AudioMedia - July 2008 - (Page 22)

MIKE SKEET finds that twice is even more nice, as the MKH800 TWIN cuts its teeth on a new orchestral performance. he new Sennheiser MKH TWIN is a development of the earlier two capsule MKH and MKH , switchable polar pattern microphones, in their well known MKH range. The twist here is that the outputs from the two back-to-back cardioids are now available separately via a -pin XLR socket. You don’t lose anything with the TWIN version, as it now allows remote control of the polar patterns on your mixing desk – an adventure that many might relish. Having used my earlier MKH as a variable polar pattern Mid mic in an M&S rig with an MKH figure-ofeight as the Side mic, I can carry on as before with the TWIN, now with the polar patterns remotely selectable. If I separately record all three outputs from the M&S rig, the selection can be made in post production. T three wind’, to use the musical terminology, were in the usual semi-circle, suiting one stereo pair or ‘surround triple’ in this particular case. For the stereo purpose of being at the concert, the Mid was mixed as a soft cardioid, the Surround being obtained later from the three mic feeds directly recorded, post gain settings, as line inputs on to an Edirol R -Pro. The MKH was used with a dB higher gain setting than the TWIN. The first piece at the concert was a very interesting first performance of a transcription for the eight instruments mentioned earlier, by composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad, of a Mozart composition for a piano duet. During the interval, before carrying on with a Schubert Octet, a couple of the performers came to the back of the hall where the recording kit was set up, and had a listen on some Sennheiser HD open back headphones. SENNHEISER MKH 800 TWIN Dual Output Condenser Microphone Available in satin nickel or dark grey Nextel finish, there are no on-body switches, resulting in a shorter body than the MKH . A short -pin to two -pin XLR cable is supplied. Active V phantom powering is separately shown for each capsule – blue LED on the front, red LED on the rear. Usefully, these will not illuminate if the phantom voltage falls below the required V minimum. Two mic stand clips are provided in the foam lined aluminium carrying case, both suiting the ‘side fire’ physicals of the mic. One has rubber O-ring shock mounting – both with two degree angling choices. The Physicals It seems that they spread the message amongst their colleagues that, apart from them all playing rather well, they regarded the recording to be very good indeed! On returning home, playback on speakers was possible and my judgement agreed – a view that is not always taken after a long day and late journey back! The double bass comes over rather well, as it did live in the hall. Imaging was clean and clear, however it and the balance could have been subtly better had the staging allowed a wider semi-circle layout to have been possible. With a mixing desk’s usual facilities on two separate channels, you can easily control the polar patterns of the MKH TWIN. The manual clearly illustrates what you do. You can go from cardioid by just using the forward facing capsule, to omni by using both summed at the same levels, or to figure-of-eight by summing with the rear capsule feed out-of-phase. Then, with an appropriate lesser level from the rear capsule, you have the useful choices of soft cardioid, or hyper-cardioid when in the out-of-phase mode, and any pattern in-between that you wish. Apart from using the MKH TWIN as a remote variable polar pattern Mid mic, plus the MKH Side mic for M&S derived stereo, it is easy to use the same rig with additional decoding to obtain very effective Surround, taking advantage of seperate front and back cardioid outputs and the single figure-of-eight to decode seperate front and rear stereo signals. A Polar Choice In my ITU layout of two ATC SCM and ATC loudspeakers, for the Centre and the Ls and Rs, it comes over very well. It was easy to get the Double M&S decoding right, with a helpful check from a DK Technologies ‘Jelly Fish’ display to confirm. Having done a lot of Surround with the pseudo W,X,Y route, then having to convert them to two cardioids and one figure-of-eight for the further decoding to . , it was clear that with the use of physical cardioids, as with the MKH TWIN, you don’t have to worry about how accurately you combine an omni with a figure-of-eight in the creation of your cardioids. The Surround I might well be the first purchaser of the MKH TWIN. A figure-of-eight is planned to be included in the MKH range and I am hoping they include a mounting system for it to be used on top of the TWIN. This will be a neat quality package, providing a remote polar pattern choice of Mid for Stereo M&S use, apart from also being very effective as a coincident Surround rig. Conclusion THE REVIEWER MIKE SKEET is an experienced location music recordist who knows more about microphones and stereo recording than most, and is currently spending a lot of time recording in surround sound. It was some three years ago that John Willett of Sennheiser UK brought along a modified MKH as a ‘MKH TWIN prototype’ to a Faber Music stereo CD recording and we came away with its two cardioid outputs and the figureof-eight output from a MKH rigged with it, for later . Surround listening, courtesy of a Deva recorder. This time, John was even more helpful, as when I phoned him about a very interesting Octet recording I was about to do, he was in Germany at the factory, so he brought a new TWIN back for me to use a day later. The concert recording was in a very good church acoustic in Claygate, Surrey. The octet of ‘five strings and Location Concer t R ecording I N F O R MAT I O N £ GB£2,495.00 (exc.VAT) A Sennheiser UK ltd., 3 Century Point, Halifax Road, High Wycombe, Bucks HP12 3SL T +44 (0) 1494 551551 W www.sennheiser.co.uk 22 AUDIO MEDIA JULY 2008 http://www.sennheiser.co.uk

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of AudioMedia - July 2008

AudioMedia - July 2008 Contents Recording Post Broadcast What's Up UK Geofocus: France For the Record Special Report: Develop Preview SE Electronics 4400 Sennheiser MKH800 Twin Tubetech Club Final Cut: Wanted Smart AV Tango Doctor Who Made in America DSP Roundup Product Sampler: Summer Hits Edirol R44 Video Guide AMSR Fame - Le Musical Waves MaxxBCL Yamaha AD8HR Special Supplement

AudioMedia - July 2008

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