ARTICLES
SENNHEISER MKH80 Multi Pattern Microphoneby William Coakley 01/12/2001
This microphone is a small diaphragm mic in the $3,000.00 range. It features 4 patterns, a roll off, and gain attenuation.
All the specs in the world won't tell you what the mic is going to do for you and your application. Mine is piano. I tried out a matched pair and decided to buy them for future use. But you really can't tell how well a mic performs until you have a closer look. Editing samples (short duration recordings) is probably the best way to do that since spectral accuracy and phasing are key to making good samples. Then you can see just how smooth the response is on and off axis, what kind of dynamic accuracy it has and whether or not accuracy is something you want for this particular application. It's the process of correcting for mic error that everything becomes clear.
Small diaphragm mics are supposed to be better because they smear less. Smearing is a type of distortion that affects transients. It tends to reduce their dynamics. This is in part due to the mass of the diaphragm. The larger it is the more mass it has and the less it can respond to sudden quick movements. Larger diaphragms open the door for intermodulation distortion as well.
So why isn't the whole world full of small diaphragm mics? Well, for some reason the ear often prefers the sound of the large diaphragm mic with all its quirks - especially for vocals. But isn't accuracy the thing we all want in a recording? Of course not! We want a good sounding recording that makes you want to listen to it. Accuracy is secondary. I suppose we can compare this to the problem Lawrenze Hammond had with his most perfectly tuned organ. It took a distortion device to make it sound right and give it a future. This was accomplished with the advent of the Leslie speaker which basically detuned the organ through doppler shifting.
You see, even the digital world learned that perfect isn't what people want to hear. Many years have been spent creating distortion processes for digital recordings that emulate the exact way old tube tape recorders distorted sound. "Distortion is a way of life," I used to tell my students as I prophesied about the coming of distortion devices that would bring the perfect digital world into harmony with what we like to hear.
The MKH 80's avoid some of the small diaphragm coldness by FM coupling the signal in the electronics that follow the impulse from the diaphragm. So what's the bottom line on this mic? Well frankly, it is not much of a piano mic. It took a lot of time to bring it around for sampled piano data. And for overall recording of a piano performance, it's not bad but probably wouldn't be my first choice. Keep in mind that this is my limited experience with this mic but with the spectral analysis and follow up editing I got to know it pretty well.
Where this mic excels is using it on strings. It really captured a Cello soloist in my studio quite nicely with a surprisingly beautiful sound full of just the right amount of grit from the bow sawing on the string. And the overall sound was nothing short of spectacular.
Another feature this mic has is its enormous output. At least 10 dB above the average studio mic we have here. This means when the signal level is low this mic delivers it without noise - very very nice. The patterns are useful as well although, as expected, we found that the sound of the piano got thinner when we switched from omni to Super Cardioid.
Overall, I would say this mic is a quality item and as is the case with any microphone you have to realize there is no one mic that does everything well. That is why studios have a variety of mics - the right tool for the right application is the idea. The Sennheiser MKH 80 is a valuable tool to have. I would suggest trying before you buy to see if it would work in your particular application and let me know what you think.
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