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Find me! Call DAP at 214.350.7678 or email rene@dallasaudiopost.com. Also check out echocollectivefx.com for custom sfx, and tonebenders.net for my podcast.

Wednesday, October 12

A semi stealth recording with my new CM3s

A month or so ago I stumbled upon a thread in the gearslutz forum where people were hyping a new mic called the CM3 that comes out of Sweden from a company named Line Audio.

After much discussion some guys started putting up sample recordings of the mics in shootouts against the Schoeps CMC6 mk4 mics, and I was so impressed I jumped and bought a couple.

The company I purchased from is called No Hype Audio, and they're really just that.  Jean Pol was incredibly helpful and responsive, and he got me the mics with shockmounts within a week.

I ran my own shootouts vs the schoeps CMC6/MK4, NT5, and SM81s and came away incredibly impressed. I'll have a more detailed blog post with the shootout later on.

After a few weeks of owning these little things I can certainly say that I don't feel like owning two is enough of them - I want more.   I'm lobbying Roger Jönsson, the manufacturer, to put out a hypercardioid and a figure 8 model.  :)

 Right out of the box, the striking thing about these mics is just how small and light they are.  They're literally shorter in length than a standard business card, and they weigh absolutely nothing.

They're the exact diameter of an NT5, and have a fairly wide cardioid pattern.  Given the size I figured I could mount them in a kind of ORTF setup inside of my Rode blimp and take them on a couple of test runs.

Holding them in your hand, its almost hard to take them seriously, but oh man they deliver on the sonic front.

Mounting is shown here, and the mics fit in this configuration effortlessly.


With everything loaded up I packed the rig into a messenger bag and left the blimp just kind of hanging over the top.  It still kind of looks like a pipe bomb up there, but I decided to risk it and jump onto the local commuter DART train for a few rides and other things.  I used my ipod earbuds for monitoring and jumped on.

I was able to actually get on the train while rolling and ride from stop to stop with no issues whatsoever.  I had a guy ask me for some change, but no one looked twice at the giant rocket launcher I carried around with me, which was very encouraging.

After a few trips up and down I hopped out and got some ins, outs, and bys as well.

The results speak for themselves - excellent detail, great imaging and a way better than "useable" recording of the entire commuter train experience.

Train Bys

Train in/stop/out with annc (standing with the bag slung over my shoulder)


All in all I'm very impressed with the new mics and I'm working hard on a more stealth-like rig in the near future.


16 comments:

Nick Banner said...

this is just a great recording! true clarity

NikosX said...

this is just great! perfect clarity, i would like a little bit more on the high end of the frequencies though

Rene said...

in a shootout I found that the CM3s are every so slightly brighter than the schoeps cmc6/mk4 fwiw.

Andy said...

Looking to get some myself. Thanks for the entry!
Just curious what pre-amp the mics are going to (the blue box) and how its powered.
Many thanks
Andy

Rene said...

blue box is a deneke PS2 stereo phantom power unit. preamp is from the D50

Andy said...

Thanks for the clarification Rene!

Johnson, Sydnee F. said...

So the Deneke PS2 goes line level in to the D-50?

Bias said...

Hi Rene,

I was wondering what size Rycote you were able to fit the CM3s into in this stereo format?

Tobias

Rene said...

that's actually a Rode blimp, not a Rycote.

Bias said...

Ah, there you go then. Thanks ;)

Simon Lebel said...

What suspension did you use two fit those two mics in a Blimp ?

Rene said...

That's the included Rode suspension, with the two mics in mic clips that are attached with a thread adapter.

Simon Lebel said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Andreas said...

Hi René. How good is this setup in heavy/heavier wind conditions ?
I ordered mine today ;)
can´t wait to bring them into the field :)

Unknown said...

Andreas, did you order the same setup as Rene? Would be really helpful if you could show me the correct items that I need to build one of these myself. I don't see why Rene has the blue box since the portable recorder has a built in preamp, or am I wrong?

Anonymous said...

Well done, Rene. John McClain told me about your CM3 setup. Sounds good!
I ordered a matched pair and also modded my Rode Blimp for an XY stereo setup. Will soon share the details. Cheers, Watson Wu