Sennheiser MKH 50 Mic Review:
What To Expect from This Mic
Quality
The quality that you get from the Sennheiser MKH 50 is a lot higher than what you get from most other popular overhead drum mics. Those are only a fraction of the price, so you can imagine how much better this mic sounds in comparison.
The mic has a very flat response, which makes it quite easy to mix. That’s a great quality to have, as it allows you to get whatever drum kit sound you desire. The audio that it picks up is very true to what your drums sound like in front of you.
The mic also has an impressive amount of lateral rejection, meaning that it won’t pick up sounds that you don’t want it to. That aspect is a bit weird when compared to overhead mics that pick up everything. However, we’d say that this works perfectly when you combine it with close mics on all your drums.
Construction
The Sennheiser MKH 50 is designed using symmetrical transducer technology. It’s an excellent technology that ensures that the mic works very well, has low self-noise, and picks up sounds cleanly and accurately.
The two physical construction features that can be very useful are the switchable roll-off filter and pre-attenuation pads. The roll-off filter helps with proximity effects, and the pre-attenuation pad becomes vital for recording drums. It drops the dB input so that you don’t overload the mic. Drums are very loud, so that pre-attenuation pad is needed.
The frame of the MKH 50 is very solid and durable. It’s a microphone that you can take with you anywhere and not worry that it will get damaged. It’s also more than capable of handling a few stray drumstick shots. Not that you should aim for it!
Performance
The performance of the Sennheiser MKH 50 is great. As we said earlier, it’s a bit weird to have an overhead microphone with so much bleed rejection, but you’ll find a sweet spot when you combine it with close mics.
It doesn’t only work well as an overhead mic. You can easily put it on any drum, and you’ll get fantastic results. It even works relatively well as a kick drum mic. You just need to boost the lows in your mix.
Price Value Ratio
The biggest drawback of the Sennheiser MKH 50 is its high price, especially for drummers. It costs over $1000 for just one of these, and you’re going to need two of them if you want to have a complete overhead mic setup.
That price is pretty much unattainable for most drummers, especially when you can buy a full decent mic set for only $500.
So, this is primarily a mic that will be purchased for professional recording studios and live venues. Otherwise, it’s a mic that will be purchased by drummers with very high budgets.