Schoeps SuperCMIT 2U Digital Shotgun Microphone

The SCHOEPS SuperCMIT 2 U defines a new category of shotgun microphone, with directivity that goes beyond anything previously known. It offers the recording engineer entirely new possibilities.

Where would I use the SuperCMIT 2 U?
The SuperCMIT 2 U can be a problem-solver wherever diffuse sources of noise (such as street noise, wind noise, room sound, or audience and passers-by) might interfere with a recording. Unwanted noise is greatly reduced in level – even at low frequencies – without altering the tone color of front-arriving direct sound. Even a shotgun with a long tube can’t do that. This makes the SuperCMIT 2 U ideal for complex film sound applications and for sports events. The SuperCMIT 2 U also increases the “reach” of indoor recordings.

How does the SuperCMIT 2 U achieve this directivity?
Digital signal processing in the SuperCMIT 2 U 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. The SuperCMIT 2 U is the first microphone in the world to combine such high directivity with high sound quality.

The SuperCMIT 2 U has three pushbuttons which control the filters and presets of the microphone. The two filters are identical to those of Schoeps’ CMIT 5 U analog shotgun microphone:

– High-frequency boost (+5 dB at 10 kHz) compensates for losses due to windscreens.

– Steep low-cut (18 dB/oct. below 80 Hz) suppresses low-frequency wind and boom noise.

The second output channel always carries the signal of the regular shotgun. The “Preset” button controls the directivity for the signal on the first output channel (SuperCMIT 2 U). Two settings are available:

–          Preset 1: moderate directivity increase (green LED); ca. 11 dB reduction in diffuse sound (5 dB greater than a Schoeps CMIT 5 U or channel 2 of the SuperCMIT 2 U)

–          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.

– By pressing each of the three pushbuttons two times each quickly in succession, the gain can be increased by +30 dB and reset again to the standard value.

Also by disconnecting the microphone from its power supply, the gain setting is reset to the initial value (0 dB).

Since firmware version 2.0 the SuperCMIT is equipped with a limiter (when gain boost is active) to prevent overload caused by very loud signals.

A new approach to high directivity and sound quality
The SuperCMIT 2 U microphone uses patented technology from ILLUSONIC. 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.