Hildebrand

The Schoeps Colette review

There is nothing other to be said about those microphones than: they are fantastic. I came across those mics in the first studio I’ve ever worked in in Germany. Just like the HÖF compressor. When I had the finances I checked on Ebay and found this particular pair instantly. I now have them up constantly somewhere in the room and around the instruments and voices – close, far, up, down, roomy or dry.

I literally meander around the room until I get the sound I need, which then most often doesn’t have to be equalized much. Don’t get me wrong the Schoeps are outrageously good when heavily compressed and otherwise processed – like I explained in the AKG C-414 article.

My pair of CMC4 with Cardioid and Hyper Cardioid capsules are from the Colette Series. Purchased from their first owner, a sound recordist in Switzerland, who bought them ‘sometimes in the mid 1970ies, when they first came out’ to be used during film productions. Given their age these can be considered vintage. They work on T-Power instead of phantom power and seem to have a larger output than the new ones.

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The Schoeps CMT 501 review

This Schoeps Mic has two switchable pattern capsules, which are built on top of eachother and can swivel. It therefore lends itself to be used for XY or MS stereo recording techniques, but can equally be used as a mono mic. The patterns are Cardioid, Figure of Eight and Omni.

This Mic is stunning. It’s not the easiest to handle, since it provides endless options in placement and techniques. But when hovering around the instrument or room, you find sweet spots that other mics never hear and then that’s it, everybody has tears in the eyes. The Schoeps CMT sounds very similar to the two CMC 4′s I’ve got, most likely because they come from the same period of time.

Schoeps introduced the very first mechanically switchable three-pattern capsule, the MKT 26, as early as 1961. In contrast to the common electrically-coupled double diaphragm design, a patented, mechanically switchable transducer with only one diaphragm was used. This offered the exceptional low-frequency response of a real pressure transducer in the ‘omni’ position. In 1969, a stereo condenser microphone, the CMTS 301 / 301p / 501, was launched with two switchable three-pattern single-diaphragm capsules. The CMTS 301 already used the DC coupled output stage of the later Colette series. The CMTS 501 continued with a transformer output.

Links

• Schoeps Microphones
• Kevin Becka’s review of the Schoeps CMC XT in Mix Magazine

Recommended books … Additional reading

Modern Recording Techniques

David Miles Huber, 2005

Behind the Glass

Howard Massey, 2000