MKH 30 and MKH 8030 comparison on guitar

This acoustic guitar recording forms part of a series of tests with a pre-production version of the Sennheiser MKH 8030 (fig 8). In this test it is compared to the older Sennheiser fig 8: the MKH 30. The first part of the test alternates between the two mics, each facing the guitar: so a mono recording. The second part of the test sees the two fig 8 mics pair with their respective super-cardioid siblings, to create mid-side pairs of MKH 50/MKH 30 and MKH 8050/MKH 8030. The different combinations change over frequently, and what is currently playing at any time is displayed. There has been no processing of the sound: no reverb, compression etc.

Many thanks to Luke Chapman for playing his guitar, and for use of his workshop. And many thanks to Sennheiser for supplying the mics.


Sound recording and video by Roland B Harris

For more about the recording (and to be able to download the individual 96kHz WAV files) see: