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Senheiser 416 – distortion at high end of range
Hi,
I shot (on mini DV) a live event recently and was using the 416 (on a boom) to record interviews on the fly. At one point a girl began to sing opera (unexpectedly.) The levels on it are perfect, but there’s one particular high note she hits and holds for a few beats that distorts – as it if the levels were way too hot (in fact it wasn’t even the loudest part of the song.) The built-in camera mic recorded it fine – and the 416 recorded all the rest of it beautifully. Is this a problem with the mic or just the wrong mic for the job?
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3 Replies
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Hey RJ,
When you say the levels are perfect, do you mean that the signal never goes into the red? If that is true then it could be that the mic was just too close to handle the SPL at that moment. A combination of the singers level and direction could have overloaded the mic….it happens. I don’t think there is a problem with the mic.
Peter -
Thanks. Yes – the levels never went near the red and actually the mic was probably about 10 feet away – but her voice was amplified and it was a pretty intense note she sang.
RJ
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Was the mic connected to a mixer? If so, it’s input pre might have been overloaded. It’s also possible that the mic sent a lot of level to your camcorder and overloaded its input pre. Very often the gain control comes AFTER the input pre. Even with your levels not approaching red, you can have overload distortion. If your gain levels were set low (2-4 out of 10) it’s likely this was happening. BTW this happens with pro equipment, too. The Sony BVW-35 was famous for this problem.
John
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