MSRP: $425 (for K6 Power Unit alone). with the following mic modules: ME64 $714, ME66 $782, ME67 $935
Expected Release: Available Now
Review Date: April 1, 2011
Reviewed
By: Darren R Wiczek
Final Score:
9.5
As a videographer you have to get the best angle, be in focus, make the shot interesting. But have you forgotten about the sound? If you rely on the built in microphone you are probably not satisfied with the result. It shouldn't take you longer to clean up the audio than it takes to edit the video. Your 6 foot 6 lumberjack shouldn't sound like Micky Mouse (only Mike Tyson should have that sort of disparity). Lastly your Marilyn Monroe shouldn't sound like Elmer Fudd.. If they do, it's time to upgrade your audio gathering equipment. This review is on the Sennheiser K6 microphone system. Technically, the K6 is the base that powers one of three optional capsules. The capsule is the element or sound pickup if you will. I used the ME64, ME6 and ME67 in this review. All three of these screw onto the K6 which houses both the AA battery on one end and the 3 pin audio connector at the other.
Ease of Use
One of the best qualities of this Sennheiser Shotgun system has to be the ease of use. All I had to do to increase the quality of my audio was to plug it in. Plug the microphone three pin XLR chord into the the end of the microphone. Next you need a XLR to 3.5mmadapter to plug into the microphone input on the Canon HV30 that was our test camera and you're done. The Sennheiser K6 is the power source for the system .
K6 power module.
It houses a single AA 1.5 volt battery to supply the power for the microphone. Some microphones and cameras have phantom power to eliminate the need for a battery. The Sennheiser offers a K6-P for phantom power. The Canon HV-30 does not supply phantom power so we chose the K6 with the battery option. Then the only choice was which capsule to pick from, the ME64 for what I considered to be all around normal use. If you need a little further range pick the ME64 capsule. To switch from one cartridge to the next you simply unscrew the capsule from the K6 power module and plug the next capsule in.
Depth of Options
A microphone is supposed to be used to capture audio. Sometimes it picks up what it is aimed at and sometimes it picks up that and everything around it. Microphones have three basic patterns.
Microphone Pickup patterns.
The first is an omnidirectional pattern. Let's call this a full circle. The second is a bidirectional or two sided pattern. The third is the pattern used by most shotgun microphones. This is the unidirectional pattern. This is broken into two categories, cardiod and hypercardiod. The cardiod pattern is heart shaped. It picks up sounds that the microphone is aimed at and not sounds from behind. The hypercardiod is even more directional than the cardiod. It will typically only pick up sounds that it is aimed at. This means you have to be careful in microphone placement. You need to concentrate the focus of the microphone directly at your subject.
ME-64 cartridge.
The ME64 is great for collecting the sound in what I would say is 90 degrees. What I mean is 45 degrees to the left and right of the microphone. This is the best area for collecting sound with this cardiod pattern microphone. It is capable of getting decent sound up to 180 degrees while we were recording with it. But the best being in that 90 degree area. Normally if I made a throat clearing sound or brushed my clothes on something the mike would pick everything up. The ME64 seems to know not to do this and gathers only what is in its' pattern. The thing we did have to watch out for was hitting the microphone cord or bumping the boom pole. The cure for this is more practice.
ME-66 cartridge.
The ME66 is a little narrower yet. I would say closer to 50 degrees. I feel this capsule is a great in-between microphone, as it's half way between the all around cardiod ME64 and the very directional hypercardiod ME67. We used both the ME66 and ME67 in some classroom work recently. The ME66 did not require re-aiming between speakers. Granted the audio is a bit better when directed towards the speaker, but, if you are running a one person show, it can be mounted on a tripod and simply placed in position. When the microphone is not aimed directly at the source, it is referred to as being off axis. When you move the microphone around a bit when recording you can definitely hear the increase in volume and an increase in the fullness of the sound when it is positioned correctly. The ME66 is more than capable of gathering great audio. Now we come to the ME67.
ME-67 cartridge.
If Homeland Security has a long range microphone, this is it. We did a couple of comparisons at 2,4,10, and 30 feet. With only adjusting the level each time the recorded sound was incredible. Starting with a default of 5 on the camera (the halfway point of the microphone sensitivity), the 2 and 4 foot ranges were captured overhead. Plenty of sensitivity to stay out of camera view and still collect crystal clear voices. The 10 and 30 foot ranges were used to see what audio we would get (if any) at those ranges. The 10 foot required raising the audio level from 5 to 6 (although, even at 5, it peaked just under 0 dB on the meter). At the 30 foot distance, I raised the slider to 6.5. I would have expected to have to go to ten at this range and and still have collected nothing useable. The result was exactly the opposite. The sound was still clear and usable. The only difference would have to be in the tone. At 30 feet a bit of the bass was lost.
Performance
This is where the quality comes in. I have used other microphones such as Shure, AKG, Electro-Voice and others in recordings over the past twenty some years. This Sennheiser system is without a doubt the clearest I have used yet. When mounted on a rail system near the camera, the camera sounds are no longer a part of my sound track. When used on a boom pole, the quality of the sound from the ME66 and ME67, which are the longer of the three, is excellent. Music is recorded crystal clear. Voice is recorded clean and crisp at 18-24 inches from the source.
ME-66 mounted on pistol grip.
The ME64 is a great all around multi-purpose microphone. In using it for interviews I had to lower the audio input levels on my camera to avoid peaking. Other microphones in the past did not have enough sensitivity to require this. All three of the capsules captured more of what I would call a "real sound," which is friendlier to the ears. Some microphones will sound tinny, or boomy, or just plain "muddy" (audio term for "garbled"). But the Sennheiser gets the sound correct. This means less time in post correcting levels or trying to use noise reduction to clean things up. If` there is a drawback it would have to be that these microphones are too good. What I mean by that is you have to watch out for room noise if you're recording indoors. A ceiling fan whirring or the HVAC system blowing also shows up crystal clear, so remember to shut these elements down between takes.
Value
If you've spent a thousand or more on your camera, a few hundred on your software, and a bunch on your computer, remember one thing. Seeing your vision is only half of the story. Hearing it is the other half. For $700 - $900 you can start with the K6 power module and one of these great capsules and increase your audio considerably. Don't rely on your onboard camera microphone. You get what you pay for, but, Sennheiser's KE system actually gives you so much more quality than you pay for that it's the perfect fit for low-budget filmmakers.
Final Comments With other audio solutions, audio usually needed a bunch of cleanup in post. The Sennheiser system makes my job so much easier.
If you are in New Orleans on September 13th, go to the House of Blues and take in David Missalls seminar on Audio for Video and see first hand how good this system really is. I plan on doing just that and bringing back a review for you. (Actually, I'll be checking out his seminar in Chicago in March, before this issue is released, so our coverage will be before the New Orleans show!)
Ease
of Use
10.0
Depth
of Options
9.5
Performance
10.0
Value
vs. Cost
9.5
Overall Score
9.5
Darren R Wiczek is a writer, director, producer, camera-man, editor with over 27 years of experience. His company Dangerous Productions in Oakfield, Wisconsin is currently working on an action picture about car racing. Our motto is " if you give it to us we'll shoot it".
As a videographer you have to get the best angle, be in focus, make the shot interesting. But have you forgotten about the sound? If you rely on the built in microphone you are probably not satisfied with the result. It shouldn't take you longer to clean up the audio than it takes to edit the video. Your 6 foot 6 lumberjack shouldn't sound like Micky Mouse (only Mike Tyson should have that sort of disparity). Lastly your Marilyn Monroe shouldn't sound like Elmer Fudd.. If they do, it's time to upgrade your audio gathering equipment. This review is on the Sennheiser K6 microphone system. Technically, the K6 is the base that powers one of three optional capsules. The capsule is the element or sound pickup if you will. I used the ME64, ME6 and ME67 in this review. All three of these screw onto the K6 which houses both the AA battery on one end and the 3 pin audio connector at the other.
