Help me to choose digital mics for BG stereo recordings..

[myke2242]

Originally Posted by Anderssvensson

I have been using the Neumann kmr 81d alot for film dialog sound, and I have now realized that digital is the way to go.. I'm going to buy digital microphones for stereo capture, for ambiances/BG, and stereo captures on film location.. to match the 81d.

The digital microphone arsenal isn't that big, so there is not too much to chose between.

And I know many film recordists like MS... I do not. I like XY.

Could you give me some inspiration? Should I get another Neumann kmr 81d (shotgun)? Or maybe two Neumann km 183d (cardioid), even though the noisefloor is quite high?

What do you think?

i am not doing AES42 but if i were with the limited options there are out there. i think i would go with MKH 8090 with digital module and a Neumann KK120. Although the front really is dependent the amount of movement you need. the noise floor with Neumann is too high for BG recording.

[Anderssvensson]

Originally Posted by myke2242

i am not doing AES42 but if i were with the limited options there are out there.

If you have the opportunity, try it, it's fantastic!

Originally Posted by myke2242

i think i would go with MKH 8090 with digital module and a Neumann KK120.

MS

[myke2242]

Originally Posted by Anderssvensson

If you have the opportunity, try it, it's fantastic!



MS

im just a little unsure because of the lack of choice of mics. there is only one figure 8 that i know of that is AES42 compliant. Although i am still very interested in finding out more. What makes it so great for you?

[Anderssvensson]

Originally Posted by myke2242

im just a little unsure because of the lack of choice of mics. there is only one figure 8 that i know of that is AES42 compliant. Although i am still very interested in finding out more. What makes it so great for you?

The possibility to set the gain too low and raise the gain in post... but if the gain is too high, there is an inbuilt limiter at 0 dB. Foolproof microphone handling, always with great results.. excellent sounding.

..and to unplug cables without switching off phantom power There is so much more..

[JSt0rm]

If you want to do x/y then get another kmr 81d. Thats probably your most economical choice as you need 2 matching mics.

[Anderssvensson]

Originally Posted by JSt0rm

If you want to do x/y then get another kmr 81d. Thats probably your most economical choice as you need 2 matching mics.

Yes. And the 81d has a really low noise floor too.

Another alternative would be two tlm103d, which has even lower noise floor (!), and I'm using the analogue tlm103 for stereo recordings a lot now. But I don't like the lack of wind protection for big membrane microphones.. (are there any solutions?)

[JSt0rm]

I just realized both of those mics are set at 48khz. I would never record sound effects at 48khz. 96khz minimum. Also if you are in love with low noise mics you need to check out DPA. I plan on grabbing their shotgun this year and I have a 4061 that sounds great.

[Anderssvensson]

Originally Posted by JSt0rm

I just realized both of those mics are set at 48khz. I would never record sound effects at 48khz. 96khz minimum. Also if you are in love with low noise mics you need to check out DPA. I plan on grabbing their shotgun this year and I have a 4061 that sounds great.

Don't worry, both the tlm103d and kmr81d has support for the samplerates 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4 and 192 kHz. I guess you've read about the factory default sample rate, which is set at 48 khz. Me myself record all my sound effects at 96 khz..

[JSt0rm]

yeah i thought that was a little odd.

[Anderssvensson]

Originally Posted by JSt0rm

yeah i thought that was a little odd.

If you were going to record city BG's in XY or AB stereo, what would your analogue microphone setup be?

[JSt0rm]

Well considering how noisy the source is I wouldn't be so worried about having the quietest mics.

I dont have a huge selection of mics but I do like m/s personally and would record with my rsm191.

[klaukholm]

Originally Posted by Anderssvensson

.....Or maybe two Neumann km 183d (cardioid), even though the noisefloor is quite high?

What do you think?

FYI, the 183D is an omni, not a cardioid

[myke2242]

Originally Posted by JSt0rm

Well considering how noisy the source is I wouldn't be so worried about having the quietest mics.

I dont have a huge selection of mics but I do like m/s personally and would record with my rsm191.

A lower noise floor will gain you more detail in any situation, even loud environments. If you are plaining on purchasing one MS set the low noise variants have more applications. i am referring to the MKH line.

[PoxyMusic]

Originally Posted by Anderssvensson

The possibility to set the gain too low and raise the gain in post... but if the gain is too high, there is an inbuilt limiter at 0 dB. Foolproof microphone handling, always with great results.. excellent sounding.

..and to unplug cables without switching off phantom power There is so much more..

As far as gain changing in post goes, I think you may not have a clear picture of proper gain staging. Having a digital mic simply means that the A/D converter is in a different place in the recording chain. If you record too low with a digital mic, you won't recover the available bit depth later; you will simply have a nice, clean recording with diminished resolution.

It's great that there's a limiter on the mic, but really there's a limiter on just about recorder you buy; and any field recordist avoids hitting the limiter at all costs. The limiter on the Zaxcom Nomad may be the one exception.

Be careful using the word "foolproof". I guarantee you I could make a lousy recording using it!

Lastly, you can generally unplug mics without switching off phantom power. Unless you're using a ribbon mic or old tube, I've never actually heard of someone damaging a mic doing so.

I'm not trying to diss digital mics, but if you think about it, the only difference is that they carry the a/d converters onboard. There can be a lot of merit in that, but it may not be the magical device you may think it is. There are many more important factors to great field recordings than where the a/d converter resides.