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Gear / Technical Help => Microphones & Setup => Topic started by: fanofjam on May 05, 2026, 08:01:28 AM
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I picked up a pair of MK4S capsules for $700. I wouldn't have bought them except for the low price. I was a little bit skeptical about using them for music since they're rolled off and designed for speech. Turns out they aren't very good for a 'normal' music environment with a well-balanced sound or a well-mixed PA, but they're stunning for EDM or anything with a super bass heavy sound where the MK4 gets very bloaty and mooshy. The roll-off tames the bass perfectly and it comes out as clean as a nun's titty. I know that's probably logical, but it's one thing to see it on the graph and quite another to hear it on my live recordings.
So fwiw, if anyone is habitually recording bass centric music, I can heartily recommend the MK4S over the MK4.
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Hi. In April, 2015 Schoeps decided to unify the naming of their special/alternate capsules. In the process, the MK 4 S became known as the MK 4 XP. The characteristics weren't changed--only the name.
Around the same time a new variant, the MK 4 P, was introduced. Like the MK 4 XP, it has the same midrange and high-frequency response as the standard MK 4 plus a low-frequency rolloff--but that rolloff starts lower in the MK 4 P, so that overall, it has less effect and/or would compensate for miking that's not as close. The slope of the rolloff is the same as in the capsules you have--definitely less than 6 dB/octave, more like a tone control than a filter. Edited later to add: Measurements for the graphic below were made at a distance of 60 cm (about two feet). For context, see https://schoeps.de/en/products/special-microphones/close-pickup.html .
Either capsule can be suitable for music recording when the source material and/or the recording venue overemphasize the bass. Or they can be used for close-miking an instrument or voice, to counteract proximity effect. However, sonically the result is hardly any different from what you would get by equalizing the output of a standard capsule.
--best regards
The "P" stands for "proximity compensation"; "XP" = stronger compensation for closer miking, i.e. the rolloff begins at a somewhat higher frequency.
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Hi. In April, 2015 Schoeps decided to unify the naming of their special/alternate capsules. In the process, the MK 4 S became known as the MK 4 XP. The characteristics weren't changed--only the name.
I like the updated naming convention. It's easy to mistake the MK4S with the plural of MK4. In fact, when I first saw the ad for the pair of MK4S that I purchased, I thought it was a pair of MK4's.
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I'll tell the person who came up with the new naming scheme that you said so.