Freesound Forums

Hi All.

Am going to record some indoor sounds for a radio play: footsteps, breath, physical scuffles.

I have a Sennheiser ME66 shotgun, an XLR to minijack, and the older Zoom H1. I'm pretty clueless with audio, so I thought I'd ask here first... would the Sennheiser be cleaner (it cost more!) than just the Zoom H1 or is it just a matter of they'll sound different?

Also - any recommends for a boom/stick that I can use to reduce hand sound for either/both of the devices?

Thanks in advance!
Lucy

Hey.

Most professional Foley recording studios use the Sennheiser MKH416, amongst other microphones, which is quite close to the ME66. This kind of studio would capture footsteps, clothes movements and rustling and other things of that nature.

The difference would be that the Zoom H1 record in STEREO and has a lot of noise due to the cheap preamp circuitry (hiss), whereas the shotgun will record in MONO and have a much lower noise present in the recording (if recording with a decent audio interface or other quality field recorder). You want as little noise/hiss as possible for good isolated recordings. Capturing foley sounds in mono is a standard practise so I would go with the shotgun microphone personally, unless stereo effect is what you're going for.

How are you going to record with the ME66 exactly?

For my personal indoor recording practises, I use either a shotgun or hypercardoid microphone on a microphone stand with a boom arm, plugged directly into my audio interface via XLR and then record to my DAW or other recording software.

Or if I'm going handheld away from my computer, i'll use a good quality shock mount like the 'Rycote Inv-6' and record into a good quality field recorder, in my case it's the Zoom F8, but you could use a cheaper zoom recorder with XLR inputs.

I wouldn't bother with the zoom h1 if you are planning on doing field recordings (especially if you want to use a shotgun mic). The reason being is that the mic does not have an XLR input for an external mic. Check out the Zoom h4n. That model has 2 XLR & 1/4 inputs which would be more suitable for recording foley. If you go for the h1 there will a ton of handling noise since it only uses the built in mic.

Thanks for your replies! I will use the shotgun for the indoor foley. Stereo isn't important.

Picking up a mic stand and shockmount now. I don't have an XLR-in sound recorder/interface just yet, so will have to manage with the XLR to mini jack on the Zoom H1. It's only for learning so hopefully the sound isn't too compromised. I shall be sure to post when I have some results!

Appreciate the support! Sound is so much fun!

Lucy

lucyve wrote:
Thanks for your replies! I will use the shotgun for the indoor foley. Stereo isn't important.

Picking up a mic stand and shockmount now. I don't have an XLR-in sound recorder/interface just yet, so will have to manage with the XLR to mini jack on the Zoom H1. It's only for learning so hopefully the sound isn't too compromised. I shall be sure to post when I have some results!

Appreciate the support! Sound is so much fun!

Lucy

No problem

Your described method should work in theory because if i'm not mistaken, the ME66 has a battery slot to supply phantom power to the microphone capsule/diaphragm. Most condenser microphones don't have that capability.