Sennheiser<\/a> MKH 8070<\/strong> Shotgun Microphone, which was deployed on eight handheld cameras on the field for the duration of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFred Aldous, Fox Sports<\/strong> audio consultant and senior mixer, is a veteran broadcast engineer who has supervised audio for the last five Super Bowl<\/strong> broadcasts for FOX Sports<\/strong>, including Super Bowl XLV<\/strong>. He relies on shotgun microphones to pick up every detail of what is happening both on the sidelines and on the field \u2013 from the pre-game festivities, to voices in the huddle to hard-hitting, physical impact. For many years, he has relied on the classic Sennheiser MKH 816<\/strong>, which he considers \u201cone of the best microphones ever built for the application\u201d. This year, at Super Bowl XLV<\/strong>, Aldous and his crew got an exclusive chance to preview the new MKH 8070<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u201cI put all eight of the MKH 8070s<\/strong> on my handheld cameras, and it was just fantastic,\u201d Aldous says. \u201cThe microphone was able to handle very high sound pressure levels with absolutely no distortion, and I was impressed with its overall definition and reach. I was able to pick up things I would not have been able to capture previously; for example, I was able to focus on a play happening 20 to 25 feet away with minimal extraneous noise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nSonically, Aldous describes the MKH 8070<\/strong> as \u201cwarm and natural sounding\u201d, and he appreciates the balanced frequency response: \u201cThe midrange on many shotgun mics typically sounds washed out, but not on this microphone. It actually sounds like a nice condenser with a cardioid pickup \u2013 but it is of course a lobar. It sounds like a shotgun microphone should sound.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe best tools for the job<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nAldous believes that by deploying the best audio tools on the field, he is not only making his own job easier, but also improving the overall listening experience for fans at home. \u201cA microphone with great frequency response, definition and reach improves the mixing process,\u201d he says. \u201cI am able to concentrate on the mix itself rather than finessing a microphone into the mix by using excessive EQ and dynamics. Also, as listeners at home acquire more sophisticated A\/V equipment, they expect a more intimate audio experience. The new MKH 8070 will help us achieve this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All in all, Super Bowl XLV<\/strong> was a huge success for Aldous and his crew, as well as an entertaining experience for the millions and millions of viewers glued to the screen: \u201cThis is my 10th Super Bowl, and the smoothest one I\u2019ve ever done,\u201d says Aldous. \u201cTechnically, the production was fantastic, and one of the things that made it go so smoothly \u2013 both in the set up and the mix \u2013 was the MKH 8070. In this line of work, it is all about the people and the equipment, and I knew the MKH 8070<\/strong> was going to perform.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fox Sports\u2019 broadcast of Super Bowl XLV on January 28, 2011 was the most watched television program in American history. The championship game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers drew approximately 163 million viewers around the world, and also marked the debut of the Sennheiser MKH 8070 Shotgun Microphone, which was deployed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,41],"tags":[121,477,478,483],"class_list":{"0":"post-1084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-microphones","8":"category-press-releases","9":"tag-broadcast","10":"tag-sennheiser","11":"tag-sennheiser-microphones","12":"tag-shotgun-microphones"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/audiopronews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/audiopronews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/audiopronews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/audiopronews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/audiopronews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/audiopronews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/audiopronews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/audiopronews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/audiopronews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/audiopronews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}