Topic: Opinions on Neumann KM-81 short shotgun

[spaulgal]

I can get one for about $900 (is this a good price?)
I already have a Senn 416 and a 8040. I just sold my km184 pair.
Would this mic be a god addition or am I better off holding out for another 8040 which we love

We don't do a lot of stereo stuff, rather location audio for films, voice over, etc.

Thanks folks

[F.O.Bean]

Is this a stereo shotgun mic? Or just a mono mic? If its stereo, that seems like a good price to me...

[DSatz]

It's a single-channel short shotgun. I own one and have liked its sound whenever I've used it as a "spot" mike. It has a fairly mild high-frequency emphasis that's broad enough and smooth enough to be pleasant-sounding as long as you keep the main direct sound on-axis.

Shotguns aren't generally recommended for use as stereo pairs since their directivity depends way too much on the sound frequency (the narrowing effect only occurs at high and upper-mid frequencies). Also, the interference tube causes markedly uneven off-axis high-frequency response, and in any conventional two-mike stereo arrangement, a large amount of direct sound always reaches the opposite channel's microphone from off-axis.

But under the right conditions you can get nice results with a shotgun as the "M" microphone in an M/S pair.

--best regards