Sennheiser MD421 Reviews

[brandondrury]

Sennheiser MD421 @ Musiciansfriend


Sennheiser MD421 @ Zzounds


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The Sennheiser MD421 MKII U4 Mic is one of the best-known mics in the world. Walk into any drum booth in any major studio and you'll most likely see MD 421s on the toms. Talk to just about any seasoned FOH or recording engineer about their drum miking preferences for toms and percussion and the name MD 421 will invariably come up. Its excellent sound qualities also enable it to cope with the most diverse recording conditions and broadcast applications. The 5-position bass control enhances its all-round qualities. With very effective feedback rejection and a highly directional cardioid pickup pattern, placement is a cinch. Rugged construction.

[Rakie]

Quality: 10

The hype on this microphone is well deserved. It has a great full sound, capable of capturing amazing sounds from Guitars / Vocals / Drums (Toms)

This is probably the most versatile mic I've ever heard of. I've heard it being used as overheads in a tight situation and doing a great job, i've heard it being used on Toms, of course, as well as Kicks.

One of my mentors used it once in awhile for metal vocals (screamers), it's been used for bass guitars (Sort of as a "room" mic if you are capturing solo bass), it's been used on guitars with amazing success.

This mic just plain sounds good, and what I found most surprising, is it's not thought of immediately as a vocal mic, but if you set it to "speech" it has a nice HPF rolling off 70hz.

Reliability: 8

I've never had a problem with functionality personally, however this mic is infamous for another thing besides sound - Falling. That clip is very, very touch sensitive, just the slightest brush against some of them and the mic slides right off the switch... I can't tell you how many careless interns i've seen nudge it and then boom, you hear a cymbal hit, some tom noise then the terrible sound of a Sennheiser 421 hitting the floor.... Even clumsy drummers have made a few fall. Not always a noob engineer.

That really is my only qualm, because too many of those and there will be damage beyond superficial. We've had a few that couldn't recover. If not for the clip, reliability would easily be a 10. But with this always being a possibility, one way or another I feel the product suffers a little rating.

Overall Rating: 9

This mic sounds amazing, it holds it's own against a lot of mic's and can be used in almost any situation. Sadly that clip is funky, i've never seen a mic hit the floor as much as a 421. It's very, very unfortunate but nothing is perfect !



Love this mic.

[TonyB]

Quality: 10
Deservedly one of the studio legends. I primarily use it for the floor tom and guitar amping (although between the 421 and 57, I still prefer the 57 for country and rock guitar).

I find it give a fuller sound on a floor tom than with a 57, capturing it's fundamental freqs. Just play with the M - S (not Mid - Side), but Music for instruments and S for Singers. The more you turn it to S the more bass is rolled off.



Reliability: 9
Just like the SM7b it's built like a tank. The only problem is the holder; it's very easy to knock the mic off it's clip leaving it likely to fall on the floor. It doesn't take much to knock it off the clip.

Overall Rating: 9
Outstanding mic that I always find myself using on the drums and some guitar amping. I highly recommend it as a prominent place in the microphone cabinet.