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The Sennheiser MD 421 is a German cardioid dynamic microphone, widely used for speech in broadcasting and for music in live concerts and the recording studio. Introduced in 1960, the internal large-diaphragm transducer element of the MD 421 is still produced unchanged by Sennheiser. The MD 421 is considered a classic, an industry standard.
The microphone is popular with recording engineers, used in the production of all genres of music. The MD 421 is primarily used for drums, guitar amplifiers, woodwinds, brass and percussion instruments. It is known for its almost linear frequency response in the bass range up to 1,000 Hz. Above that, the microphone exhibits a smooth increase in upper mid-range frequencies important for intelligibility.
As a large-element dynamic microphone, it has slower impulse response and less resolution in higher frequencies compared to condenser microphones, and is therefore less suitable as the main microphone to record an orchestra, or as the overhead microphone for a drum kit, to capture the fast transients of cymbals. But it excels at its intended job: Jazz guitarist Brian Tarquin referred to the ubiquitous American Shure SM57 when he described the MD 421 as "an SM57 on steroids... probably one of the most diverse mics ever made."
The MD 421 can withstand high sound pressure levels and it can record a wide dynamic range. It is frequently used on the following musical sources:
Bass Drum (kick drum)
- Floor Tom
- Rack Toms
- Trombone
- Trumpet
- Saxophone
- Flute
- Bass Clarinet
- Guitar Amplifier
- Bass Amplifier
- Vocals
Specifications
- Dimensions. 215 x 46 x 49 mm
- Connector. XLR-3
- Frequency response (Microphone) 30 - 17000 Hz
- Transducer principle (Microphone) dynamic
- Weight. 385 g
- Pick-up pattern. cardioid
- Sensitivity in free field, no load (1kHz) 2 mV/Pa +- 3 dB
- Nominal impedance. 200 Ω
Manual
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