Schoeps CMIT 5U Shotgun Mic
While on a shoot in Canada recently (more on that soon) i hired a Schoeps CMIT 5 U shotgun mic for use on the boom. I had heard and read a lot of good things about this mic, and have had the pleasure of using other Schoeps mics to record a piano recital among other things, and thought that they sounded fantastic; a noticeable step up in quality in terms of many of the mics i use day to day, especially radio mics.
The first thing i noticed about the CMIT 5 U was how light it is - in the palm of the hand it weighs 89 grams, and while this is not going to revolutionise the weight hanging on the end of the boom pole all savings are appreciated. It also has the sophisticated yet classily futuristic blue casing, and three red LED’s for the filters so all in all it looks pretty cool if that sort of thing is important to you.
I used the CMIT 5 U in my usual Rycote suspension and windgag combination, and the first thing i heard was handling noise; movements with my hands on the boom pole were quite audible and so i was worried that in the hustle and bustle of shooting actuality i would be moving the boom a lot causing unwanted rumbles and thuds, so i had a play with the high and low pass filters built into the mic.
The mic has three filters built in: +5dB boost at 10 kHz, a low-cut filter -18dB/octave at 80 Hz and a gentler low-cut filter -6dB/octave at 300 Hz. The three are selectable by pressing a button on the side of the mic and a slightly counter-intuitive LED lights up to tell you it has been activated. I say it’s counter intuitive because it displays red for ‘on’ and green for ‘off’. Nevertheless, using the 300hz high pass filter reduced the handling noise appreciably, although i think more can be done to help; part of the problem was that i still use the slightly older style of Rycote suspension with plastic clips and elastic suspension; the current range of Rycote suspension use a Lyre suspension system which would reduce the handling noise. Items such as the Rycote connbox can also help to cut down on cable noise, or something similar to the Ambient ‘Floater’ mic suspension that allows you to significantly reduce vibrations passed to the mic in a similar fashion to the Rycote Lyre. But with the filter on, and occasionally a bit of extra low cut applied on my mixer i had it under control.
I was really impressed with the overall sound of the CMIT - it had a beautifully clean, clear sound with amazing clarity on dialogue. The off-axis response was much better than the MKH60 i normally use, and i found that when booming a four way conversation on the fly, i had much more latitude when drifting between speakers; the off axis people sounded particularly clear and on-mic and i was able to move the boom less than normal, and chopped off far less beginning and ends of sentences as a result! That was much appreciated. Rejected sound was very quiet, and using the CMIT 5 U outside in clear, open areas really brought out the best in it. I found that in many situations instead of pushing the frame line constantly with the boom, trying to get as tight as possible for clear dialogue, i was able to simply turn up the gain on the mixer. The background was quiet and free of nasties like road noise, and turning the gain up and up i was amazed by how much ’suck’ the CMIT had.
Inside the directional capabilities of the mic lessened, as do all mics relying on reflecting sound to create their polar response, but remained surprisingly directional. I was happy to leave it in the boom for interior scenes, rather than relying on other cardiod or hypercardiod mics, as i sometimes do when using the Sennheiser MKH60.
The CMIT 5 U retails for around £1600 at the moment, and i have to say i am tempted. It is a delight to use on location, is smaller and lighter than my current choice of boom mic, sounds fantastic but would require the additional purchase of a bit of boom trickery to help with the handling noise, as it’s not a satisfying solution to simply leave the bass-cut on; all those beautifully balanced frequencies deserve to be heard in all their glory. It also comes in a really nice wooden box to reassure you just in case you were worried about the quality.
Time to start saving i think.
— Posted by Matt in Uncategorized | No Comments
