1

Hey Guys,

I'm curious about microphones which feature a wide frequency response, ie. over 20kHz, for recording SFX at 96 or 192 and later pitching down.

What's out there?

What have you used/own?

What do you think of them?

Thanks in advance!

Jo

Joseph Dutaillis
  • 385
  • 1
  • 2
  • 10
  • maybe this helps: https://sound.stackexchange.com/questions/2359/re-recording-ultrasonic-frequencies – emh May 29 '13 at 23:00

3 Answers3

1

Sennheiser MKH 8020, 8040, and 8050 record out to around 50kHz. They are outstanding, quiet mics.

Schoeps MK capsules with CMC-6 XT bodies record out to 40kHz. Also amazing mics. A little more self noise than the Sennheisers, but they sound great and handle mid range frequencies very well.

Justin P
  • 5,354
  • 18
  • 18
1

The Sennheiser - MKH series are analog-boost-eq inside the mic preamplifier in order to get an extended frequency response. I used MKH - 8020 @ 192kHz for slowed down fx and I get high frequency noise. Neumann mics don't have this eq boost, the highs may be more natural and less noisy. I don't know for Schoeps and DPA.

JSmith
  • 1,103
  • 8
  • 24
Muxol
  • 11
  • 1
0

I have Sennheiser MKH 8040, but after slow down from 192 to 48 there are much more hi frequency noise, than signal, so this trick don't work well with this microphone.

UPDATE: Just try other recordings at 192 with 8040 and found that they quiet!!! I will make more research with other recorders, it looks that I am wrong about 8040 and this problem in my SXR4 or I have defected mics.

EXAMPLE OF MY SITUATION:

ORIGINAL: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6674991/example.wav

SLOWED: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6674991/example%20to%2048kHz.wav

Pavel Doreuli
  • 1
  • 1
  • It could be the preamp! This is very audible on portable equipment, where the internal voltage rails may have high frequency noise (40khz and above). Sony PCM-M10 does this, although a gentle high frequency roll-off fixes it. – georgi May 28 '13 at 14:50
  • It could also be misinterpreting the product specifications. Just because it says "frequency response 20Hz-50kHz" doesn't necessarily mean that 20kHz-50kHz will be usable, just that "it's captured" (you can google for how the specifications are specifically determined). The noise may also be induced by another piece of gear that doesn't have "usable range" over 20kHz. One ought to also know about the real frequency range of the sound one's recording, because if there are no high frequencies present, then of course it will be masked by any kind of gear induced noise – Internet Human May 28 '13 at 15:06
  • http://en-uk.sennheiser.com/downloads/a118b6d6e8bfd9dcf3e543528bcb1ef9.pdf has the response curve at the end. it's within 4dB for up to 50kHz indeed. – georgi May 28 '13 at 16:43
  • I use Sonosax SX-R4 - it have bandwidth up to 72kHz (-3dB) and extremely lo noise preamps. sonosax.ch/recorders/sxr4/… Of course, I speak about sounds with rich hi frequency spectrum. My opinion - 8040 is typical modern, mass product - do not expect anything special. They are unstable in the parameters. I have 3 items, 2 - from Stereo set and all have "visible" difference in sensitivity and lo end spectrum. – Pavel Doreuli May 28 '13 at 21:01
  • good to hear a fellow sxr4 user onboard! regarding the 8040 have you been able to compare it to other microphones? my mkh50 goes a long way up into the 30 khz and dpa 4060 are also very nice in the upper range. was wondering about the schoeps XT preamp.. – Arnoud Traa May 29 '13 at 20:04
  • It's hard to compare extended 8040 with other, "normal" microphones. If you ask about normal speed playback - 8040 is very nice mic (and low noise for cardioid!). It's not so wonderful as DPA 4041SP (in S/N and details), but it's not correct to compare them - different types of capsule design and price. When we speak about playback 192 wav at 48 speed, 8040 move extensive noise in audible specter, so then you remove it - you practically loose all benefits of this trick. DPA and many other mic that I try to do same trick, produce much less noise, but they are not extended range type! – Pavel Doreuli May 30 '13 at 06:20
  • I have an 8050 and have not had any noise issues when pitching stuff down. Could you post some examples? – Alex May 30 '13 at 07:08
  • Thanks pavel. So in other words, at the moment there is no (affordable) broad bandwidth microphone with sufficient low noise design to do 192 khz recordings for pitching down purposes? – Arnoud Traa May 30 '13 at 07:13
  • For @Alex https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6674991/example.wav From foley studio - I try to record some footsteps for slow motion. 8040 on SXR4 at 192kHz Internal clock. – Pavel Doreuli May 30 '13 at 10:45
  • For @Alex https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6674991/example%20to%2048kHz.wav Here 48kHz version. Set sample rate in Twisted Wave without resampling. – Pavel Doreuli May 30 '13 at 10:48
  • @Arnoud Traa No, sorry, it's look I am wrong. You can listen my examples, but it's look like with other setups there no such issue. – Pavel Doreuli May 30 '13 at 10:54
  • Well, I experience the same noise bump with my MKH50. So i think you are right actually. Anyway thanks for the examples, proves your point. BTW it's quite a big slow down (192/48) how does 96 sound? It should leave the noise an octave higher. How long are your cables? The sxr4 has issues with low impedance cables of short length in my experience. – Arnoud Traa May 30 '13 at 12:43