The Sennheiser MKH8000 Series

For years now, the Sennheiser MKH40, MKH50, and MKH60 microphones have been workhorses of the film industry for overhead dialog recording. The MKH series has been hailed for their low noise, high output level, high fidelity, and lack of susceptibility to humidity and RF. Now, the brand new MKH8000 series appears to continue this legacy in a form that’s much smaller and more versatile while even being a little less expensive. For boompole use, lighter and smaller is always much better, so the MKH8000 series is naturally getting a lot of interest from the film and video industry.

Therefore we gave the MKH8000 series some close scrutiny — the MKH8040 (cardioid) and MKH8050 (supercardioid), specifically. For our ears, the best news was that they seemed to sound and behave just like their respective counterparts, the larger MKH40 and MKH50 microphones.

The MKH8000 series is currently available in Omni, Cardioid, and Supercardioid capsules only. However, it stands to reason that a Figure of 8 pattern and a short shotgun pattern should eventually follow.

Because pattern names can be a little misleading, we want to briefly give our opinion about the pattern choices of these mics: When the MKH40 and MKH50 came out a few years ago, many saw them as an alternative for the sweet but more delicate Schoeps MK41 (supercardioid), often used on a boompole for film and video production. Most people making the switch to Sennheiser instinctively went for the MKH50 because it is also labeled “supercardioid”. However, many users are now realizing that the MKH50 supercardioid pattern is sharper and narrower than the Schoeps MK41 supercardioid.

Part of what made the Schoeps MK41 so desirable for film and video dialog recording was the “soft edge” when transitioning from on-axis to off-axis. The Sennheiser MKH50 goes from the on-axis sound to the off-axis sound more abruptly, resulting in a surprising off axis sound if it’s being worked by someone accustomed to the Schoeps MK41.

Anyway, the long and short of it is that, if you are wanting a Sennheiser alternative that behaves more like the Schoeps MK41, then the Sennheiser MKH40 – and now also the MKH8040 – is the way to go, in our opinion.

The first thing we noticed about the new MKH8000 series is that they are small in both diameter and length. Compared to the older MKH50’s diameter of 25mm, the MKH8000 series is only 19mm, which is interestingly identical to an even older Sennheiser workhorse, the 416. The length of the new series is much smaller: An MKH50 is over six inches long while the MKH8050 is less than three inches long. Now that’s significant!

The 8000 series is versatile and more economical in that the capsules are removable and interchangeable. For example, you could buy a complete MKH8040 (capsule and body) plus an MKH8050 capsule and/or an MKH8020 (omni) capsule and have your choice of three patterns for a fraction of the price of three complete microphones.

What’s missing, that’s included in the older MKH40/50/60 series, are the low-cut and 10dB attenuation switches, which might explain the reduced price. However, for boompole dialog recording these features will probably not be missed. Most would prefer to use a low-cut on their mixer, and, with an SPL rating of 142dB for the MKH8040 (compared to 134dB for the MKH40), the attenuation switch should not be needed anyway.

The MKH8000 series: Highly recommended