Скачать или смотреть Microphones compared: Sennheiser MKE 600, Bronstein BRN-900, BRN-400, Sony PCM M10, Nikon D7000

Sound recorded with Bronstein, Sennheiser and Sony mics compared side by side. Sennheiser MKE 600, Bronstein BRN-400 and BRN-900 shotguns, Sony PCM M10 recorder and Nikon D7000 DSLR (in-camera mic). The source sound was intentionally LOW in volume. The gain was kept constant on each recording device (the sound levels were not normalized).

The purpose of this test was to compare
1) SOUND QUALITY and NOISE (subjective) and
2) LOUDNESS of recordings
in attempt to enhance audio of video made with Nikon D7000 DSLR camera. The portable Sony PCM M10 recorder produces excellent sound quality and is highly sensitive (incredibly low internal mic noise), but it has omnidirectional stereo mics. A shotgun can help isolate sound at music recitals etc.

This test was not designed to compare the ability of shotgun microphones to reject side and back noise. Please note that the microphones are not in the same price range. For example, at the time these mics were purchased, Sennheiser was sold at Amazon for $330, BRN-400 for $130, BRN-900 for $70 and Sony PCM M10 for $210.

Sony PCM M10 has omnidirectional stereo mics, Sennheiser MKE M600 is a suprecardioid shotgun (mono), Bronstein BRN-400 and BRN-900 shotgun stereo mics have supercadioid and cardiod ploar patterns, respectively. D7000 onboard camera mic is more or less omnidirectional, recording in mono.

SETUP
Sample music plus vocal was played on iPod/Bose speakers at
10 ft (3.3 m) from microphone. The volume of the sound source was intentinally fairly low in order to test the ability of microphones to record relatively quiet sounds, such as a quiet perfomance at a music recital when the recording will be made some distance away. In this test, both the music and voice from the source were clearly heard by ear, but were probably suboptimal for microphones placed at that range, so you may hear a high noise for some mics. Sony recorder was always set at manual gain 7.5 out of 10 at "high sensitivity" with low cut filter Off. Sennheiser MKE-600 was powered with 48V phantom power, its low cut filter was Off. Bronstein BRN-400's 10 dB gain boost was On. Nikon D7000's mic was on auto gain. Sescom LN2MIC-PCDM50 line to mic 35 dB attenuation cable was used to connect D7000 to PCM M10 (direction as labeled). Recordings were made on either D7000 or Sony PCM M10. Batteries were checked to be fresh.

SUMMARY of OBSERVATIONS:
Sennheiser MKE 600 shotgun performed very well, affording better sound from a greater distance than Nikon D7000 DSLR onboard mic when plugged directly in the camera. MKE 600 can be used either using phantom power (XLR) or AA battery (XLR to 3.5mm adapter required) with comparable performance. Connecting MKE 600 to D7000 through Sony PCM M10 portable recorder further improved sound quality. The PCM M10 recorder itself is more sensitive and yields fuller stereo sound, but records all ambient noises. MKE 600 clearly outperformed Bronstein shotguns in this particular test, but Sennheiser is 3-5 times more expensive, not in the same category. These Bronstein mics sounded too quiet. BRN-400 was especially noisy in this particular test. The cheaper BRN-900 was actually not as noisy and could sound Ok if placed closer to source. Note that if you record sound by placing any of these mics very close to source and also adjust the gain of the recording devise, the sound quality of even cheaper microphones could become acceptable for your purpose.