Sydney, Australia (December 1, 2023)—Andy Taylor ACS may be best known as a cinematographer, but the Australian Broadcasting Corporation veteran frequently also has to operate and record his own audio.
Taylor began his career as a trainee studio camera operator for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in 1986, where he was introduced to Sennheiser microphones. Working on Australia’s iconic children’s programs Mr. Squiggle and Playschool, he operated a boom pole complete with an MKH 416. In fact, during his 25 years as a cinematographer at the ABC, he recalls that crews in the cine-camera department were all issued MKH 416 microphones as part of each field kit.
The MKH 416 has been his go-to microphone ever since, including when filming and recording interviews such as those seen in the Netflix and ABC-TV documentary series Exposed: The Ghost Train Fire, for which he won a Walkley Award, Kennedy Award, and the Gold Award for Documentaries at the ACS Awards. “I always carry two MKH 416 microphones in my kit,” Taylor says.
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“My work is unpredictable, so I like to be prepared for anything that’s thrown at me, including capturing sound on my own when required, whether that is recording a presenter, reporter, a press conference, dialogue or just background noise, because a large part of my work is interview-based,” he continues. “The 416 can handle difficult filming and reporting conditions without any issues. I’ve used them all day every day for the past 35 years when operating as a one-man band.”
Sennheiser’s recently launched EW-DP portable UHF wireless system is now part of his gear, he says: “One of the great things about this new system is that the batteries last all day, in both the transmitters and the receivers. It’s a lifesaver because working with AA batteries in some other
