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Sennheiser MKH70 vs 8070 for Airshow Interviews


AudioScout

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I am looking into getting either the Sennheiser MKH70 or the Sennheiser 8070 Long Shotgun for Airshow interviews.

I usually use my Sanken CS-3e for this situation, but last year, I decided to test out the Schoeps Cmit5u (performed much better than I anticipated).

Both the Sanken and Schoeps do a wonderful job, but I feel something with a longer "reach" would be better suited for this task.

The boom pole I am using is a K-Tek K-87CCR.  Lavalier mics are not being considered at this time.
 

Most of the shots showcase the featured aircraft behind the interviewee, thus being wider, requiring a longer "reach." 

Additionally, the surrounding environment is very noisy (groups of people, aircraft, vehicles, announcements, wind, etc...)

The Blue Angels/C-17 interview (2nd video featured below) was a particular challenge and is an example of what I am hoping to improve.

The blue angels interview was probably about 8' away and the C-17 was about 10' away.

Most of the other interviews (featured in the 1st video) were an average of 3-5' from the talent.

 

Thoughts on which microphone (MKH70 vs. 8070, or another long shotgun) is the better choice for this type of coverage?

Last year's video: 



C-17 Video: 

 

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Nice job in a difficult environment.

I do a lot of work for NFL Films, so am constantly trying to record people behind the bench during the games. So this involves a 16' pole with a 70 on the end. I have tried the CS-3e and CMIT5 (my everyday mic) and found that although it works fine pregame it doesn't work as well during the game when the crowd noise picks up. I ended up using the 70 because of the side rejection. I still pick up way too much crowd but I can usually work with this mic using all it's traits to help focus onto the person or people talking. With the CMIT, I would have to be very close to the person talking and risk having my mic hit with a clipboard, but the 70 allows me to pull up a bit more and still do the job.Then with some help from post, a lot of my sound is used in their shows. If I was to buy new it would be the 8070 but there are a lot of good second hand 70's in the market that I would suggest thinking about. One of those and a maintenance trip to Sennheiser US on Long Island would give you a great mic for situations like these. Its all about the side rejection and nothing beats an old 805 or 815/816 for that but they're even more unwieldy and not quite as nice sounding.

Another situation with the 70 is using it on a beach with heavy surf around. Once again using the side rejection I've been able to angle out the surf and have a quiet dialogue track for post to use.

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While reviewing the data sheet on each mic, these were some of the differences that stood out to me...

Sensitivity: 112mV/Pa (MKH 8070), 50mV/Pa (MKH 70)
Impedance: 25ohms (MKH 8070), 150ohms (MKH 70)
Weight: 10.5oz (MKH 8070), 6.3oz (MKH 70)
Polar Pattern: The 8070 does look much tighter than the 70
Frequency Response: The 8070 looks to have more of a "boost" from 1kHz up to 10kHz.

What is the importance/significance of these differences considering my intended purpose?

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7 hours ago, Alien said:

Another situation with the 70 is using it on a beach with heavy surf around


Off topic, but one trick I've developed for beach surf is to scoop from below, and keep the microphone as close the ground as possible ... most of the time, the sound of the surf gets deflected by the ground, so there's very little surf noise down there.  It's the one situation I can think of where being farther away from the source leads to better SNR.  Just watch out for planes...  This doesn't work if they are right next to the water, but I've had good luck even 20' up the shore.

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I went ahead and picked-up a second hand Sennheiser MKH 8070.
Just received it and need to test over the coming weeks.

I will need some wind protection for the microphone; does anyone have a windshield kit that will fit the 8070 that they would like to sell?
This comes up as the matching windshield for the 8070: https://mymic.rycote.com/products/modular-windshield-ws-8-kit/

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  • 1 year later...

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