are 48V.

 

I was hesitant to ask this question on the forum since it's a somewhat subtle problem.

It could be simply my own ears...

But maybe some other mixer out there has the same "feeling" about his or her 416 and 552 combo.

 

Thanks again for everyone's civility and help.

 

Adam

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Well I can understand what you mean.

Some little comparison with other mic.

 

Sennheiser 416

Impedance: 25 ohm

Minimum load impedance: 800 ohm

Sensitivity: 25 mV/Pa

 

Schoeps CMIT5U

Impedance: 50 ohm

Minimum load impedance: 600 ohm

Sensitivity: 17 mV/Pa

 

Sound Devices 552

Mic: Transformer-balanced for use with <600 ohm mics

 

Add a noise and from cable.

 

In "Line Level" you don't have to do with mic preamp but with the Tx / Rx (if the output from Rx set to line level and from mixer at line level input).

 

Search about the "zen" (aka balance) between impedance, sensitivity and etc..

 

And yes. For "quiet" take you need a better dynamic range to give more gain.

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Vas, the MKH8000 has 1000Ohm yet the OP said it works fine. If all the settings and cables really were the same and the 416s were the 48V version, then I can only see the mics as the culprit (but my sight may be impaired, as I've just come home from a night shoot)

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The 552 has more overall gain than the 442 so you really shouldn't have to crank the 416 so high to acheive decent levels.

My 416 has plenty of level in my 552. Course gain pot usually around 11oclock and fader around 12oclock with normal speech levels. PPM's bouncing around 0 and a little above.

My same 416 in a 442 needed to be cracked to around 2oclock on the coarse gain pot and 2 o'clock on the fader to acheive similar levels.

In my 788T, the coarse gain is around 1oclock and fader at unity or 12 o'clock for similar levels.

Another thing you could check is to make sure the master level pot is at unity on your 552.

Cheers

Mega

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Vas, the MKH8000 has 1000Ohm yet the OP said it works fine. If all the settings and cables really were the same and the 416s were the 48V version, then I can only see the mics as the culprit (but my sight may be impaired, as I've just come home from a night shoot)

 

Correct.

One of the reason to believe the AES42 microphones are the future.

But not for now yet.

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Correct.

One of the reason to believe the AES42 microphones are the future.

But not for now yet.

I don't know, they still have cables that can get damaged (and digital mics are a lot less tolerant to bad cables) and they use a kind of phantom powering, and they have internal components that can break. And now they probably can have firmware issues, too

I have never really thought of them as a particularly robust microphone type.

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