Tag Archives: sennheiser

AB test recording with the new kit

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As I promised in the Developing the field recorder kit article, I made some test recordings with the new AB pair, the Sennheiser MKE 2 Gold microphones. Through the various examples I hope everyone can hear what a really compact rig is capable of.

All the equipment had been used to record these examples is a Sony PCM d50 and a pair of Sennheiser MKE2 Gold microphone.

First recording

Countryside atmosphere with some ducks, hens and rooster at the house near me (50 metres away) and someone was working there during the recording. An impertinent fly tried to disturb me, you can hear it on the track. I was out at the edge at a plough-land. The two capsules were 40cm away from each other.

It is very interesting that there are many extraneous noise out there what we don’t really notice with our ears, not even when I tried to pay attention to every little thing around me.

Second example

I’m in the middle in a plough-land as a huge harvester pass by. It was about 200 metres away from me, a few obstacles masked the direct sound between me and the harvester. At the adjacent garden there was a sprinkler working and occasionally birds were “tweeting” on some fruit-tree. Another little fly tried to disturb me occasionally.

Being out there the harvester sounded more distant compared to the recording, and the nature sounds seemed/heard more up front. The overall balance of sounds are very life-like.

Third recording

Back in the city. It’s 10 am., the kids are playing in the nearby kindergarten. Few birds are still in the city, very gentle breeze. Nice sunny day. The noticeable echo and reverb on the kids’ voice is made by the tower blocks at the opposite side of the kindergarten.

Compared to real life, the echo and reverb are exaggerated on the recording as our ears very effectively filters or attenuates these things to focus on the important incoming information.

Fourth example

Almost the same place, but a little further away from the kindergarten, opposite side of the road. In the background a huge garbage truck and its staff was working. They were about a 100 metres away from me. We are still between the tower blocks as you can hear the effect on the garbage truck.

The AB pair very honestly convey the real life sonic picture what I’ve been experiencing there. The dynamics, the volume, the effects are breathtakingly similar to my real life experiences.

Fifth recording

One of the main bridges in the city. It’s not really rush our, but still quite busy traffic with varying types of cars, bicyclists.

It’s really interesting that in reality the different cars had even more noticeably different sounds. Not that it cannot be heard on the recording, but still, it somehow homogenised the engine sounds to a degree.

Sixth example

City at night as you can hear the crickets are making noise while a single car pass by. I was up on a balcony, 10 metres from ground level.

As I was sitting there the car seemed more distant and more soft.

Conclusion

Consider the very little effort to make a stealth kit like this, and the quality you get, it is definitely worth purchase and build this little addition to the otherwise great little handheld recorder. Still, the question is not if this would be equal or not to a big rig, because both serves different purpose. Both can do things what the other cannot. These lavaliere mics are relatively cheap, and besides that you only need a few connectors and really basic soldering skills to finish your rig. It is going to be used here, a lot.

Developing the small field recorder kit

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As many of you know I love and use the Sony pcm d50 little handheld. I think it’s high quality enough to get good sound. Obviously not a Sounddevices with Schoeps mics, but you get the idea. Little bag, always there near me ready to record.

As much as I love XY or the wider 120 degree microphone position, I thought a good AB pair would be fantastic. Inspired by Tim Prebble I decided to try out some lavalier type microphones. Right now I have a pair of Sennheiser MKE2 gold which are very decent microphones.

I knew that they are good, but as the little Sony only accepts mini jack mic inputs, I had to solder a little set together. Don’t be daunted, it’s really basic soldering, nothing serious, however, you should be patient as the lavalier cables are not that easy to treat as a usual mic cable. The kit could be more versatile if I did split the set even further, but I decided that for my needs I’m going to use one XLR for the two mics. I’m going to use them only with the handheld, so no need for more cabling.

Cabling

The Sennheiser’s cable comprise a ground, a blue and a red wire. According to the user’s manual of the Sony and the Sennheiser we can twist together the ground and the blue wire. So now we have two wires from each microphone: 1. Ground 2. Hot (red).

We need two XLRs. I decided to use two as this way I can easily disconnect the mics, and the whole soldering together act is much easier inside an XLR rather than inside a little mini jack. The other plus is this way I can use a standard XLR mic cable to lengthen the lavalier’s cable. So back to the connector.

The XLR side is easy. Ground to pin 1 and solder the two red wires to the remaining pins. One red to pin 2, the other red to pin 3. Obviously the mini jack side is the same: common ground sleeve, one red to tip, other red to ring. I highly recommend to get a proper quality mini jack, like this Neutrik mini jack. It’s easier to work with as it is really a quality connector, and last forever.

If you are very precise, you already know which mic is which (left or right), but don’t worry if you didn’t plan this ahead. We’ll have a great AB pair, so either microphone can be left or right, it doesn’t really matter. You can test and mark it after that you finished the soldering work. However, don’t forget to mark it!

Operation

It’s time to test and use them, but there is one little problem. The Sony only outputs plugin power, which is low compared to what Sennheiser recommends. I had an e-mail conversation with a Sennheiser engineer and he confirmed that it’s not a problem, we have only one drawback. The original microphone powered by the recommended voltage can handle an enormous 142dB SPL before clipping. But as we power them with less, they will clip somewhat lower, according to engineering department at Sennheiser, the mics will clip at around 134dB SPL. I really don’t think that this is a tragedy. All other things remain intact, so we still have the same frequency response, etc.

I think it’s a very little compromise. And don’t forget, now we have a handheld with a high quality AB pair, and it still fits into a little photo bag.

If you plan to use the mics indoor, you can already do that. But, if you’re like me, and want to go out with it, one thing we must have is wind protection. Believe me, even a gentle breeze can ruin your otherwise beautiful stereo recording. Fortunately Rycote have a solution for lavaliers too. These little wind protectors can help eliminate any problem.

Next time I’m going to post some recordings with the new mics.