I already know that Schoeps and high-end Sennheisers are frequently used in feature films, but what about more humble mics like the ME66, or others in the K6 series? Does anyone know of any nationally released movies that used this mic? I know this mic seems to have fallen into disfavor with some people on these boards as of late, and I'd rather not reopen the debate about whether or not this is the best low-to-medium priced mic out there. I just want to know if someone has actually used it in a nationally released film, and how it turned out. I'd also be curious to know what other affordable mics have been used in indie films as well.

I second this request!

Audio technika 897.
Bruce yarock

Lurk in RAMPS (http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&newwindow=1&q=dialog+mics&meta=group%3Drec.arts.movies.production.sound) or RAP (http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&newwindow=1&q=dialog+mics&meta=group%3Drec.audio.pro)


I already had this typed out and lost it once. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!

Anyhoo. Apart from the standard short shotgun and hyper ( such as the MKH416, MKH 60, KMR81i, Sanken CS-3e , CMC6/MK41 and MKH50) you'll find:
The AKG Blue Line (C300b with CK93 or CK98) The CK93 is very schoeps like in it's sound. It doesn't have the smooth off axis or the low self noise but it ain't bad. The CK98 I haven't heard but there have been good comments about it.

The Oktava is mentioned as a damn fine mic to use when you really don't want to chance a $1300 MKH50 or schoeps MK41.

The AKG ULS hyper and short shotgun are a sweet sounding pair. The C480b preamp has a dual high pass as well as -10dB, 0dB(flat) and +6dB output levels. The self noise is as low as 11 dB (flat) which is pretty impressive (click for AKG site) (http://www.akg.com/mediadatabase/psfile/datei/50/ULS_Series4055c282bda80.pdf)

The sanken CS-1 is popular for it all round ability as an excellent dialog mic and relatively low price. It's a short shotgun but has no rear lobe to speak of.

The AT 4053 is known as a good dialog mic and the 4073 as a budget short shotgun that's more than worth it's money.

I'm afraid the ME66 is mostly an ENG microphone.

I did a pretty extensive mic comparison of all of the major and minor players in the short shotgun and hypercardoid group. There are uncompressed and mp3 files of each mic . I tried to show the on and off axis characteristics as best i could. it ain't perfect but it there to listen to.

shotgun shootout (http://www.dvfreelancer.com/articles/shotgun_shootout.html)

thanks for the review. I apreciate it. I been searching on the net for reviews, but I always come back to dvinfo's forum which is the best. I am looking at your microphone review right now. Wow!

This is a unique forum, very civilizefd and we have some pretty good expertise and a great moderator. Douglas is a man of many talents.

You can never have enough civilized "ports of call" on the internet.

I put the mic clips together so that others didn't have to go through the frustration that I experienced. The clips don't answer all of the questions but you certainly come away with a more intimate knowledge of whayt's out there.