Thoughts about CMIT-5U?

[Marco Leavitt]

Now that this mic has been out a while, I'm curious to know what people think of it. It sure is expensive. I know there have been a number of posts about this mic, but as it's still fairly new (given the lifespan of mic models anyway) I think an update would be helpful to people.

I'm working on a shoot where the producer has supplied one, and I've been switching back and forth between the CMIT-5U and my own CS3e, and I have to say I'm really blown away by this mic. To my ears, it handles interiors considerably better than the CS3e, which does pretty well in its own right. I have noticed that the CS3e is very susceptible to reverb when you have to use it next to a wall. The CMIT-5U (man that's a mouthful. This thing needs a better name) doesn't seem as prone to echo in that situation. Yeah, you shouldn't use a shotgun indoors at all, but sometimes you have to, particularly if you're working next to a noisy window.

I know when it came out there were concerns that the Schoeps didn't have enough side rejection to be your general go-to mic for exteriors, and I find myself sticking with the CS3e outside, but with both low-cut filters enabled, the Schoeps seems very directional to me. It has a whopping amount of reach too, even indoors. In fact, it sounds so good indoors I'm tempted to suggest it as the answer to all those "if I could have only one mic" posts that seem to crop up over and over around here. I'm not saying it's a replacement for the venerable CMC6 MK41 (it's not), but I wouldn't hesitate to use it on really wide shots indoors and switch out to the MK41 for tight shots. We did a scene in a tiny garage the other day and I had to keep the mic like four and half feet over the talent's head and after listening to the footage in the producer's house yesterday I couldn't believe how crisp it sounded. I'm probably going to buy this mic off of the producer when we wrap in couple of months as I've decided I can't live without it. It has very low self noise for one thing, which is the CS3e's achilles heel, bless its soul. The only time that mic lets me down is when I have to really crank the gain.

[Dan Brockett]

Originally Posted by Marco Leavitt

Now that this mic has been out a while, I'm curious to know what people think of it. It sure is expensive. I know there have been a number of posts about this mic, but as it's still fairly new (given the lifespan of mic models anyway) I think an update would be helpful to people.

I'm working on a shoot where the producer has supplied one, and I've been switching back and forth between the CMIT-5U and my own CS3e, and I have to say I'm really blown away by this mic. To my ears, it handles interiors considerably better than the CS3e, which does pretty well in its own right. I have noticed that the CS3e is very susceptible to reverb when you have to use it next to a wall. The CMIT-5U (man that's a mouthful. This thing needs a better name) doesn't seem as prone to echo in that situation. Yeah, you shouldn't use a shotgun indoors at all, but sometimes you have to, particularly if you're working next to a noisy window.

I know when it came out there were concerns that the Schoeps didn't have enough side rejection to be your general go-to mic for exteriors, and I find myself sticking with the CS3e outside, but with both low-cut filters enabled, the Schoeps seems very directional to me. It has a whopping amount of reach too, even indoors. In fact, it sounds so good indoors I'm tempted to suggest it as the answer to all those "if I could have only one mic" posts that seem to crop up over and over around here. I'm not saying it's a replacement for the venerable CMC6 MK41 (it's not), but I wouldn't hesitate to use it on really wide shots indoors and switch out to the MK41 for tight shots. We did a scene in a tiny garage the other day and I had to keep the mic like four and half feet over the talent's head and after listening to the footage in the producer's house yesterday I couldn't believe how crisp it sounded. I'm probably going to buy this mic off of the producer when we wrap in couple of months as I've decided I can't live without it. It has very low self noise for one thing, which is the CS3e's achilles heel, bless its soul. The only time that mic lets me down is when I have to really crank the gain.

Marco:

Not sure if you read my mic review article from a few months ago, but the CMIT5 and I got along very well during the two months that Redding Audio loaned it to me for the testing. It is a great mic. I really like how the filters work, I love the indicator lights so you can see which filters are engaged from across a room, I love the blue anodized finish. But most of all, the sound is absolutely superb. It has amazing off axis rejection and the quality of the sound recorded is very, very good.

I too agree, it is not a substitute for the CMC641 but I think having the CMC641 AND the CMIT5U would be my dream microphone locker.

It is not cheap but I thought it was worth the money. It had this really nice smoothness to the sound that the other mics, other than the Neumann, did not have for the most part.

If you can afford it, buy it, it will last you a lifetime.

Dan