Boom Mic

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What type of mic would you reccomend for use with a boom?
 
what are you running it into? a wireless cube TX? a mixer?

if you have phantom power - the sennheiser 416 is the industry workhorse. also a sennheiser K6/ME66 would be a step down, but still a good, reliable mic - phantom powerable and also can be powered with AA batts if needed.
 
I'll probably be plugging straight into my camera which I'm also still debating on. My brother and I are going to be working on a documentary and I'm leaning towards one of the 24fps prosumer cameras. The Panasonic AG-DVX100 and the Cannon XL2 both offer this, but I'm hearing mixed reviews. What gear would you all get if you needed to be lightweight?
 
It depends on the way you are working? The industry standard is the 416 but I am going over to a ME66 for a while to compare.
If you have a T or red dot 416 you will need to run it either via a mixer or a powering block.
Psc make one for example.
Lot's of variables here, so the more info you give the better.
 
I agree with the Sennheiser mics. Personally, I use an ME80 and love it. I feed the mic into a field mixer and from there into the camera. Sometimes I use wireless from the mixer to the camera and sometimes I use wire, it depends on what is going on.

A good shotgun will allow you to keep the mic out of the picture. Personally, I hate to see a mic! But sometimes you can't help it.
 
If you're planning on using a palmcorder, I assume your budget is reletively low. The old ME-80 or the newer ME-66 would be good. The 80 uses hard to find batteries or phantom power. The 66 uses AA batteries or phantom. For more money you could get an MKH-60 which is a great mic, but will cost half as much as your camera.
 
Actually, the original mercury battery for the ME80 was outlawed some years ago. I just used my last one just a couple of weeks ago.

However, I found a replacement that works fine. Not as long life but works just fine. Eveready PX27A is a 6V battery and the original Duracell PX27 was 5.6 but that's no problem.

And before someone claims that you can start a fire with a hotter battery, you can't. I am using the 6V with great results...
 
Originally posted by Terry E. Toller:
And before someone claims that you can start a fire with a hotter battery, you can't. I am using the 6V with great results...
Click to expand...
See, now you're just trying to pick a fight. This has nothing to do with that and you know it.

A Sennheiser technician told me the ME80 can handle up to 6.2v. In fact, Sennheiser sells its own batteries for the ME80. They are 6v. But when you actually get them and take a close look, you'll find that they are actually three 2v cells stacked and held together with shrink tubing.

If you can't get a 6v battery that's the right size, you can make your own version of the battery Sennheiser sells by buying three 2v cells of the right thickness from Radio Shack, stacking them together and wrapping a bit of electrical tape around them to hold them together. Just make sure you don't get batteries that are too thick, because if you force a stack that is too long into that little plastic battery housing it will crack and cause problems later.

I'm sure Terry can find some way to set his ME80 on fire, but it won't be with those batteries.
 
I tried those three hearing aid batteries and they actually are an exact fit into the battery compartment. BUT, they had a very short life. This PX27A alkaline is an exact copy of the original battery. In fact, it is the same number but with an 'A' at the end for alkaline. And of course, it is four tenths of a volt higher but as we seem to agree, no problem.

PX27A exact fit! I would suggest carrying a couple of spares...

As far as picking a fight, I am and can be sarcastic about most things. Since the topic was about voltage, I just couldn't resist. If you think that's something to fight about, that's your mistake... :D

[ September 10, 2004, 01:12 PM: Message edited by: Terry E. Toller ]
 
Another mic similar to the Sennheiser ME-66 is the Beyer Dynamic MCE-96. I primarily use this on my camera and do lots of run & gun, documentary type of shooting. To my ears, it sounds pretty warm, has a good pick-up range and does a good job rejecting off axis sound. The mic can either use a battery or use phantom power. Price wise it's pretty reasonable, especially if you find one on Ebay.
I also use an EV RE-50 for interviews and I find the audio complimentary between the two mics. I also believe that wind covers that fit the ME-66 will also work for the MCE-96.
 
Originally posted by Terry E. Toller:
As far as picking a fight, I am and can be sarcastic about most things.
Click to expand...
If you put more sarcasm into your posts than they're rated to handle, the message board will catch fire.
 
Thanks Terry and Shaky for making me laugh on a slow news day :D

Videohead. I’d go with a ME-66 with the proper basket and windjammer if you can afford it and get a decent boom while you are at it, cheap ones can jam when extended and tend to have a lot of handling noise. Don’t cheap out on cables get soft flex and look after them and you will never be sorry.

[ September 10, 2004, 09:49 PM: Message edited by: cameragod ]
 
Indoors: schoeps MK41, love the sound a good operator can get from this mic so yes if you have a professional soundman with mixer but no if its just some guy holding the boom.

Outdoors: Sennheiser 416 one of the best field microphones ever made but needs phantom powering and is very expensive.
 
If you're saving money, look for used me80's... I think they sound better than me66 caps.

You can get batteries for the me80's that are environmentally safe.
 
I do have a fairly low budget, and am able to spend between $600-$1000 on audio. I will probably be using the 24fps panasonic camera (begin bashing). My brother will be dealing with the boom while I concentrate on the video. Basically a 2 person crew. In laymans terms whats the most efficient way to do this? I've never done anything besides news and don't know exactly how a two person crew performs. I'm imaginging the mic on boom with long xlr into camera and as my brother uses the boom I'll have to monitor the audio with headphones while shooting. It seems like my brother should be monitoring audio. Do we just need a real long headphone cable? Sorry for the dumb questions, and thanks for the help.
 
You CAN get batteries for the ME-80. However, it is A LOT easier to find AA batteries for an ME-66 at any time of day. Usually I just use Phantom power or a Lectrosonics block to power my 80.

[ September 16, 2004, 12:28 AM: Message edited by: 2000lux ]
 
videohead, your brother (audiohead) should have a mixer that he can monitor levels with (e.g. Shure FP-series). That mixer is then connected to your camera via another XLR cable or wireless. He should be the one wearing the cans because he needs to know if the mic needs to be repositioned. You should wear cans too so that you can verify whether audio is actually getting to your camera or not. Your brother should wear better quality cans (over-the-ear headphones)... you can wear simple earbuds to monitor audio as it's not as critical (I feel some evil glares at me already...)

Why not go phantom power? Field mixers provide phantom power. If you don't going through a mixer (tsk tsk), most wirelesses offer phantom power (well, any respectable ones)... the Panasonic DVX-100 (I assume that's your 24p, camera not the VariCam or 900) also has phantom powering off its XLR jacks if you're going directly in.

Very early Sennheiser ME-80's required a "dummy battery" (a jumper) for phantom powering. Mine along with the majority of other ME-80s perform fine with phantom power with the battery out. I still have two Varta mercury batteries in their packaging!


.. if you're truly stuck on a budget, you can go with the Audio-Technica AT835 or something along those lines.
 
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