Sennheiser MKH-416
Today we’re looking at the well-loved and mega classic Sennheiser MKH 416. For my tests I plugged it straight into a Mixpre 3 II with zero post processing of any kind.
The 416 is a supercardioid shotgun microphone that’s made in Germany and was originally designed to be used outdoors but can and has been used indoors for decades.
The 416 was first introduced by sennheiser in the mid 70s to compliment their MKH line of innovative microphones. So we’ll call it 1975, which was Jaws and the Rocky Horror Picture Show ago.
Man, I remember Jaws. This is me on set with Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider, Steven Spielberg, and Richard Dreyfus in 74. We were taking a break and horsing around. Good times. Anyway.
There’s a lot of tech stuff that goes with the 416 story… like T-power and the RF principal but I won’t bore you with that info. If you want that data, let me know and I can direct you to all that super-mega-nerd information. I do basic nerd, advanced nerd, and even go as high as mega nerd, but I never go super-mega-nerd here. Never go super mega nerd. It’s a baaaad idea.
Anyway, by the early 80s, all the Hollywood movie sound mixers and boom ops were using the 416 on set. It became such an industry standard in movies that it was referred to as just a Sennheiser. Similar to Kleenex or Scotch Tape.
It’s not just it’s beautiful sound with crisp highs and well-rounded lows that attracted Hollywood, it was its robust design. Seemingly indestructible. Its RF design allowed it to be mostly unaffected by humidity, extreme cold or heat, or bad weather in general. It is built to last. And I LOVE things that are built to last. I love them. They’re my favorite.
There is no way you’ve not heard this mic thousands of times or more. It’s been a Hollywood staple for decades. You’ve also heard it on many voiceovers for TV commercials and also for movie trailers. You know… the “in a world” things?
The 416 comes in a cool 70s style case. Inside the case is the iconically shaped pop filter, a mic clip, and of course the mic itself.
The 416 is a supercardioid microphone that sometimes behaves as a hypercardioid with mid and low frequencies. Incredibly directional with a great reach.
It’s got a frequency range of 40Hz to 20kHz with a self noise of 13 dBA
The mic looks and IS very simple. There’s no switches or knobs of any kind. Just a long tube. The pointy end is the front of the mic, and the back is an XLR connection. The grills on the side here are part of the interference tube. It’s design is to reject sounds coming from the sides while allowing a tight beam to be picked up from the front.
It runs on regular plain old unleaded 48 volt phantom power. There are no batteries. It’s well RF shielded since the body is made of brass. The 416 is well known to be a workhorse mic and is often the very first choice for challenging weather shoots when filming movies. It’s also often a first choice even without weather at all. It’s just a first choice. Period.
The included pop filter is iconic in its shape as I said earlier. It’s well recognized by location sound people all over the world. And it’s quite needed, too. Like any small diaphragm condenser mic, they are susceptible to wind noise. This usually isn’t a problem when it’s fixed in one place. But when you’re swinging the boom, you’ll want to protect the mic from air movements. So it’s good practice to always keep that pop filter on, unless you’re 100% sure there won’t be any air movements around the mic. For outdoors, it’s always best to put the mic in a blimp.
It weighs 172 grams.
It’s heavy enough to let you know that it’s well-built, but lighter than others. The deity S-Mic 2 is 200 grams for a comparison.
It measures almost 10 inches long and has a diameter of 3/4 of an inch.
Although this mic was designed for outdoor film sets, it is very often used indoors as well. It works in both scenarios but with one caveat. If you’re indoors and are in a small, reflective room, the bouncing reflections will enter the interference tube and cause a weird phasing sound that is sometimes impossible to remove in post. That’s the trade off. It sounds great indoors but just make sure you don’t have all kinds of quick reflections happening close to the mic.
Right then.
The Sennheiser MKH 416 can be yours for $999 US dollars. It’s not cheap. But it’s also far from the most expensive. Yeah.
Analysis!
Come on. Just. Come on! How could anyone dislike this mic? Crisp highs. A tight low. Great mids. Robust, resilient, and strong. Plus the Hollywood movie factor? I mean, I’ve wanted this mic since I was a kid and saw it on so many film sets. I had to give up all my vices and extracurriculars just to afford this. But I’m doing fine…
If you work in production sound, you NEED one. Not just because it’s a great mic, but also because it’s requested a lot. From the producers or the people who hire you. Everyone in the business has heard of the 416 and so having one with you will appease your clients. Not having one might lose you the job. I’ve heard stories. So You can’t go wrong owning one.
So let’s get nitpicky for a moment.
It has very unforgiving pickup beam. You need to be pointing precisely where you want it to be , 100% on axis, and you need to follow your talent well. Because the off-axis coloration isn’t the best. So it’s a very specific pointed mic.
I’ll also add that it can get a little sibilant when using it very close for that movie trailer sound. Even without being extremely close to it, it can be a tad sibilant. That’s easily rectified with a de-esser, so it’s not a big deal.
Lastly, I did notice it has a tiny bit of self noise. It’s very low and easily managed in post, but I do hear it when I crank it. I cranked it and then ran the cheap Waves Clarity plugin (the stripped down $29 one) just a touch and it was gone. But it’s worth mentioning.
And that’s all I can find that may be a negative. But they’re hardly anything to pass this mic up for. I mean, pick a movie and you’ve heard it. It was basically on everything from the 80s and 90s and is still used every day in Hollywood on the most modern of movies.
“Right now, a boom op somewhere is employing a 416 on a boom for a movie that will likely win an Oscar in 2024.”
—I wrote this article before the strikes that were happening in Hollywood. So, outside of scabs, no one is employing a 416 right now.
If it’s good enough for the best of the best, it’s good enough for you and me. It was used fairly recently in The Wolf of Wallstreet, Enola Holmes, John Wick and so many more. It’s also used in TV. Fraser, the Connor’s, and I even saw that they’re also currently using this mic on House of Dragons.
The rest of this video is a testament to the overwhelming positives, and I hope it captures why this mic is still industry standard almost 50 years after it was released.
Should you buy the sennheiser mkh 416?
Well… If you can afford it and you’re into location sound, narration, voiceovers, foley, and sound FX, then that would be a resounding yes.
If you’re doing music production then no. I can’t see any value for a music producer or engineer to own one of these. It’s not in any way made for music recording.
I could not love a human baby as much as I love this mic. And it works beautifully together with my other beloved — the Oktava MK-012 — when combined for both indoors and out in a production. It’s a damn fine mic. Damn fine.
The Sennheiser MKH 416. Get one.
Bye now.
END TRANSMISSION
Watch my video review!
