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Sennheiser MKH70/8070 practical usage


thenannymoh

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Hello!  Question for everyone doing a balanced mix of scripted and commercial/corporate gigs, who owns either an MKH-70 or 8070:  How often do you use this mic?  Every blue moon, I wish I had something with alot of reach and very directional, more than my 8060.  Whenever that happens I think about the MKH-70, but from a practical perspective I wonder about the indoor limitations of the mic...it seems like a very specialized weapon to me, and isn't hugely portable (requiring a much larger blimp or mount).

 

Every sample and review tells me this is clearly a great sounding mic in the right environment, but I wanted to get opinions on usage and practicality (in relation to the cost).  Here in central Canada, I'm not doing alot of beach scenes 😉 Anyone here using this mic with any sort of frequency? 

 

Thanks!

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I once had a boom op whose main axe was the Neumann KMR82i, more or less Neumann's version of the 70.  He was very very good at his job, and pretty much wanted that mic on the pole no matter what we were doing, including multi-actor indoors scenes--he was that good.  Since he got results I went along, mostly.  My other boomists, as well as my own efforts on the pole, were less successful with that directional (and large and heavy) mic for the bulk of our work, besides "beach scene" type shots, so it doesn't get used much these days.  But a nice thing to have just in case! 

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23 minutes ago, Philip Perkins said:

I once had a boom op whose main axe was the Neumann KMR82i, more or less Neumann's version of the 70.  He was very very good at his job, and pretty much wanted that mic on the pole no matter what we were doing, including multi-actor indoors scenes--he was that good.  Since he got results I went along, mostly.  My other boomists, as well as my own efforts on the pole, were less successful with that directional (and large and heavy) mic for the bulk of our work, besides "beach scene" type shots, so it doesn't get used much these days.  But a nice thing to have just in case! 

Funny you should mention that, Philip

 

I had the same experience with one boom op I had in Ireland on Random Passage.

Noel Quinn was the boom op, and he was very skilled with the 82, sometimes hiding in costume in a crowd and pulling in the dialogue right in shot, but basically invisible to camera. He used it a lot even indoors with good results. Not as heavy as an 816!

 

Back to Theannymoh, I still have 2 KMR82is in good shape with Rycotes, windjammers, suspension etc. If you are interested I can let you hav e one or both at a very good price. We just don't use them for the type of shows we do these days.

 

Regards,

 

Jim Rillie

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I use long shotguns fairly often. My boom operators can attest to that. I feel like it makes more sense to be able to cover a larger scene with one mic than to put radio mics on everyone that utters a single syllable. I also use them for ENG work. I feel like I’m not able to get close enough, or don’t wish to be, to the subject a lot of the time, and a long shotgun is the perfect solution to that. 

 

I use an mkh70, 82i, and 815T depending upon my needs, what other mics these are being used in conjunction with, and for what I feel the mic is best suited. 

 

On a job for a kids program, running around with a camera chasing a bunch of children, the 70 was perfect because I would stay out of the camera persons way, stay out of their frame, and capture the kids perfectly without having to get too close to them. 

 

On a show on an island in the pacific, conditions weren’t working out for the use of lavs, like weather, wardrobe, and wind. The trusty 70 got all the lines and the DP said that the episodes I did for the show sounded best in the season!

 

While being hired by an American football team to follow a camera around on the field for a match, sometimes you need to try to get the pep talks of the coach or banter of the team, but in a stadium it is typically so loud that a regular shotgun just doesn’t do it. But the 70 picks everything up and stays out of frame. 

 

Those are some of the ENG shoots I’ve done. For narrative work, any time there are two or more cameras, you just know that they’re going to try to pull the big nasty, and do a wide and a tight. The 82i is my go to for outdoor scenes when you know that this will be the case, and when I’ve been using Schoeps mics for the rest of the shoot. 

 

I feel like these mics are extremely valuable tools to have for a variety of reasons. If people complain about the weight, I say do more pushups! The weight is negligible, but the results are well worth it. 

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At my age the weight of my 82 is a factor, I'm sort of done with it on Hollywood style long-pole walking shots.  But if you have a boomist with the muscle and the chops this kind of mic is a great tool.  Like some folks I use the CS3e a lot these days, as it is more or less as directional without the weight or the length as my 82, and no proximity effect (helpful on docs).  But I do like that "Neumann sound".   The 816 still can bring something extra to the party if you can put up with it's very old-school size and weight: the mic does something in the upper-mids that gives the impression of somewhat greater directionality (while having all the traditional shotgun drawbacks as well).  But I will admit to hating the overall sound of the thing so I sold mine a very long time ago.

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Jim Webb, Robert Altman's mixer on Nashville and 3 Women, chose his boom operators carefully and well. Once selected, he would often defer to them on microphone selection. He had particular trust in Chris McLaughlin, his boom operator on All The Presidents Men, and Chris tended to favor the Sennheiser 805/815. The Washington Post set was gigantic, consuming two linked stages, and lit naturalistically from overhead fluorescent lights. Fortunately, due to the heat they generated, the ballasts for all those lights were mounted in a shed outside the stage so there wasn’t a serious problem with hum. Director of Photography Gordon Willis favored up-angle shots that showed all the lights in the ceiling. When Jim asked if it would be OK to boom, Willis held out his hand, casting multiple soft shadows and said, “I don’t care what you do as long as you don’t make any shadows on my set.”

 

Chris boomed the show using his preferred long shotgun for most shots, working primarily from below and flitting in and out of the performers' legs.

 

Jim won the Academy Award for All The Presidents Men.

 

It's remarkable what can be accomplished with skill and command of one's instrument.

 

A profile of Jim Webb can be found on the 695 Quarterly (now Production Sound and Video😞

https://magazine.local695.com/magazine/winter-2014/jim-webb-a-profile

 

David

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The MKH70 has been an integral part of my arsenal for many years.

 

I find the MKH70 superb for isolating particular effects/dialogue due to it's excellent rear rejection, so for example at a beach if you are pointed away from the waves you will barely hear them. Also great for highly directional applications, I used it a few days ago to track Race Cars around a circuit and it did an exceptional job of not only focusing on particular cars but also pulling in the sound from long distances.

 

Whilst I rarely use it, when I need it there is no substitute and it serves me well. I would definitely class it as a specialty Mic as I only use it in certain circumstances as opposed to my CMIT5U for example which is extremely versatile and covers a wide range of situations.

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7 hours ago, ElanorR said:

Every feature I do we say we will bring the 70 out once.  So far it's usually been over water.  The last couple of time were over a swimming pool and once with the boom operator standing in the middle of a river.

 

Do you use waterproof transmitters in those scenarios as well?

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Like pretty much everybody else mentioned, I don’t use my MKH70 a lot, but when I do its exactly the right tool for the job, and I’m grateful to have it. 

 

I’ve used it for situations like man on the street interviews where clipping a lav on isn’t practical. I’ve used it for long outdoor walk and talks too and it was perfect. 

 

Don’t use it a ton but will never get rid of it because sometimes its exactly what you need. 

 

-Mike

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