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Tips for choosing micro for lab


settercoly

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We do not know if what we are trying to do will give results or not, but if it goes well and is poorly documented, no one will take us seriously.

Sometimes we can talk up close on an SM58 and the voice seems quite crispy, easy to understand.

What we recorded with the ME66 at 1-1.5m no longer seems serious, it sounds like a duck no matter how much we put EQ on it.

We can put a microphone on top of the lens or in a fixed boom, as you say.

We cannot go to any store with the lock-down, at the moment and it is something that we need to fix.

I think we are left with an MKE8050 because it is newer.

The MKE50 is somewhat older and may not be as careful.

We bought a used MKE40 and returned it because it sometimes stopped working.

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6 hours ago, settercoly said:

We want the sound that we get with the Shure SM58 at 30cm to be able to get it with another microphone at 1 - 1.5m

Yes, we are two people in a field of two meters.


not going to happen.


 

16 minutes ago, settercoly said:

I think we are left with an MKE8050 because it is newer.

The MKE50 is somewhat older and may not be as careful.


they are both lovely mics and sound quite similar, the 8050 is smaller, cheaper and has more low end if you need that, but that makes it also more prone to handling errors. The 50 is more forgiving in that regard and has filter options, but is larger and cost a bit more.

btw, they are from the MKH series and not MKE

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Settercoly, to sum this up, my understanding of your situation is rather poor from the information you give.

Where are you situated, someone here situated close to you may even have stuff to demonstrate or rent.

When I asked about head worn mics, you reply with hands free needs. That is confusing to me.

From what you write, I can only suspect, that a mic in the video is not acceptable for your video product. Yet, you stated, you are in the documentary realm of things. Are visible mics out of frame a necessity? This is a lot more relevant for sound-for-camera-ppl than e.g. a male or female voice.

What sort of lab has security regulations regarding lavs?

How many people shall be in front of camera? Been answered

Besides... what camera?

 

 

 

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18 minutes ago, chrismedr said:


not going to happen.


 


they are both lovely mics and sound quite similar, the 8050 is smaller, cheaper and has more low end if you need that, but that makes it also more prone to handling errors. The 50 is more forgiving in that regard and has filter options, but is larger and cost a bit more.

btw, they are from the MKH series and not MKE

MKH,you're right.

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19 hours ago, BAB414 said:

Any pics? I'd love to see how you rigged it.

This would be good - i've been reading with a bit of intrigue. I thought Paul F's suggestion of several mics worth a go - maybe as a spaced stereo pair just to cover the field of the lab. Since the OP now has an 8050 maybe 1 of these methods can supplement the other. The other thing I thought was to maybe put the 8050 on an overhead angle-poise mic arm - a bit like a radio station but out of picture. This would allow the lab techs (or whoever is front of camera) to very easily reposition the mic as they moved around and remain as 'on mic' as possible.

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15 hours ago, daniel said:

This would be good - i've been reading with a bit of intrigue. I thought Paul F's suggestion of several mics worth a go - maybe as a spaced stereo pair just to cover the field of the lab. Since the OP now has an 8050 maybe 1 of these methods can supplement the other. The other thing I thought was to maybe put the 8050 on an overhead angle-poise mic arm - a bit like a radio station but out of picture. This would allow the lab techs (or whoever is front of camera) to very easily reposition the mic as they moved around and remain as 'on mic' as possible.

 

Or a gorilla pod

 

(watch the LF but may not be a problem especially if in a suspension)

 

though a sturdier and larger angle poise out of shot would be better

 

Jez

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We just received the microphone. In a field of 100cm to 70cm in front of the microphone, the sound is much better compared to what we were using before.

We have done many tests and, as best goes, it is about 30cm above the head, at a distance of 75cm, placed at a 45 degree angle.

We have mounted it on a shock absorber with several rubber rings and it is quite tolerant with the fluid we make when we walk.

We have also mounted dense sponge dampers under each foot of the tripod.

We are very happy with the change. The only thing that concerns us is the low output level. A Zoom h6, with a sensitivity of 4, the background noise when normalizing the audio, is a little detectable. I imagine it is the preamp of the h6.

We are already looking for something better than the h6.
At the moment, the sound quality has improved a lot and we are happy.
We thank those who have contributed to this thread!

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The Zoom F series has much better preamps than the H series, The F6 has the 32 bit floating point architecture which is great for unpredictable levels or someone not monitoring levels closely. The Sound Devices MixPre II series is another 32 bit option with great preamps. I think both offer over 70dB of quiet gain.

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4 hours ago, Rick Reineke said:

...  great for unpredictable levels or someone not monitoring levels closely.....

 

If you are not / not able to monitor or attend recording properly I second Rick's two suggestions here: both seem to be budgeted in your area, the more expensive SD option(s) perhaps being a little more flexible and useful overall but the Zoom looking to be a sturdy and classy little machine (as Rick says head and shoulders above the H series). Definitely worth looking at the 32bit recorders to see if indeed this feature is useful for your overall needs.

 

Jez

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I have bought fethead phantom. We use fetheads on the SM58 and ally they are great. We will see if the phantom goes well with the MKE8050.
 
 
We start with the easy (cheap) variant.
I have bought fethead phantom because I use fetheads on the SM58 and are they are great. We will see if the phantom goes well with the MKE8050.
MKE 8050 directly to Atomos Shogun Inferno because we also recorded the video with it, and we removed the Zoom H6 from the chain.
 
 
 

 
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6 minutes ago, settercoly said:

I am doing well with the Fethead Phantom but I will buy the Mixpre 3 II.

Zoom H6 doesn't have hdmi.

What do you need the HDMI for? Remote roll?

 

You might want the 6 depending on how many inputs you need.

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