TECHNOLOGY REVIEW Schoeps V4 CARDIOID VOCAL MIC
The V4 is a secret weapon in any good engineer’s arsenal of microphones, writes Andrew Graeme.
I
have always taken the view that good microphones are an engineer’s secret
weapons. If that is true, then the V4 from Schoeps is a very effective weapon indeed! Te V4 is based around
a Schoeps design from the early 50s and a valve/tube mic called the CM51. Back then it was considered to be modern and daring – today, I suppose you would have to call it retro! Despite looking like a LDC, it stays true to the Schoeps tradition of using a small diaphragm but set in a larger internal 33mm housing to give it a warm proximity effect. Tis is a new development by Schoeps to combine this effect with the advantages of a small diaphragm. Te microphone is beautifully finished and comes in a wooden box; it is available with an optional made-to-measure cradle from Rycote as part of its USM series. Te top capsule is not removable, but can be tilted back and forth by 20°.
FOUR YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT
According to Schoeps, the V4 is the result of four years of R&D, not only into the new capsule, but also the internal transformer-less electronics, including an 18dB/octave HP filter below 40Hz to prevent pops and other low-frequency nastiness. Schoeps is particularly proud of the precisely matched and balanced electronics. I can remember speaking to company founder Dr Karl Schoeps back in the 80s and even then he stressed the importance of perfectly balanced electronics for distortion-free reproduction.
40 May 2014 AT THE ROCK-FACE
Te V4 is advertised as a cardioid vocal mic, so the first thing I tried it on was drums and then later on acoustic guitar and piano. As an over- head it sounded smooth and even. Placed on high-hat it had a surprisingly silky sound that allowed for plenty of EQ on mix-down without the edgy sound one can get from some SDCs. But it was on acoustic guitar and piano that it really came into its own. On both, it sounded rich and full with a pleasingly complex top end with plenty of overtones. For vocals and drums
the V4 did not get a nose- bleed with extremely loud noises. It was quite happy to be placed at snare-top, or to be screamed into by the local rock ’n’ roll wannabees, or yodelled at by a classical soprano going at full welly! On vocals the sound had a certain hi-fi quality that gave one the impression that the voice was closer than the speakers. Te proximity effect was smooth and even. If the singer moved off base there was no discernible change in characteristic, and on mix- down we could not tell if the singer had shifted to the side. In the vocal booth turning the mic to face the other way gave an overall drop in level of -18dB. On vocals, we set up the V4 together with an AKG C414 BTLII and a Neumann M149 and I would place the overall sound at somewhere between these two. It was not as open and sensitive to room sound as the valve mic, but nowhere nearly as tight and dry as the 414. It was also noticeably less prone to sibilance problems, though, like the M149 and
the U87, it does not like being blown or ‘popped’ at and a pop-filter has to be used.
IN THE LAB
Te frequency response of this microphone is very linear! Between 100Hz and 4.5kHz I measured just 0.5dB deviation – which could just as easily come from measurement error than the mic itself. Tere is a slight presence peak of a couple of dB at around 5kHz and it is pretty much linear up to 22kHz. Te frequency response drops off smoothly after that and I was still able to measure useful response up to 30kHz. When testing some mics
and LDCs in particular, I usually find that, although they can have useful response up to 25kHz and higher, the drop-off does not come smoothly. Tere are, so to speak, ‘holes’ in the response that can lead to a lack of transparency for some instruments. Even some of the more expensive microphones can have certain frequencies in the mid-range where distortion or dampening sets in. Tese aberrations lead to what some might call character and make other users hate them. No such holes or distortions exist with the V4. As the sig-gen climbed, the oscilloscope showed a constant sine wave that dropped evenly and smoothly between 20kHz and 30kHz. Tere was no sign of the microphone doing anything other than faithfully reproducing all sounds coming its way. One of the more startling aspects of the V4 is the off-axis response. At a 90°
angle it is a few decibels down, but is, within a decibel or two, almost as linear as the on-axis response, which explained why we did not hear any difference when a singer moved to one side.
CONCLUSIONS
Dr Karl would have been proud! Te V4 proves that there is place for new ideas in the SDC market. Te concept of a SDC mic for vocals, but with a smooth and warm proximity effect, combined with the extreme fidelity of a Schoeps small diaphragm capsule that can also take on most other tasks in the studio, I find most appealing. Te price of the V4 places
it eyeball-to-eyeball with a whole range of first-class mics from the likes of Neumann, Brauner, and many others. Te V4 is different, in that
it has a small diaphragm and that brings with it the advantages of low distortion, lack of coloration, and smooth off-axis frequency response. Te full bottom end also shows that SDCs are perfectly capable of reproducing low-frequency sounds without difficulty. With everybody and their mothers-in-law crowding into the LDC market (some with rather doubtful products) it is refreshing to see a company with Schoeps’ pedigree producing an SDC mic that is not only of such absolute quality, but is also just that little important bit different that could make it one of your secret weapons!
The Reviewer Andrew Graeme
has been in the audio business since he was 16. He began his first studio, music shop, and PA company in Germany in 1979 and continues to have business interests in Germany while running The Byre recording studio in the Scottish Highlands.
INFORMATION
Feature Set beveled collar for controlling the polar response
www.schoeps.de
www.audiomedia.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48