What is it?
If you’ve ever been near a studio, looked at photos of a recording session, or simply heard tell of the audio magic that occurs inside the most expensive playgrounds on Earth, you’re probably aware of Sennheiser’s MD 421 dynamic microphone. It’s the large diaphragm dynamic mic that has excelled at capturing broadcast dialogue, guitar amps, and perhaps most notably, drums since it was first launched in the ’60s.
Issued in various iterations over the decades, it’s recognisable visually from either the grey/cream or black housing, and sonically by its ability to deliver a wide frequency response, while also handling high SPLs. It’s these points that have made it such a constant success, lending the MD 421 to all kinds of applications.
But the MD 421 isn’t without its quirks. For a start, it’s blooming massive when compared to some other ‘instrument’ mics, which also means it can’t be mounted in a standard mic clip. So, if you want to use one, you’re going to need a stand, and in the case of a drum kit, you’re going to need lots of them.
Until now, because Sennheiser has put the MD 421 on a hot wash, and come up with the MD 421 Kompakt. It’s smaller, lighter, and comes with its own mounting hardware, making it ready to clamp to your drum hoop (although it can also be mounted to a traditional stand, natch). What’s more, Sennheiser reckons that the Kompakt delivers the same audio performance as the legend it’s derived from. Let’s find out if size really does matter…
Pricing
- Full price: $279 £229/€279
Performance
The Kompakt arrives in a cardboard box, lined with the usual foam. Somewhat bizarrely, the mic is shrink-wrapped to the underside of a piece of cardboard. However, once you’ve removed that, you’ll discard it and probably never think about it again (unless you’re writing a review, of course), because Sennheiser also packages it with a pencil case and the aforementioned drum clamp. Our first impression is that it’s surprisingly light. We’ve owned MD 421s before, and for many years captured the sound of our toms with Sennheiser’s E604 mics – live staples which feature a similar mounting system to what we find here – and the Kompakt is in a similar weight class.
Getting set up is easy – attach it to the clamp, clip it on the drum rim and you’re ready to plug in. But, while we're overjoyed with the fact that we can mount these mics without requiring an army of stands, the clip is also our first gripe. It’s a bit basic, with a friction-style screw determining the angle. Great news if you want to grab the mic and quickly change the placement angle, not so great when you find it’s slipping and pressed against the drum head a few bars later. It’s solvable by tightening the screw, but it would have been nice to see a small thumbwheel to secure it more firmly.
With that out of the way, though, we have to hand it to Sennheiser. On rack and floor toms, the MD 421 Kompakt delivers on its promises with a big, round capture of the lower frequencies, coupled by a bit of a top-end boost to aid with clarity. Unlike some drum mics, it’s fairly flat and transparent (as is its bigger sibling), giving you full control over the signal for processing after, and while this might mean that you need to get your hands dirty in order to carve out your sound, it’s all there as part of your canvas. It’s great on snare drums too, picking up plenty of body and crack, even from a fairly close position, and the reduced tail of the mic means that you can angle it correctly (despite some common misconceptions, the 421 is an end-address mic) without the exhaust end and cable getting in the way.
While it certainly works on kick drums, we preferred it as an ‘inside’ close mic for the batter head, delivering the click and attack of the beater rather than attempting to use it as the full-boom ‘kick-out’ mic. If it’s the only mic you have, it’ll cover the full spectrum of the bass drum, particularly in a live setting. However there are, of course, more tailored options designed specifically to go lower than the MD 421’s 30Hz floor, which actually rolls off and begins its descent at around 80Hz.
Verdict
There’s something about the shrinking of a product that makes us all believe that it’s going to be a stone cold bargain. The MD 421 Kompakt currently streets at around £100 less than the full-fat MD 421, and about £100 more than what’s likely to be a firm rival in the Audix D2 or 4. But, they’re for different customers. If you want a natural, open-sounding revision of a studio classic that’s better optimised for live use to boot, then it’s a great buy, and a convenient one at that.
