Topic: AKG 469 vs. Sennheiser ME66 shotgun...

[Kevin]

I am in the market for a shotgun mic for my camera and wanted to get some feedback from those of you familiar with these two mics.  I love AKG so thats the first shotgun I thought of looking into but I also know sennheiser makes great gear as well.  Anyone use either of those two who can comment on the performance of the mic(s)?

thanks in advance,

Kevin Morton

[SmokinJoe]

PM sent offering to loan my ME66's for a test.

Somewhere here is a link to an article with info right up this line of questioning.  The post was made by "wheresjerry".
~~~~~~~~

Here it is: http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/right_mic_brockett.html and http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/review_shotgun_mics.html

[H₂O]

You should consider the DPA 4017 or Schoeps CMIT 5U 

[Kyle]

Senn Me-66 is a very decent shotgun. It's predecessor, the K3U/ME-80, is also very decent and can easily be found on ebay. If I were going the AKG route, I would pick up the c460b body and a60 reducer ring in the yardsale and then search out a CK8, a very nice sounding capsule.

[jeromejello]

i was looking into the me66, the 468 (460 with ck8), shure vp88, and the at 835b/st & at 825 when i was trying to find a nice mic for my camera.

i ended up going with the at897 and i couldn't be happier.  it was affordable, compact, runs on both battery and phantom, good specs - sounds great.

[Javier Cinakowski]

Audio-Technica U873R with UniLine capsule...  90 degree pickup pattern and an impressive LF response for a interference tube design....   

[wbrisette]

Senn Me-66 is a very decent shotgun.

This mic has been used for a lot of films, but I hate it. Do yourself a favor and listen to it before you decide. Take a look at the Sanken CS-1, Schoeps CMIT 5U, Neumann KMR 81, Rode NTG1/2, or Audio-Technica AT875R.

Here is a really good review by a well respected audio guy.

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/right_mic_brockett.html

Wayne

[taper420]

I like the me66. I've only really compared it to two other mics though. The c1000 shouldn't matter, because it's not really in the same league..... the me66 blew it away. There is also a comparison online to another sennheiser shotgun, the mke416, and the 416 blows the me66 away. The c1000/me66 test was done on music, the me66/mke416 was done on speech.

There are better mics out there, but for the price-point, it's a good deal, and I find they make superb AUD mics. Allot of people around here are all...shotguns... why not just put toilet rolls on your ears? ... or those mics aren't really designed for music. Well .... my listeners tend to disagree. I always get great reviews.... some say it borders on SBD quality.... and I happen to like my results very much.
http://www.archive.org/details/ween2007-03-23
http://www.archive.org/details/kw2006-07-22.me66.flac16
http://www.archive.org/details/nrps2006-05-13.matrix.flac16 (SBD matrix)
http://www.archive.org/details/ween2005-10-03
just a few samples.

I'm also a professional videographer, and I've never had anything to complain about using these mics. I hear the V3 compliments them rather well.
Like I said, there are better mics out there, but this one does a good job and isn't over $1000 for one mic.

If I was just starting out I'd do a bunch of comps (more than I originally did) before settling on anything. We can't tell you what your ears can.

[wbrisette]

Maybe I'm a bit unclear as to what this individual is aiming for. The 416 is a bit too long to stick on the end of a camera. And depending on what they are doing, there are better mics at very reasonable price points. That's why I suggested the article. Dan did a pretty good job of running down a bunch of shotguns. I actually ran the Neumann KMR 82 at one show. Turned out OK, but that's really too long of a gun to run at shows (and expensive should anything happen to it).
http://www.archive.org/details/BHTM2007-02-16.EW.flac16

Wayne

[spcyrfc]

Here is a really good review by a well respected audio guy.

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/right_mic_brockett.html

Wayne

nice article

[Kevin]

You should consider the DPA 4017 or Schoeps CMIT 5U 

If you want to gift them to me

Thanks for the suggestions, ill look into all of them tonight.  Which shotguns fit nicely on the end of a camera?  I just bought a Canon XH-A1.  I think I would lean more towards one that can be mounted at this point, thanks for the suggestions.  BTW I am not spending more than $1000 on a mic 

[George2]

Try the AT875r like Wayne suggested. It's a short shotgun, so not to get in the way. And not much $. Anything more expensive are you are going to want a boom op with you,....that shotgun on a camera is going to pick up your subject well, and also everything right behind.....stuff you might not want.
BTW... Canon A1 best cam in the HDV world.

[Kevin]

Thanks for the great article.  I think I am going to play around with the cardioid and hypers to see if they will work, im just thinking that I will probably need a shotgun or short shotgun mic.  Heres where I could use some direction, I do not think that I will have anyone to operate a boom and I will mostly be shooting in noisy situations where I want to get a good interview.  So im thinking a short shotgun would be the best solution.  Please correct me if i missing something here

[wbrisette]

A short gun would be very useful in the situation you mention. Another alternative is to use a "stick" mic like the ElectroVoice RE50. You can buy them new for around $160, they don't require phantom and they work great for interviews if either you or the subject doesn't mind holding the mic. Of course one of the problems with these types of mics is subjects tend to hide their face with them.

Wayne