Comments

PeterWright wrote on 8/18/2005, 6:33 AM
I've recently bought a Sony UWP-C1 and am delighted with its performance.
winrockpost wrote on 8/18/2005, 7:28 AM
We have some Sennheiser MKE2, and are very happy with them. Have used only for spoken voice, never tried for singing or instruments.
Coursedesign wrote on 8/18/2005, 11:25 AM
Anything will be better than a Sony mic, it will take them a while to catch up again (they were once leaders in broadcast lavs, at least for volume). I have a couple of unusual specialty mics from Sony, and in those I accept that they are not about ultimate sound quality, but about making recording possible in difficult environments..

Opinions differ, but IMHO the Sanken COS-11s sounds the best, closely followed by Countryman B6. I also have an AudioTechnica AT899 that is exceptionally decent-sounding.

Sennheiser MKE2 is a good classic mic, many people like it but it doesn't compare to the ones above IMHO.

Tram TR-50 is at the bottom of the list, they sound "grainy" to me.

I only do dialog, I never record music with lavs (but not because it would always be wrong).

Note also that the B6 is the smallest mic and it is exceptionally sweat-resistant, this is important sometimes.
John_Cline wrote on 8/18/2005, 1:43 PM
Mike,

You might want to add the Audio Technica AT-899 lav mic to your list, it sounds absolutely terrific. It's my personal favorite.

John
BrianStanding wrote on 8/18/2005, 2:27 PM
What's wrong with the Sonys? I have a 44B and a 55B, and they've always done the job for me. I also have a MKE-2 attached to an Evolution 100 kit, but as that's a wireless setup, I can't really compare that with the wired units.

What am I missing?
Coursedesign wrote on 8/18/2005, 3:20 PM
If you compare lavs hooked up to slightly more high end preamps and recording devices (not a straight cable to a prosumer DV camcorder), you will find that the Sony lavs don't sound as clear as the MKE2, AT899, Countryman B6, Sanken COS-11s, etc.

The difference is substantial, but will of course be masked somewhat by noisy preamps. Still, I shot a lot of very well accepted DV footage in my early days where I used AT 830 budget lavs, and the sound was OK since there was no direct comparison (and the documentary interviews were interesting enough that few people thought of anything else).
rs170a wrote on 8/18/2005, 5:16 PM
Thanks for the suggestions folks.

To BrianStanding, the Sony ECM-44B's are great workhorses but the high frequency cut-off is 15k so a lot of highs get beaten up and clipped off.

To Coursedesign, several folks on Google audio groups as well as some sales reps I've come to respect have given the Sanken high marks as well. Time to do a rental and see what they're like.

Mike
FuTz wrote on 8/19/2005, 8:17 AM
I'm so much sold to the Sanken mics that I couldn't tell a bad thing about 'em... Number one IMO... They use the best wiring (very flexible) and are very easy to conceal. And that RM-11 rubber unit is great for mounting them.
The Countrymen, never used it but I'd really be curious to do : )
Sony: they may not be the best sounding mics but a quality I found : in very noisy environments, they cut a lot of the crap around so they're very useful sometimes. In fact, I'd be willing to try them to mic music instruments; less "colored" in the highs than the Sankens or the (horribly colored) Trams.
The ones I don't particularly like but would use anyway if I had no choice: the Trams. Brand new they're ok, but hell they don't age well and they break easily...
Personnal opinions of course.