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I've noticed that the Sennheiser 614 is apparently one of the superstar microphones for V/O work these days. When I was a full time V/O guy the U87, 414, RE20 or 421 were the king of the booth.

So why use the Sennheiser 614 for V/O? The only reason I can conceive of are: eliminate bad room/make room irrelevant; target just the sound projecting portion of the V/O's sound producing instrument to give more recording control.

I recognize that only the very best V/Os are vocally consistent enough take-to-take to allow the good take to splice seamlessly with the previous good takes; and that a mic like the U87 can hear when a V/O has taken a drink of water, so maybe that explains the 614s popularity. In that sense I can see the mics value for consistency room-to-room, day-to-day or even place-to-place if it works like I think it does, but I've never used it.

Here's an article:

http://www.coreyburton.com/sennheiser.html

What say you?

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Comments

moonbaby Fri, 04/17/2009 - 08:23

Looking forward to the post. Somehow, I missed this posting when it first appeared. You are correct about the shotgun-for-VO use: to keep the room out of the picture. And with studios and their booths getting smaller these days, that has become an issue when using LDCs.
I like my E-V RE-20 and Beyer M99. Shotguns are just too unforgiving for mois :lol:

Davedog Fri, 04/17/2009 - 11:21

Oh, its a 416. I kept wondering, what the heck is THAT number...I've never heard of it....

From the article, it doesnt sound like a very good mic for that old-timey big voice sound you have stated you are trying to get back to.

It does sound like it would be good on a boom, spot micing some hack coughing up his lines in a soap opera.

griz Fri, 04/17/2009 - 11:29

It's definitely not what I've been shooting for, however, in reading the v/o forums and the web pages of the top v/o folks it seems to be wildly popular - especially for movie trailers. Like I said, I bought one and did a really quick listen this morning. First impressions are that it really surprised me.

One situation the big producers and V/O talent find themselves in frequently is a last minute change needed when the V/O is in a remote location. Perhaps it's good for matching between sessions?

dvdhawk Fri, 04/17/2009 - 12:06

In a world....

where the movie trailer voiceover talent is scrambling....

to fill the void left by the late great Don LaFontaine...

a man who had a virtual monopoly on the business for the last 20 years...

we join one man's quest to find a mic that he can count on...

to get his piece of the action and some of that sweet sweet Hollywood money...

this time it's personal!

This is the format I will expect all future v/o mic reviews. :)

griz Thu, 04/23/2009 - 07:50

I haven't forgotten my promise of a comparison, but my new A->D box blew up and I'm waiting for a new RME FireFace to arrive. (It was not an RME that blew up but a lower-end A->D...but that failure moved me to a better grade piece.)

OBTW - I've never done a movie trailer...but if a producer wants to throw a few at me I'm more than willing.

The read will be:

In a world....

where movie trailer voiceover talent is scrambling....

to fill the void left by the late great Don LaFontaine...

a man who had a virtual monopoly on the business for the last 20 years...

we join one man's quest to find a mic that he can count on...

to get his piece of the action and some of that sweet sweet Hollywood money...

this time it's personal!

drumrob Tue, 04/28/2009 - 16:55

I knew that "Hollywood" used the 416 for some ADR (dialogue replacement) sessions so they could match the mic used in the field. That makes sense. I wasn't aware that many engineers were apparently using it for all voice-overs. That's too bad. I've used it and got o.k. results, but I definitely agree that LDC mics are generally going to give better results. The 416 can sound very good, but generally you want to use it overhead, like it would be on a boom. That way you do get more of the chest sound that is missing if you set it up on a standard mic stand and point it at your mouth.

In a time...

When large diaphragm mics are more affordable than ever...

A single mic rules the world...

In a world...

Where millions are spent on a single CG shot...

Audio engineers grab at the familiar...

And the standards fall into the depths of hell...

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