Looking at the updated version of a classic microphone
Whenever a new microphone comes along I like to check it out and see if it might be any good for voiceover or spoken word recording work.
So I was interested in a new microphone recently released by Sennheiser. Actually it is not really a new microphone – more of a re-packaging of an old faithful as Sennheiser have re thought the classic MD421 microphone to produce a new much smaller version which retains the same capsule and sound as the original – they have called it the MD 421 Kompakt.
The original MD 421 was brought out in 1963 as a general purpose cardioid dynamic microphone. It was originally used for vocals and by radio announcers and for other more general sound sources. Over time it became the go-to microphone for studio drum recording and would frequently be found placed over toms or on the kick drum. It is still widely in use as it produces great results on drums, percussion and on horns.
When I first worked in studios the MD 421 was often used as a test of newbie sound engineers – they would be told to set up the mic for recording and invariably would suppose from the mic’s appearance that it was a side address and not an end address mic and so get the placement wrong. To be correct you need to point it at the sound source so that you speak or sing in to the “seam”.
Famously its built in mounting is rubbish – it was modified and slightly improved in the 90’s when it was redesigned and released as the MD421-II. I’ve read that the mic was widely used in radio but I never saw one in a UK radio studio during my 2 decades as a presenter but perhaps it was used more in radio in Germany where the mic is still manufactured.
So onto the Kompakt – this new iteration of the MD421 is basically the same capsule and the same technical spec as the MD421-II attached to a much smaller and lighter body. The smaller size has been achieved by removing the 5 position bass roll off knob and doing away with the original and widely disliked mounting.
Early reviews suggest that the new version does sound almost exactly the same as its larger cousin. As before you can use the mic to get great results on acoustic instruments and vocals and very successfully on drums, horns and saxes.
So could you use the MD421 Kompakt for voice over work? Well you could… although the new mic does produce more body noise that the original when handled so some mic stand isolation would be needed.
It would work fine for VO – after all it’s a professional mic that gives great clear results – it would not be “wrong” to use it (if it sounds right it is right) – but there are many other, possibly more suitable, mics to choose from for VO work.
Sennheiser themselves have more or less revealed what their expectation is of the mic’s use – you can buy a version that is already attached to a mounting clip for drums. I’ll admit that the Kompakt is on my wishlist as a studio engineer not for voice but for sax, horns, percussion sound sources and also perhaps on a guitar speaker cabinet.
You can find out more about the MD421 Kompakt from the Sennheiser website
Chris Radley – Voice Over
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