Sanken CSS-5

CSS-51

Foothill Music Tech just got the Sanken CSS-5 I’ve been wanting for years.  I used one for an SCEA title a few years back and loved the sound and the ease of use.  Coupled with our Sound Devices 702 it makes for the ultimate stereo field recording rig.  It’s definitely at the high end price-wise of stereo field recording solutions, but not that much more than the Sennheiser MKH418S (which requires separate MS decoding) or the two-mic M/S configurations (like the MKH416/30 setup) that are fairly common.

One neat thing about the CSS-5 is that you can adjust the stereo width between mono, normal stereo (120-degrees) and wide stereo (~140-degrees).  However, a number of top field recordists claim that they find the wide mode noticeably noisier than the normal stereo mode.  I guess I’ll finally get a chance to have a listen and see if that’s the case.