• SCHOEPS CMIT 5U SHOTGUN MICROPHONE
• SCHOEPS SUPERCMIT 2U DIGITAL SHOTGUN MICROPHONE WITH SUPER DIRECTIVITY

CMIT 5U - SHOTGUN MICROPHONE

Not Your Ordinary Shotgun

Introduced in 2005, The Schoeps CMIT 5U has set a new standard for shotgun microphones. For many years Schoeps had declined requests to produce a shotgun-type microphone. The company felt if they were going to produce one, there had to be some level of uniqueness and design improvement. Besides the über-cool “electric blue” surface finish, push buttons and LEDs, Schoeps truly “delivered” on this microphone, which produces a natural sound, not thought possible with an interference-tube design. Countless location recordists have been using the industry standard Schoeps CMC 641 Supercardioid for decades. With the CMIT 5U they can enjoy an audible cohesion between their venerable CMC 641 and their shotgun.   

The CMIT 5's directionality increases smoothly with higher frequencies, which results in a very balanced sonic character. In addition to this, the microphone's sound level decreases softly yet steadily for off-axis sounds, allowing these to be recorded neutrally while reducing the effects of movement during boom operation. The CMIT 5U also has a much stronger directionality than one might expect from a microphone of its length. If required, the CMIT 5U can also be used for music - from opera to live popular music performances.

The sound quality of the CMIT 5U remains consistent even if the microphone is rotated on its axis, since its directional pattern is the same in both the vertical and horizontal planes. Like the CMC6 U, The CMIT 5U benefits from state-of-the-art RF rejection technology and will perform in even the harshest RF environments.

Three pushbutton-activated filters allow the microphone to adapt to the recording situation:

• High-frequency emphasis (+ 5 dB at 10 kHz) enhances speech intelligibility, and compensates for high-frequency loss caused by windscreens
• A steep low-cut filter (18 dB/oct. below 80 Hz) suppresses wind and boom noise
• A gentle low-frequency rolloff (6 dB/oct. below 300 Hz) compensates for proximity effect.
• Pairs of LEDs next to each pushbutton indicate the status of the filters. Even in darkness the user can read the settings and see that the microphone is operational. The settings are retained when the microphone is switched off.
• Length: 251 mm
• Diameter: 21 mm
• Weight: 89 grams
  

Technical Notes

The CMIT 5U is not a “CMC641 with an interferences tube” as often described. It is an entirely different microphone with its own set of working parameters. For example, the CMIT 5 must be powered by 48V phantom power that can handle current consumption of 4.4mV with +/- 10% tolerance or it will not work. This specification falls well under the criteria within the prevailing DIN standard, however poorly designed circuits, found even in some established professional gear will compromise the performance of this microphone. Please note it will not run on 12V phantom (a CMC 6 will) or any non-standard powering method between 12-48V. Special care must be taken if the CMIT 5U is used with an external phantom power supply going unbalanced into a wireless bodypack transmitter - pin-3 must be decoupled from the powering and pin-1 must remain connected. (Keep pin-2 hot and pin-1 GND).

• Complete details and specs for the CMIT 5U shotgun at schoeps.de
• Download CMIT 5U Shotgun Overview
• Download CMIT 5U User Guide

 

 

 

SuperCMIT 2U - DIGITAL SHOTGUN MICROPHONE WITH SUPER DIRECTIVITY

The SuperCMIT 2U is a digital shotgun microphone with unparalleled “super” directivity. It is actually two shotgun microphones rolled into one. The AES CH-1 carries the SuperCMIT signal while CH-2 simultaneously carries a digital version of the standard CMIT shotgun signal. Both channels can be recorded at the same time providing the user options in Post to choose the more appropriate directionality for an individual shot.   

The SuperCMIT 2U uses unique digital signal processing that recognizes sound energy arriving from various directions, and determines whether that sound has a discrete, persistent direction of arrival or not. It uses this information to suppress diffuse sound and to focus on discrete sound. This allows the “reach” of the shotgun microphone to be increased significantly, without causing the usual sound-coloring artifacts of interference tubes. The Super­CMIT is the first microphone in the world to combine such high directivity with high sound quality.

Unwanted noise is greatly reduced in level - even at low frequencies without altering the tone color of front-arriving direct sound. Even a shotgun microphone with a long interference tube cannot do that. This makes the SuperCMIT ideal for complex film sound applications, audio for video and for sports events. The SuperCMIT also increases the “reach” of indoor recordings.

SuperCMIT Polar diagrams, in DSP preset 2 the rear lobe is almost completely suppressed

 

DSP? Two Transducers? How is this Extreme Directivity achieved?

The SuperCMIT microphone uses exclusive technology from ILLUSONIC (patent pending). In addition to the capsule behind the interference tube, it contains a second, rear-facing microphone capsule. Digital signal processing (DSP) can analyze both signals and thereby distinguish discrete versus diffuse sound energy. The two signals are then combined in a time and frequency-dependent manner such that the directional effect for discrete sound energy is increased while the level of diffuse sound is reduced. At high frequencies (above 6 kHz) only the signal from the front-facing capsule is used, since the interference tube already offers optimal effectiveness in that range. Check out the Directivity Index image below to see the result:

 

 

THE SUPERCMIT 2U FEATURES THREE PUSHBUTTON-ACTIVATED FILTERS:

• High-frequency emphasis (+ 5 dB at 10 kHz) enhances speech intelligibility, and compensates for high-frequency loss caused by windscreens
• A steep low-cut filter (18 dB/oct. below 80 Hz) suppresses wind and boom noise
• Preset 1: moderate directivity increase (green LED); ca. 11 dB reduction in diffuse sound (5 dB greater than a Schoeps CMIT or channel 2 of the SuperCMIT)
– Preset 2: strong directivity increase (red LED); ca. 15 dB diffuse sound reduction. This setting is reserved for special applications since sonic artifacts can occasionally be heard.


• Pairs of LEDs next to each pushbutton indicate the status of the filters. Even in darkness the user can read the settings and see that the microphone is operational. The settings are retained when the microphone is switched off.

As of firmware version 1.33, you can push each pushbutton twice in succession for a 30dB active digital gain boost on the microphones output. For more info, click here.

• Length: 280 mm (11'')
• Diameter: 21 mm (0.83'')
• Weight: 112 grams (only 4 ounces!)

Included Accessories: Wood box, SG20 stand clamp & W170 foam windscreen and either PSD 2U or MINI-DA42

Typical Accessories:
General outdoor use: Rycote 18cm Standard Hole Softie or 18cm Miniscreen with Softie Lyre MT
Maximum wind protection and audio transparency: Rycote Modular Windshield 4 Kit

• Complete details and specs for the SuperCMIT 2U at schoeps.de
• Download SuperCMIT 2U Shotgun Overview
• Download SuperCMIT 2U User Guide
• Gear compatibility options for SuperCMIT 2U Shotgun
• Learn more about AES42 - Technical Paper