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Schoeps and Humidity


Michael P Clark

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I think it is well documented how Schoeps perform in humid environments. I plan on being in one for 3 weeks, and would love to do some SFX gathering while there, with a Schoeps M/S rig. Am I asking for trouble? If I have enough desiccant, or ZorbIt,  with the mics, in their pelican, until needed, how long will I have before it gets nasty? I will be using my trusty CS3e for dialog, and it's never failed me in  humid environments yet, but this could be more humidity than I've ever worked in before.

Thanks

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The dessicant is a good idea for a box to store your mics in, but you can't dry out the tropics.  Generally my Schoeps and Sankens have worked fine in those conditions, but there are limitations and problems you sometimes can't avoid.  The worst mistake is to allow the mic to be colder than the surrounding air, so that moisture condenses on it.  (What happens going from a cool air-conditioned room to a hot humid exterior, for instance.)  A mic in a zep in the driving rain will eventually react in my experience, including the CS3.  Since that is a possibility, it's good to have a plan--something in your back pocket that you can go to when that happens.  Our backup for stereo fx and ambience recording used to be a pair of Sonotrims--they never seemed to react to the humidity at all.  I have an old Senn. ME-40, same deal.  For dialog a used 415 in your kit would be a good idea if you can afford it.  But in general if you can keep the mic at the same temp as the air then you should be fine.

Philip Perkins

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I had come to trust my CS-3 in humidity but even that mic

finally gave me trouble after several very humid days (in the arctic, not the tropics).

After drying out, it's been fine ever since.

I think a 415 or 416 as a backup would be a wise choice.

They key is that your backup has been sealed and protected.

Glen P.

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Interestingly, the new shotgun in town, the DPA 4017 has proven itself fairly remarkable in "mocked-up" humidity tests.  I picked one up recently after hearing some initial good reports about withstanding humidity from Bruce Myers at DPA.  I ran some tests against a Schoeps MK41, Senn MKH70, and the DPA, in about 97% humidity (in the bathroom, hot shower going).  The Schoeps did what we'd expect (b-b-b-bbl-bb-bbl), the Sennheiser's sound quality degraded (mostly increased noise floor), but it marched on.  And the DPA just sailed on thru, with no apparent change.  Left it in there for a few hours.

Other notable sound characteristics for the DPA are a very low noise floor and a tight bass response.  It's not quite as warm as the Schoeps, but I think they would nevertheless cut together in a scene.

As for field experiences, I can't say it's been well-exercised yet.  So far I've only put it up in an interview situation in a noisy nightclub.  I think the slightly tighter pattern helped fish out the dialog from the background better than a Schoeps would have.  (to be fair, in that situation, an MKH60 would probably have been just fine too).  It's very light :)

I hope I didn't stray too far off-topic here, but the subject of this thread is what originally started my quest for a shotgun in the first place :)

I s'pose I should port this over to the 4017 thread that Scott keeps poking at...

Brian

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Let me tell you about humidity here in Miami.  My 15 year old Schoeps are relied upon heavily and we remain vigilant to prevent them from singing.  Windscreens being foam trap moisture readily and at the first sign of the Schoep's song the windscreens come off immediately and are swapped out with windscreens from my desiccant Tupperware container.  This container rides on my cart with all working foam windscreens and when the Schoeps are out they ride in there as well. 

We always temperature compensate our mics (all of them).  Riding in air conditioned camera trucks is a sure set-up for problems as is studio or locations where air conditioning is run between takes.  On an episode of CSI Miami in the everglades we left our cart overnight in a sealed tent rather than the truck we were unaware that the tent was air conditioned overnight and the next morning with 90% + humidity it took over an hour with hair dryers to get even the dat machine to work.

When problems threaten, the windscreens do not go back on the mics until we are ready to shoot.  The best fix I use is to have the mounted mics held near a hot light just to keep the mic body warmer than the ambient temperature and always prevent them from being exposed to between take A/C drafts.  I've often thought about how useful a mic heating system would be when on the boom.

Mark Weber C.A.S.

Sound Specialist Inc.

Miami, Florida

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  I've been using the Schoeps CMIT-5u here in Baton Rouge in the Summertime and I've never heard those awful alien sounds.  (Don't ask me about RF crap though - buzz buzz in certain rooms!)

  My MK-41 isn't nearly so reliable and if those conditions of hot-to-cold happens it's got to be dried out before it works well.

  Hey, has anyone ever tried just sticking a little pack of dessicant inside the CMC6?  The CMC6 amp is what's causing the sounds right?  There's room for a small pack inside.

  I do have an Senny MKH 60 AND an AT 4053a (which sounds remarkably close to the MK41 for most voices) in case the Schoeps crap out.

  Dan Izen

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Guest Eric Lamontagne

Pelican dessicant in the mic pelican cases helps, it's reuseable.

Spare mics help if treated right.

Heat lamp works wonders. Often had moisture issues when equipment is left off overnight in a cold van or garage. Even being climatized, gear sucks in the moisture as it cools.

My first CMIT had moisture issues, it was swapped out and the new one is flawless. Sometimes having dimmer buzz into the CMIT, grounded my ground to shield to dump RF I think has fixed it.

CCM41, CCM5 and MKH415T moisture issues sometimes also.

Eric Lamontagne

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it hasn't been mentioned her yet, so I'll chime in.

Since the first time I experienced humidity issues with my CMC4-MK41, I started cleaning the contacts between the capsule and the body (once or twice a year) and I have had NO humidity "issues", granted I don't live/work in a high humidity location, but I have worked in many humid/wet environments.

The only problem that I hear now is condensation when coming in from the cold.

-Jason

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I have 2 older Schoeps (10+ years), and one newer (3 yrs). All are CMC-5, Cut-1, MK-41. I've never had problems with the newer mic. I've always had problems with the older ones.

One of the older mics Cut-1 failed so I sent the rig back to the Schoeps boys across the pond. When it came back, no more moisture problems. I sent the 2nd older mic off and it came back immune to moisture problems as well.

Stacy Brownrigg, CAS

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