Schoeps MK 41 Super-Carioid Microphone Capsule

The MK 41 is strongly directional. Sound arriving from off axis is attenuated even more than with a cardioid. The pickup is “drier” and less susceptible to acoustic feedback than any other SCHOEPS capsule type (a loudspeaker should not be located directly along the rear axis of the microphone, however).

Its directivity is highly independent of frequency, so that even sounds arriving off axis and reverberant sound are registered without coloration. Consequently, even distant placement of the capsule produces a very natural sound pickup. This is a real advantage over interference-tube “shotgun” microphones, whose directivity is very frequency-dependent – exceeding that of a supercardioid only at higher frequencies. Interference-tube microphones are notoriously sensitive to their position in a room, where the shifting patterns of reflections cause corresponding shifts in sound color. Thus the MK 41 are surprisingly effective, space-saving alternatives to shotgun microphones – and being small, they can often be placed closer to the sound source. (Regarding shotgun microphones, see CMIT 5 U.)

An M/S microphone arrangement can be set up at quite some distance from the sound source if an MK 41 is used for the “M“ channel.

Compared to the cardioid MK 4, the MK 41 has slightly more rolloff at the low end due to the gradient effect. Its diffuse field response elevation is less than that of the MK 4.