Lavalier Microphone Shootout - Comparing Sanken COS-11D and Sennheiser ME-2
Channel: Oxlaey
Date: 2015-09-09

Listen & compare Sanken's COS-11D to Sennheiser's ME-2 - before & after processing. 

A big thanks to Team 108 (www.facebook.com/Team108) from Singapore who loaned us the gear post-processing all the mygeorgetown films. 

Listen to Dan Jahn here: www.soundcloud.com/dajahn

"Hi, I'm Ryan with the OXLAEY project. I'm in Penang, Malaysia, right now shooting a series of short films about the city of George Town. My friend Dan, a DJ and sound engineer from Germany, came over to help out with the postproduction. While Dan was here, we thought we'd test out two high-end lavaliere microphones - the Sanken COS-11D and the Sennheiser ME-2. We're gonna do a microphone shoot out first and play the raw sound. Then we're gonna use the mobile studio set up to master the audio and compare the processed sound to the unprocessed."




"I’m Ryan with the OXLAEY project. Today, I’m in Penang, Malaysia and together with my friend Dan - we’re gonna test out two lav mics. We’re gonna do a lavaliere microphone shoot out between the Sanken C O S eleven and the Sennheiser M E 2. 

Wide & close of JRA in front of Arts Ed
Dan walking down the street
Dan walking up the stairs 
Dan walking into the Arts Ed
Shots of the microphones & gear


RYAN: We’ll start by playing the raw recordings. After that Dan’s gonna master each track and then, finally, we’ll compare the original raw recordings with the mastered tracks. 

Shots of setting up the microphone on JRA.
Shot of JRA pointing out the Sanken and the Sennheiser


RYAN: Here are the raw recordings.


DAN: So I’ve loaded up the audio in Reaper and I’ll make a few adjustments. blah blah

RYAN: So before listening to Dan’s mastered versions, just note that the tracks have been mastered independently. 

RYAN: Now you’ll hear all four tracks raw and mastered in comparison with each other.

SHOW 4 squares and 

DAN: SAY HERE WHAT YOUR OPINION IS!

RYAN: Although I use both microphones, I personally prefer the sound created through the Sanken COS-11. For my ears, it has a crisper sound without sounding too thin. The Sennheiser is fine but compared to the Sanken it just doesn’t have the clarity in the mid-range. In addition, the Sanken is more sensitive than the Sennheiser, so I get a stronger signal at a lower recording level which results in a sound with less noise.


RYAN: You can follow this link to watch a video on Dan’s mobile studio set up or click on this link to watch an OXLAEY film shot in Malaysia and hear both microphones in action.


Find out more about Dan’s work and band here: 

 
FOR WRITTEN NOTES:

"Both microphones are plugged into a Sennheiser G2 wireless system and are record directly onto a TASCAM DR-40. The Sennheiser transmitter is set at XXX and the receiver set at XXX. The G2 wireless system is plugged into the TASCAM's channel 3 and we're recording in 4-channel mode. The TASCAM’s external input is set to "mic" and the external input (channel 3) level is recording at at -34 db."