Sennheiser ME64 - Cardioid Condenser Microphone Capsule for K6/K6P

Comments about Sennheiser ME64 - Cardioid Mic Capsule:

Buying a microphone online can be scary. if you have never worked with the model you purchase, you won't know what to expect, until after it's in your studio or on set. Fortunately, in this case, the Sennheiser ME64 was a good choice. I already own and have used its big brother, the ME66 shotgun mike for independent film, commercial, and corporate work. But, the ME66 was meant to be used in more outdoor situations, because of its side noise-cancellation feature. So, we needed a really solid mike to use indoors, that wasn't as directional, as its big brother. We needed it to have a wider angle of coverage, so the boom operator didn't have to constantly twist the boom, back and forth, to catch the dialogue of multiple actors. This has improved the overall audio quality and made life a little less stressful in the editing room.

The first application of the ME64 was to use it for ADR, in our little studio. It performed flawlessly.

For independent filmmakers with a medium-sized budget, this is a good choice.

Comments about Sennheiser ME64 - Cardioid Mic Capsule:

Bought this to use on my Canon T2i. Nice sound, good range for this short shotgun. No complaints so far.

Comments about Sennheiser ME64 - Cardioid Mic Capsule:

This mic is a standard choice to sound record in broadcast.
I trust in it quality to make any job!

Comments about Sennheiser ME64 - Cardioid Mic Capsule:

I have used this mic for shooting interviews and audition scenes for actors. The sound is very clean with little need for cleanup in post.

Comments about Sennheiser ME64 - Cardioid Mic Capsule:

Shooting indoors, the mic capsule has a great pickup pattern for dialogue. When actors move their head to either side, the mic does a great job of picking up the sound as if it was pointed straight at them. Very little to no off-axis problems. Also, the pattern only picks up what's in front, and nothing from behind.

Comments about Sennheiser ME64 - Cardioid Mic Capsule:

I purchased this capsule for a recent production job. I already had a K6/ME66 system which I've used for years as an on-camera run and gun mic or as a backup for shoots that are locked down. I'd been reading that for indoor use, a shotgun was actually not a good choice and since this job involved exclusively indoor interviews, I decided it was time to try the ME64.

None of my rental houses have this capsule. Since the price was relatively low and I already had a K6, I decided to take the plunge and buy it to check it out.

All I can say is WOW. I was blown away at how good this mic sounds. As an all-around, general purpose mic it's a *much* better choice than the ME66.

The sound is rich and warm with just enough of the room to let the sound breathe. It sounds *much* better than the Tram TR-50/letrosonics wireless kit I rented. In fact, on one of the shoots, it completely saved the day when the Tram shorted out in the field.

This mic's sweet spot is conversation distance from the subject -- 2-3 feet is ideal. Once you start getting further away, it starts to drop off pretty fast. But if you're able to stay close to your subject, you will be very, very happy with the sound.

This is my new favorite mic and I can tell it will be getting a lot of work. If you have a K6 system, it's a no brainer. Get this capsule!

Comments about Sennheiser ME64 - Cardioid Mic Capsule:

Sennheiser ME 64 / K6

Just in the way of background, this mic was purchased for ENG & documentary use. I was impressed with its earlier version (ME 40) years ago, especially when compared to the more common omnidirectional mics most of us use in newsgathering.

Using this mic requires just a bit more thought and care in handling than the common dynamic “hammers” of ENG. But the payoff is a much higher clarity of what the speaker is saying, with far greater speed of use than clipping wireless lavalier mics on people being interviewed.

ME 64 is the perfect “half-meter mic” by that I mean holding the mic a half meter (or even more) from the speakers mouth, you’re still getting great sound. At that distance this mic is safely out of the typical head-&-shoulders camera shot. Audio is superb yet there’s no big ugly microphone thrust under the speaker’s chin. The ME 64 allows great spontaneity when used this way. Running wires under someone’s shirt is time consuming and often gets the person to be interviewed inhibited. Their soundbites will often come off feeling contrived after the time and hassle of fitting them for a lav. The ME 64 is a far better choice when running-and-gunning a news story on a deadline.

A couple of tips from experience: ENG camera operators will need to be advised to back down their manually-set audio levels for this mic. This is especially true if they’ve mostly been using dynamic mics for soundbites. The ME 64 with the battery - powered K6 unit will be pushing far more level than non-powered dynamic mics like the EV 635 or RE 50. Many news photographers camera-mount the ME 66 as their second channel natural sound mic; it makes a good point of reference for setting levels for the ME 64.

In the field, the ME 64 has an outstanding quality of getting clear speech from the speaker, and sort of shrugging off unwanted sounds or voices from behind or alongside them. Compared to shotgun mics, the ME 64 seems to bring back soundbites without unwanted sounds of things you didn’t notice … the jet plane overhead, weird reflections from walls or floors, etc.

Bottom line: ME 64 is great for gathering soundbites from ‘real’ people - people who speak low, people who mumble a bit, people at news scenes who are a bit unsure if they want to be in a TV or radio news story.

Yes, you do have to keep track of battery power - but it’s one AA that lasts for something like 150 hours.
And the ME 64 is probably more fragile than some of the more robust dynamic omni mics.
User has to be aware of ON/OFF switch. The wind/bass rolloff switch is hard to activate, but very effective when needed.

I guess the final measure of any mic’s sound depends on what it is played back through. Again, my experiences: For AM radio news, far better quality than you could ever need. Same for FM/stereo, even the so-called HD radio. For broadcast TV, the ME 64 sound has a nice punch and clarity that can make the story stand out against the rest of the segments. Just take care not to overdrive the recording level in the field.