The Quest for Quality: A Creator's Journey to Perfection

As a creator and a gear head, it's easy to get wrapped up in constantly upgrading your gear over and over. The quest for the best possible quality through tiny little details that your average viewer will never notice isn't a very rewarding one, but it's an addicting one. There's a thrill in the hunt for the perfect piece of kit that satisfies your work flow needs and sounds pretty great in the quality department, too.

But what is truly rewarding is when the brakes get slammed on your gear quest and you find the perfect piece of kit that makes all the difference. For me, this was the moment I settled on my primary means of processing desktop audio – the ElectroVoice RE20 and the DBX 286s channel strip. It's been about a year since I made this switch, and I haven't looked back. The sound quality is sublime, and it's been a game-changer for my work.

However, even with my trusty setup in place, there was one more piece of the puzzle that I had yet to find – an on-camera mic that would blow me away. That all changed when Sennheiser sent me their MKH-416 shotgun microphone for review and use in my OBS Master Class last fall. Oh man, do I love it! I'm almost tempted to get a second one and replace my RE20 with it for my desktop shooting too!

The Sennheiser MKH-416 is a short shotgun microphone that's actually used on TV sets and in many voiceover studios. It's a sturdily-built matte black microphone that comes in a great case with a windsock. Sennheiser boasts this microphone as having high feedback, immunity to humidity, and very low self-noise. Originally developed in the 1970s, this mic was specifically designed with RF modularity in mind so that the microphone can adjust its impedance to match that of the audio cables being used, to prevent significant self-noise.

This means it has become commonly used for films, TV shows, and even voiceover studios due to its clarity and warm bass response without the boomy proximity effect of large-diaphragm condenser mics. The off-axis rejection is very nice here, and the sound... Oooooh the sound! I've been asked many times since using this mic for videos what kind of post-processing I'm doing to my vocals to make them sound so dang good, and for the first time in a long time, my answer is "none." Yes, with the Sennheiser MKH-416, I perform zero post-processing on the microphone recording, other than adding a little gain to bring levels up.

No compression, no EQ, nothing. While I may find some light EQ or compression settings to keep things balanced in the long-term, I am blown away by how great this microphone sounds right out of the box. The mic works great with my MixPre-3, and I've been impressed with how little power it requires to get good sound out of it. It still requires 48v phantom power, but it doesn't require anywhere near as much gain as something like my Rode NTG-2 does, which further helps prevent system noise.

Primarily, I use this mic for on-set camera shoots, but it's got quite a following for studio voiceover recordings too. To touch on that, here's my buddy Mike from Booth Junkies to tell you what's what: "While I'll always try out new hardware and gear just for reviews and to expand my knowledge and experience base, I'm fairly set on the Sennheiser MKH-416 being my primary mic moving forward." Switching audio hardware all the time is very problematic for maintaining consistent quality in videos, so I'm very happy to have this new setup that I can just turn on and go with every time I record.

As always, affiliate product links will be in the description below. Hit the like button if you enjoyed this video, subscribe for more awesome tech content, and I'll see you next time! This video is sponsored by viewers like you. Our videos would not be possible without the generosity of those of you who contribute to one of our fan-funding options, be it DonorBox, Twitch Subscriptions, Direct Contributions via PayPal, or Patreon.

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"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enAs a creator and a gear head, it’s easyto get wrapped up in constantly upgradingyour gear over and over.The quest for the best possible quality throughtiny little details that your average viewerwill never notice isn’t a very rewardingone, but it’s an addicting one.But what IS rewarding is when the brakes getslammed on your gear quest and you find theperfect piece of kit that satisfies your workflowneeds and sounds pretty great in the qualitydepartment, too.Quality tech education and gaming nostalgiathat won't put your to sleep.Get subscribed and turn on notifications sothat you won't miss the next guide.I’m EposVox, here to make tech easier andmore fun and I’ve made some questionablechoices in the name of audio on this channel…(Ever since the original Elgato Game CaptureHD gaming capture card launched at a competitiveprice....I've reviewed quite a few expensive microphoneson the channel, I'm even using one right now,the ElectroVoice RE320...)And I’m not going to lie, being obsessiveabout audio quality while being unhappy withevery solution I found was pretty stressfulfor a while.Thankfully I finally settled on the ElectroVoiceRE20 and the DBX 286s channel strip as myprimary means of processing desktop audioabout a year ago, and have never looked back.But it wasn’t until last fall that I finallyfound an on-camera mic to fall in love with.But oh man, do I love it, and I kinda wanta second.This is the Sennheiser MKH-416, a short shotgunmicrophone that’s actually used on TV setsand in many voiceover studios.This was sent to me by Sennheiser for reviewand to use to produce my OBS Master Classin fall of 2017.With it, I purchased a SoundDevices MixPre-3audio recorder and an Atomos Ninja Infernovideo recorder to optimize my workflow forsuch an intense shoot.I’d previously been committed to using lavaliermics for my shoots and honestly didn’t expectto use the MKH-416 much past this course,but I use it for every shoot I can these days.This may be the last on-camera mic I needin my studio.I’m almost tempted to get a second and replacemy RE20 with it for my desktop shooting, too!This is a sturdily-built matte black microphonethat comes in a great case with a windsock.Sennheiser boasts this microphone as havinghigh feedback, immunity to humidity, and verylow self-noise.Originally developed in the 1970s, this micwas specifically designed with RF modularityin mind so that the microphone can adjustits impedance to match that of the audio cablesbeing used, to prevent significant self-noise.This means it has become commonly used forfilms, TV shows, and even voiceover studiosdue to its clarity and warm bass responsewithout the boomy proximity effect of largediaphragm condenser mics.The off-axis rejection is very nice here andthe sound….Oooooh the sound.I’ve been asked many times since using thismic for videos what kind of post-processingI’m doing to my vocals to make them soundso dang good and for the first time in a longtime, my answer is “none.”Yes - with the Sennheiser MKH-416, I performzero post-processing on the microphone recording,other than adding a little gain to bring levelsup.No compression, no EQ, nothing.While I may find some light EQ or compressionsettings to keep things balanced in the long-term,I am blown away by how great this microphonesounds right out of the box.The mic works great with my MixPre-3, andI’ve been impressed with how little powerit requires to get good sound out of it.It still requires 48v phantom power, but itdoesn’t require anywhere near as much gainas something like my Rode NTG-2 does, whichfurther helps prevent system noise.I primarily use this mic for on-set camerashoots, but it’s got quite the followingfor studio voiceover recordings, as well.To touch on that, here’s my buddy Mike fromBooth Junkies to tell you what’s what:While I’ll always tryoutnewhardware and gear just for reviews and toexpand my knowledge and experience base, I’mfairly set on the Sennheiser MKH-416 beingmy primary mic moving forward.Switching audio hardware all the time is veryproblematic for maintaining consistent qualityin videos, so I’m very happy to have thisnew setup that I can just turn on and go withevery time I record.As always, affiliate product links will bein the description below.Hit the like button if you enjoyed this video,subscribe for more awesome tech content, andI’ll see you next time!This video is sponsored by viewers like you.Our videos would not be possible without thegenerosity of those of you who contributeto one of our fan-funding options, be it DonorBox,Twitch Subscriptions, Direct Contributionsvia PayPal, or Patreon.To join our inner-circle and get behind-the-sceneslooks at videos, go to eposvox.com/supportto learn more, and join us on discord at eposvox.com/discord.Thanks!\n"