SDCs for Choir & Orchestra & Audience recordings (sennheiser 80xx)

[alexdingley]

Hey there!

I'm thinking about some upcoming remote recording projects that I might land next year, and I've been trying to travel lighter. Instead of lugging a pair of LDCs (AT4050s or Modified Rode NT2s) and the heavier-duty stands to mount them up high... I'm wondering about buying a pair of the sennheiser 80xx series. The MKH8020 is an omni... the MKH8040 is a Cardiod... and they have an MKH8090 which is a "wide" cardioid.

Most of what I'd be using these for is:
• Audience in a comedy club — many comedy club recordings will be made with the mics mounted in rafters... and my omni Earthworks condensers tend to get too much "outside the room" noise in the clubs I track at. (Parking garage above one club / dance club above another)
• High School Choirs & Orchestras
• Drums... in studio... if I felt fancy

So I'm trying to figure out whether I'd be happiest with omni (prolly not because my earthworks cover that pretty well) or Cardioid or Wide-Cardioid.

Anyone have any experience with those models / thoughts on the subject? Am I splitting hairs?

[A.David.MacKinnon]

I can't speak to those specific mics but my experience recording audiences (usually for comedy but music too) is that a tight pattern gives me the best results. Hypercardiod is great, shotgun mics are even better. I put them on either side of the stage, behind the mains, ponting across the audience at the opposite back corner of the room.
Comedy clubs are a mixed bag in terms of space and set up but that approach has saved me over and over.

If I use omnis they will be out in the room, over the audience. It's rare that that kind of set up is possible though. There usually isn't the space or time.

My other take away is that the audience mics don't have to be top shelf, fantastic mics. Anything with decent specs and low self noise will work well.

[Nevil-O-Bottom]

I'd recommend the Sennheiser MKH8040 cardioid or MKH8090 wide cardioid for comedy clubs and choirs. For drums in the studio, it depends on your sound preference. Try them out and see which one fits your needs best!

[jimjazzdad]

The Senny mics are great. They are impervious to humidity (in case you want to record in the rain forest) and they sound great. I have used lots of the older MKH series - MKH 20, 30, 40 - but not the 80xx series. My understanding is that they are very close cousins. However, they are relatively pricey. For very good mics at a great price point, check out Line Audio from Sweden. You could buy a pair of wide cardioid CM4 and a pair of omni OM1 for less than the price of a pair of Sennheiser 8040.

[permanent hearing damage]

+1 for hypercardioids!

I’ve been recording spoken performances for a few years now and I have used Jospehson c42s, Beyer MC930s, Shure KSM137s and Oktava MK012s. And the best of the bunch are the Oktavas with hypercardipid caps! I have to place them fairly low, close to the audience and either next to or below the mains. Otherwise I end up getting way too much from the closest audience members, no matter how off axis they are

[frans_13]

I used the MKHs on choirs and they sound good to me - i wasn't in a situation where i had to dial out external noises, but the Sennheisers had the best "reach" into the room while remaining natural of all the mics i had in that situation. I wouldn't hesitate to use them for overheads or a lot of other things.

[trodden]

I really want to build one of these
https://microphone-parts.com/collection ... pl-edition

and a pair of these,
https://microphone-parts.com/collection ... 1391772732

[alexdingley]

I really want to build one of these
https://microphone-parts.com/collection ... pl-edition

and a pair of these,
https://microphone-parts.com/collection ... 1391772732

intriguing for sure! I'm now very curious about those. I'll go listen to some of the example recordings. I'm fair-handy with an iron, so I may consider a schoeps-style kit at some point