Stereo Microphone Comparison - RODE Stereo VideoMic Pro vs Sennheiser MKE440 

Thanks so much for watching and commenting! :) I appreciate it!

Fishin2The Max ?

Thanks so much for watching! :)

@Marvin Rocco thanks for your reply. I got to the site thru google and Im trying it out now. I see it takes quite some time so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

@Marvin Rocco It worked and I actually got access to my account again. I am so happy:D Thanks so much, you saved my ass !

@Calvin Lyle You are welcome =)

Awesome! I'm glad it could help out :) Thank you for watching!

Thank you for watching! :)

I agree- I tend to like the sound of Sennheiser mics in general a bit more than the Rode to be honest (not that Rode mics are bad by any means), and this is definitely true here as well :)

Thanks for watching! I don't think you'll regret it, it's a great mic :)

Between these 2, for that purpose, I might suggest the Sennheiser. The rode captures a bit too much and the focus of your recording might get lost in all of it a bit.

Thanks! For that setup I'd probably use a more directional shotgun style boom mic or a broadcast mic depending on the setup. Recently I've been using a combination of the Deity S-Mic 2S and Shure SM7B in the studio

@@ScottDumas Which mic has lower internal noise?

You'll most likely need to turn on the lower sensitivity and use that in combination with dialing the audio input on your camera down lower. Usually it's advised to aim for about -12dB or so on your camera's audio levels. Specific settings will depend on what camera you have, how loud the audio actually is and how far away you are. Hope that helps!

Amazing nice, Any updates on this mod since? Interested to hear how it sounds! Also isn't binaural need Omni-directional capsules?

I’ve tested the sennheiser with their furry windscreen and that really helps with wind, but haven’t tried anything like that on the Rode personally ...didn’t notice any other problems while walking on either of them (I guess you mean with the shock mount?)

@@ScottDumas Yes, thanks!

Depending on the result you want, when filming bands indoors it might be better to get a recording from the mixing board or at least have a stationary mic recording separately that you can sync in post so the sound is consistent between angles and framing. For interviews while hiking, an on camera mic would be a good way to go and I do feel like the Sennheiser would be a great choice to focus on your subject while still taking in a bit of the environment.

@@ScottDumas Thats if I can get the sound guy to let me get a line from the mixing board lol. Definately would be better. I think most of the time, i would just be some random videos from the crowd perspective or near stage. I guess another option would be a Rode wireless with the external mic connected, to keep the mic in one spot while I move around. Wonder how that would sound. Thanks for the reply.

Hey man! I depends what exactly you're going for... for just picking up some ambient sounds something like the Zoom H1 could work... if you want a mic for the actual interviews you could use a Lav mic like the Aputure A.Lav, or some cheaper on camera mics are the Rode Video Micro or Videomic Go (or even the first version of the videomic pro). A combination of something like the videomic and H1 recorder attached to a pole could work like a boom mic too if you want to get it up and over the interviewee. Let me know what you think of those and/or if you have any other questions :)

Hey, really sorry to hear that! And surprised to be honest. So not only does the problem persist on other cameras, but it also didn't exist for the first few months you used it? That's definitely something wrong then. I'd still like to say you've just been unlucky, since Sennheiser does have a very solid reputation, but I've not experienced that myself fortunately.

Glad it could help! The Sennheiser is a great choice :)

Hi! That's a tough one. If you were closer to the action I'd say that it would be a good choice but a lot of shotgun microphones will suffer from longer distances and you'll likely have lots of the crowd noise mixed in with the band sounding distant. Ideally, having someone closer to the action recording the sound separately would be my recommendation (even on the side of the field with the Sennheiser mounted on a stand recording into an H4N or something would be a big help). I'm not sure if that's something you'd be able to do but it would be my recommendation. :)

Connor, if you see this, let me know if you ended up trying the Sennheiser for this purpose. I’m looking for the same thing. Recording marching bands on the field and concerts in an auditorium.

Hi! Quality wise they're both great. I found the Sennheiser is more directional though, so if you want to have it focused on what's in front of it while not taking in quite so much of the surrounding noise, that's the choice. If you want overall ambient room audio, the Rode is a good one. Hope that helps!

+InterCity-1-3-4 makes sense! :)

I hope my answer still helps, but Rode is the way to go. And a good tripod, too. Saludos!

@@germanosorio1 Got the Rode myself, a year ago, and I shot some samples so you can see for yourself

I'd say the Stereo VMP would likely get the "fullness! of that ambient sound a bit better. The Sennheiser, while stereo, is more directional. But, for that setup I don't see any need for that.

Scott Dumas thank you so much.. I have watched vdo again with earphones vmp sounded bit noisier and distracting and little bit unpleasant to the ears...What you think?

@@lsdhillon02 I think it will definitely depend on the surroundings ...although generally speaking I do personally like the Sennheiser better for my use. I'd definitely be curious to try them recording ambience in nature, because I think they'd definitely perform very differently than the situations in this video.

Scott Dumas it would be great to know how they perform in nature ambiance...thanks man

Between these two I'd definitely recommend the Sennheiser for that. Of course, a two mic setup with a pickup/acoustic mic placed in the guitar and a second vocal mic would get the best results, but in terms of a simple setup, the Rode stereo mic will definitely pick up too much of your surroundings.

Interesting insight, I appreciate it! I'm definitely not as much of an audiophile myself so comments like this definitely help :)

Awesome! I'm sure you'll love the D500, seems like a beast of a camera! I hope the Rode works out for you as well! I don't think you could go wrong with either of these :)

Agreed! The rode would make a great mic for catching the environment but when there's a clear subject the Sennheiser is amazing.

For my initial purposes (incl. filming live music probably), I decided finally for the MKE 440, and for plans to stay in the mobile phone genre, I connected it to my Google Pixel 3 XL on a Movi Cinema Robot gimbal. Three remarks: (1) somehow it seems like I unwittingly took some risk with that pairing as it took forever to hone in on the necessary connecting cable. Because all else turned the stereo MKE 440 into a mono mic, I thought I would have to send it back and just "go mono". Bear in mind the Google Pixel 3 XL has a stereo mic to begin with. Nevertheless, entry via the USB C port calls for some trickery apparently. A TRS to TRRS adapter guaranteed mono, and per another YTer's recommendation, the $7 Sabrent USB Type C Stereo 3D Sound Adapter also yielded mono by input to its pink colored mic 3.5mm port. (The green port for headphones didn't recorded audio of course). WHAT WORKS IN STEREO IS THE €38 Boya 3.5mm TRS to Type-C Connector Audio Cable, BOYA Microphone Adapter plus a female-female 3.5mm (1/8th") adapter (and I aimed for a well-made one). The Boya has a coiled cable like the MKE 440, and together that provide good length for dodging the gimbal weights and the Boya's little box of electronics plus the f/f 3.5mm adapter to connect Boya to Sennheiser. (2) my second remark is that with the Boya clearly yielding stereo recording in the Google Pixel 3 XL, I find the MKE 440 to be the MILDEST KIND OF STEREO, meaning the 440 is truly a hybrid: focused forward but with some stereo. Thus, cars passing by definitely go from left to right, but I don't know if it's the Pixel phone set-up, but my walk arounds don't seem to have as dramatic a stereo effect as yours or other YT demos, except for maybe 20% of them. Figuring that what's been achieved with the Boya cable is stereo, and that there isn't such thing as reduced semi-stereo, I conclude that a room's natural reverb level is factoring in. Tests in the wet sounding garage had my voice coming in all around. Outside on the street it was better. The MKE 440 is a pair of shotgun mics facing predominantly forward, I kept reminding myself. Since my purposes nearly swayed me to a mono mic, I believe I've made the right choice with the MKE 440 given that I need room context achieved by stereo. (3) Last remark: I needed two washers to get the Movi gimbal's hoodle to screw tightly into the MKE 440. I also bought a SmallRig shoe, but that, too, was spinning loosely. The double washer solution from hoodie to MKE 440 is tight enough, if not exactly quick to take on and off. (4) A super final remark is that your comparison video was super helpful and decisive. The intensity of left / right ambiance walking down the street in Japan really demonstrated the good purpose of both mics. My purposes require focus usually, so the MKE 440 came first. Down the road, I'll surely end up with mono and a pure x/y mics. One day, I'll upload some demo videos of the above info. I have photos of the set-up, but a RU-vid reply isn't the place for those.

@@ImprovUnedited Hey, I really appreciate that and hope other readers do too, lots of interesting info there and glad you took the time to work through all the issues with the mobile setup. In any case, very glad to hear you found the right mic for you at the moment and happy that this video could play a part in it :) Enjoy!

Yep, the Sennheiser is still a much more focused sound, just with a stereo signal. I think that gives it a unique sound for sure, but I would say the applications for these 2 are definitely going to be different like you said. :)

I personally would go with the Sennheiser... it felt to me to have that stereo sound but still focus on what's in the frame which feels natural and appropriate when you have any sort of action or people in your video.

do you mean not using the mic's built in pre-amp? It's absolutely going to be better than the camera in a lot of cases. It will of course depend on the camera and also the microphone... but not sure about that Chinese comment either- Rode is an Australian based company and Sennheiser is German. Companies like Deity also have fantastic quality microphones and just assuming that ANY camera is better than ANY mic's built in pre-amp seems a bit assuming.

This is completely the opposite of the truth. Camera built-in preamps are often very low quality.

Warranty can definitely be something worth considering! :)

I did? Sorry, not sure which part you're talking about because I don't talk over any of the samples

that also made me go mad and downvote

Anger issues ?.