I always thought that the 416 was mainly used for
dialogue replacement where the original dialogue
had been recorded with a 416.
Yeah, you’d think.
In the late 1970’s in LA, there was this VO artist named Ernie Anderson, father of filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, who found himself getting irritated because he was convinced that session producers and engineers were talking about him out of earshot between takes. This wasn’t paranoia — he was correct. But it was because Ernie was perpetually irritated and could often be a world-class jerk. He was rude and insulting more often than not, so there was plenty for people to talk about. Anyway, one day Ernie came into a session and announced that, henceforth, he was going to do his voicing-over seated in the same room as the rest of you assholes. So the engineer went and grabbed the most directional mic in the closet, sound quality still being a consideration but no longer the main one.
Word got around, and pretty soon the 416 in the control room became a thing. Especially in broadcast promo, which was what Ernie mostly did.
Time passed, and the sound of close-up VO’s on 416’s started to sound normal to LA producers and engineers, and the mics started finding their way back into booths and live rooms. And now, here we are.
