Schoeps MK8 Bi-Directional Figure 8 Capsule Features

The Schoeps MK8 is a true dipole transducer, operating with a single diaphragm. The main axis of its bidirectional pickup lies at right angles to its cylindrical axis, and is marked at 0° and 180° with a red and a black dot respectively. When M/S stereo recordings are made, the 0° axis faces to the left, as viewed from behind the microphone setup. The “8“ engraved on the top of the housing should be aligned on its side so as to appear horizontal, at a precise right angle to the Mid capsule. The microphone should be placed directly above or beneath the “M“ channel microphone, and as close to it as possible.

The qualities of a pure pressure-gradient transducer are readily observed in this microphone type. Its sensitivity decreases at low frequencies. The directional characteristic and the random energy efficiency* are extraordinarily independent of frequency. Proximity effect is present.

The sound quality of the Schoeps MK8 is clear and neutral. As physics would dictate, the frequency response rolls off above 16 kHz.

When an Schoeps MK8 is used as a spot microphone, care must be taken to avoid picking up early reflections or unwanted direct sound from its rear, since sound arriving from the back is picked up with full level but reversed in polarity. This could result in partial cancellation of the intended sound, which can lead to comb-filter effects at higher frequencies.

A typical and interesting application of the Schoeps MK8, for which it is ideally suited, is as the S channel of an M/S stereophonic system. (As an X/Y pair, two of them crossed at 90° are also ideal in the Blumlein stereo arrangement.)

• Pure pressure-gradient transducer with figure-8 pattern
• Directional pattern almost completely identical at all frequencies
• Main axis: radial (pickup perpendicular to the microphone body)