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Neumann vs Sanken shotguns
I need a good, versatile shotgun that works decently indoors. I’ve read lots of comments that the CS-3e is the closest you can get to an “all-around” shotgun. But listening to the samples in Dan Brockett’s article —
https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/right_mic_brockett.html — these are my impressions:On-axis, both indoors and out, the Sanken seems somewhat muffled compared to the Neumann.
Off-axis rejection and frequency response sound very similar with both.
I hear less handling noise with the Sanken….with the Neumann I hear a rumble, which might be avoided with low cut filter or blimp.So I’m wondering what sorts of situations that aren’t covered in the article would make the Sanken more of an all-’rounder.
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4 Replies
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I’d go with the Sanken for it’s ability to reject a lot of background noise you don’t want so you can pull the voices out of the aural muck. It’s also a bit more rugged and humidity proof.
The Sanken is the contemporary version of the Sennheiser 416 without the midrange bump. That said I love my Neumann 81i but if I were buying a new all purpose shotgun, Sanken it would be. BTW muffled & Sanken do not belong in the same sentence in my experience.
Eric
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Eric, thanks. This is why I don’t totally trust the samples I heard on that website. But if you have time, I’d be curious about your comments re the first set of CS-3e and Neumann 81i male, on-axis, indoor voice samples. Maybe they’re not representative of the Sanken’s sound?
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I listened to the samples and even though there was not as much real world dialog samples as I would like I really liked the Sanken as an overall goto shotgun. I even liked it better than the Neumann 81i as the 81i has a noticeable low end bump (that can be easily removed with a HPF at 80hz). Go with the Sanken, you won’t have buyers remorse. OTOH I use my Sennheiser MKH 50 indoors & out and only reach for my 81i as a last resort.
Eric
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Hello Philip and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum,
Why do you want to use a shotgun mic indoors?
The Sanken CS-3 is not really a shotgun. The element is at the tip of the tube. Traditional shotgun mics place the element at the bottom of the tube and use the tube to increase directivity at high frequencies.
Middle and low frequencies are still picked up and that gives the interference-based shotgun mic a hollow sound in reflective environments such as most indoors and even outdoors on blacktop or concrete with hard, flat surfaces nearby. You’re better off with a hyper or super cardioid like a Schoeps cmc641 or Sennheiser MKH 50.
Regards
Ty Ford
Cow Audio Forum Leader
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