[Steelflight]

ok... so i have the me66/k6 setup and the mzh700 hi-md. i have it on PCM sound quality, mic sens on high, and also have been recording in manual mode (tried automatic too but got same results). it is set at 17/30.

what settings do you recommend for using this mic and do you know of any websites i can learn about using it? havent found any yet :(. i have been messing around with it, talking into it at point blank range, and i can barely hear it. the cheap cardioid mic i bought at radio shack for 30 bucks gets a much clearer, better signal! im just worried this wont pick up the bird calls i was hoping from a distance...

thanks a lot

[ermine]

Originally Posted by Steelflight

i have been messing around with it, talking into it at point blank range, and i can barely hear it. the cheap cardioid mic i bought at radio shack for 30 bucks gets a much clearer, better signal! im just worried this wont pick up the bird calls i was hoping from a distance...

thanks a lot

Your battery is out, or you have a faulty mic or cable. Or you are using a K6P which wants 48V (there's nowhere to put a battery in that case). Or you have a K6-CL powering module which gives you 18dB less sensitivity for music recording applications. Or you, ahem, haven't switched the powering module on - that's too easy to do in the heat of the moment

Sennheiser's manuals etc are here

http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser...nsf/root/03279

There's no way the results you are getting are right.

[Steelflight]

uh oh, seems like i might have seen the letters 'cl' on the box... not sure. is there a noticeable difference in appearance between them? in the meantime i'm going to go look for the box! thanks!

[Steelflight]

ok you are scaring me :O. the box says "K6-C" ---> doesn't say CL.

[Steelflight]

also, i just pulled the k6 power module out of the me66. on the back of the batter compartment it just says 'sennheiser K6'

i dont see a model number anywhere. the place i ordered it from was full compass systems, and nowhere does it say that it is a CL model.

"SENNHEISER K6 Power unit only for ME series capsules, capsule not included"

[Steelflight]

sorry about the spam of posts... but i keep thinking of things after i already hit submit. yes, the power is on, because i am getting sound, its just very soft and quiet and not very loud. the light blinks bright red, then goes off (is it supposed to stay on)?

[Steelflight]

ok last bit of info...

i checked the manual, and it says the -C just stands for "without accessories." so it looks like it isn't a -CL. as far as the battery goes, i pulled a brand new duracell out of a box and put it in. same thing. i have been testing it inside though...

however, i was outside earlier, and i set it down and whistied about 30-40 feet away (pretty loud whistling, too) from it and the whistling was very quiet and not as loud as on my cheap cardioid.

could it have something to do with my settings on the mzh700?

[ermine]

Originally Posted by Steelflight

could it have something to do with my settings on the mzh700?

Should be set to:

Rec Settings

Volume : Manual

Mic Sens : High

The ME66 is capable of driving the HiMD input low impedance of about 5k. I haven't got personal experience of using the ME66 with HiMD but know of people that do, and have heard their recordings. There is the extremely remote possibility that the PiP power is fooling the ME66 into expecting phantom power and cutting over to that from the battery, but it is 2.5V rather than 48V and I am sure others would have run into this by now. The ME series in combination with a HiMD is the classic entry-level system.

I would start to look for a fault. Does this mic work okay with the system of the person you borrowed it from, and if so, what is that?

[Steelflight]

ok i talked to a guy at a mic store and he said i need to "enable the mic to send audio to both channels of the recorder." he said i might be able to set my mini disc on mono or something, or i may have to buy something. you familiar with this, ermine?

thanks

[ermine]

Originally Posted by Steelflight

ok i talked to a guy at a mic store and he said i need to "enable the mic to send audio to both channels of the recorder." he said i might be able to set my mini disc on mono or something, or i may have to buy something. you familiar with this, ermine?

thanks

Hmm. My first thought was this sounds like BS to me, but...

HiMD has no mono mode. So you're not gonna be setting your MD to mono any time real soon. Older decks did. It's not a problem.

What is the lead coming out of your mic? it may terminate in a 3.5mm mono jack, with two shiny metal parts. Contrast this with your headphones, which have three shiny metal bits on the jack. It is true that you will probably hear output only from the LH side of the headphones, and not the RH side. I have a NH700 and used it with a Sennheiser MKE300 which had a mono jack. It worked okay but only sent a signal to the LH side. So if you're monitoring the RH side you will be out of luck - hardly any signal at all. You should see this difference on the metering.

The plug in power on the RH side will be shorted to ground on a mono jack. This wasn't a problem with my MD and shouldn't be with yours, other than making the RH side scratchy if you rattle the jack plug

Check that you are monitoring the correct channel... You can buy adapters which send the mono signal to both channels of a stereo recorder, but you shouldn't need this - just take only the active channel when you transfer and edit the recording.

[Steelflight]

it has to be my xlr cable connecting the minidisc and the mic...

my xlr cable has 2 black lines/grooves on the tip. should it have 1? my headphones also have two grooves.

some guy told me i should try to use a "xvf105 Female XLR 3.5 mm"

thanks a lot, ermine. appreciate all the feedback-- you're the most knowlegeable person I've met.

[Steelflight]

i'm beginning to think my sennheiser me66/k6 setup is defective. i purchased a stereo-to-mono adapter, which did help-- sound now comes out both of the headphones and it records on both channels. however, sound quality is still very faint. The sound quality is just as good or maybe even worse as a 20 dollar cardioid mic i bought at radio shack 5 years ago when i record a person talking 5 feet in front of it.

any ideas? i guess the next step is to call sennheiser.

[ermine]

Originally Posted by Steelflight

i'm beginning to think my sennheiser me66/k6 setup is defective.

It's beginning to look that way. The sensitivity of the Sennheiser ME66 is excellent at 50mV/Pa, which is a lot more than a typical consumer mic. So for a given sound source at a given distance, you'll get five times as much signal as from a Sony ECMMS957 consumer mic f'rinstance. It won't sound five times as loud since our hearing is not linear, but it will definitely sound louder.

The XLR mic pinout is standard and most problems tend to arise with connectors. Might be worth taking the MD and both mikes to a music shop and trying them out there on one of their recorders or mixers. They can probably sell you a replacement cable if you try the mikes with their gear and cable and they sound okay.

[Steelflight]

do you think it might be because i dont have some sort of preamp?

[ermine]

Originally Posted by Steelflight

do you think it might be because i dont have some sort of preamp?

No. Believe me, the ME66 should be a fair bit louder that the typical consumer mic. The 50mV/Pa is a fantastic sensitivity - four as much as the Rode NT4, five times as much as the Shure WL183. People use those mics with MDs. I've just listened to a recording someone made with a ME66 and an old MD of a song thrush and some goldcrests. The old MDs were noisy brutes compared with the NH700, but he got enough level. Goldcrests arent loud songsters...

[Steelflight]

thanks ermine, appreciate the help. yuo are the most knowledgeable, helpful person i've met! I am going to send this back as a defective mic and let you know what happens.

thanks again.

[griffin]

Originally Posted by Steelflight

do you think it might be because i dont have some sort of preamp?

I use a ME67 ( more directional that ME66 ) with a MZNH900 MD and the level and gain that is available in good conditions ( and at a good quality too) may just make you question whether you need a parabola ( though a Telinga is unbelievably good in windy conditions whereas long/short guns aren't IMHO ). I record at about 13-18 on the MD with this mic - my old cheapo was at 27 !

One last tip, you may have got this already on Nature Recordists (?), check that the battery has been inserted the right way round. On the K6 it is easy to put it in the wrong way round and no signal will come through ( I did ! ).

Linz