karma101
因緣
I am sure some of you know this, but for those of you who do not. Here is some information.
• Mid-Side Technique
M-S stands for Mid-Side. It describes the technique whereby you use two mics to capture the direct and ambient signal of a sound source. The beauty of this technique is that you can mix the ambient vs. direct mix at a later date. You can also fold the stereo signal down to mono with very little or no ill effect. As you'll see later, the effects of phase cancellation can be a real problem when recording in stereo, especially if you're not sure if the signal will end up in mono. For this reason, M-S is very popular in film sound applications. However, you can also use the technique for music recording with very good results.
Necessities
The essentials are simple in regards to M-S. You'll need the following:
• Cardioid pattern microphone
• Figure 8 pattern Microphone
• M-S Matrix or
• A Console with phase invert on the channel
The microphones can be fixed pattern or variable, as long as you've got them in the two required patterns when you're recording. As for a M-S matrix, some mic preamps come with a built in M-S matrix. As for the console with phase inversion capabilities, if you don't have it you can get around it by constructing a cable that's out of phase.
To set this up
To setup for M-S recording is as follows:
Place the Cardioid pattern mic towards the sound source, then place the Fig 8 mic off axis to the sound source. This means if the cardioid were pointing on the X-axis, the Fig 8 would be on the Y-axis. Another way to think of the setup is as a cross. The on-axis lobes of each mic are occupying a point on the cross. The only point of the cross that's not being covered at all is the back, the side opposing the sound source.
DON'T FORGET! Keep in mind that when you're setting up the mics, the capsules should be as close together as possible. This will keep you out of phase trouble because the sound waves will be in the same cycle when they hit the capsules.
Finished Results: Once you record the session, you now have two signals on tape, one from the Cardioid and one from the Fig 8 mic. You now need to put it through a matrix or create your own. This can be simply done by doing the following:
• Bring the Cardioid signal back to a channel on your console (panned center)
• Split the figure 8 signal and bring it back to TWO channels on your console (panned left and right respectively)
DON'T FORGET! Flip the phase of one of the Fig 8 channels.
Now you can start to mix your signals. Bring up the Cardioid signal's fader to taste; this will be the main ingredient in the mix of the three channels. Then as a pair, bring up the split Fig 8 left/right signals. Notice as you add ambience how the sound changes, this is very subjective, and you may like it or you may not. If you don't like it then you can always dump the Fig 8 mic in the mix and use just the Cardioid.
Personal Opinions
I've used this technique and thought it sounded good, and I've used it other times and thought it was awful. It depends a lot on what your room is like and how big you want your sound to be. It's all a matter of taste, but it never hurts to know little secrets. This technique along with the Blumlein technique is nice to know and use in your recordings. Experiment and have fun, you learn a lot by making mistakes then re-doing.
• Blumlein Technique
A. D. Blumlein
A cool mic technique was invented by EMI sound engineer Alan Dower Blumlein (1903-1942). Through his contributions to science, he greatly dabbled in the development of stereo and mono recording, telephony, television, radar and amplifier technology. He died in 1942 when a plane crashed while testing his prototype for ground radar.
The technique is using a pair of microphones in a figure-8 pattern and putting them in an x-y configuration. By using the figure-8 pattern you are able to pick up the off-axis sound and have it be a part of the mix. Using cardioid pattern mic would cancel off-axis signals and just pick up the subject at the front of the mic. This can work well mind you, especially when you're recording in a room that has no particular personality that you'd want to capture.
Practical Uses
This technique was used recently on the Page/Plant record a few years ago. Use the pair as overheads on a drum kit in a large room. This would also be a great technique for micing an acoustic solo piano in a nice concert hall. As always, use your ears to decide what technique is best for you. If you're recording in your bedroom and it sounds bad, obviously you would not want to capture that. You want to record in a nice arena, or if you're stuck, treat the room to make it a better place to record. Keep the Blumlein technique in your bag of recording secrets.
M-S stands for Mid-Side. It describes the technique whereby you use two mics to capture the direct and ambient signal of a sound source. The beauty of this technique is that you can mix the ambient vs. direct mix at a later date. You can also fold the stereo signal down to mono with very little or no ill effect. As you'll see later, the effects of phase cancellation can be a real problem when recording in stereo, especially if you're not sure if the signal will end up in mono. For this reason, M-S is very popular in film sound applications. However, you can also use the technique for music recording with very good results.
Necessities
The essentials are simple in regards to M-S. You'll need the following:
• Cardioid pattern microphone
• Figure 8 pattern Microphone
• M-S Matrix or
• A Console with phase invert on the channel
The microphones can be fixed pattern or variable, as long as you've got them in the two required patterns when you're recording. As for a M-S matrix, some mic preamps come with a built in M-S matrix. As for the console with phase inversion capabilities, if you don't have it you can get around it by constructing a cable that's out of phase.
To set this up
To setup for M-S recording is as follows:
Place the Cardioid pattern mic towards the sound source, then place the Fig 8 mic off axis to the sound source. This means if the cardioid were pointing on the X-axis, the Fig 8 would be on the Y-axis. Another way to think of the setup is as a cross. The on-axis lobes of each mic are occupying a point on the cross. The only point of the cross that's not being covered at all is the back, the side opposing the sound source.
DON'T FORGET! Keep in mind that when you're setting up the mics, the capsules should be as close together as possible. This will keep you out of phase trouble because the sound waves will be in the same cycle when they hit the capsules.
Finished Results: Once you record the session, you now have two signals on tape, one from the Cardioid and one from the Fig 8 mic. You now need to put it through a matrix or create your own. This can be simply done by doing the following:
• Bring the Cardioid signal back to a channel on your console (panned center)
• Split the figure 8 signal and bring it back to TWO channels on your console (panned left and right respectively)
DON'T FORGET! Flip the phase of one of the Fig 8 channels.
Now you can start to mix your signals. Bring up the Cardioid signal's fader to taste; this will be the main ingredient in the mix of the three channels. Then as a pair, bring up the split Fig 8 left/right signals. Notice as you add ambience how the sound changes, this is very subjective, and you may like it or you may not. If you don't like it then you can always dump the Fig 8 mic in the mix and use just the Cardioid.
Personal Opinions
I've used this technique and thought it sounded good, and I've used it other times and thought it was awful. It depends a lot on what your room is like and how big you want your sound to be. It's all a matter of taste, but it never hurts to know little secrets. This technique along with the Blumlein technique is nice to know and use in your recordings. Experiment and have fun, you learn a lot by making mistakes then re-doing.
• Blumlein Technique
A. D. Blumlein
A cool mic technique was invented by EMI sound engineer Alan Dower Blumlein (1903-1942). Through his contributions to science, he greatly dabbled in the development of stereo and mono recording, telephony, television, radar and amplifier technology. He died in 1942 when a plane crashed while testing his prototype for ground radar.
The technique is using a pair of microphones in a figure-8 pattern and putting them in an x-y configuration. By using the figure-8 pattern you are able to pick up the off-axis sound and have it be a part of the mix. Using cardioid pattern mic would cancel off-axis signals and just pick up the subject at the front of the mic. This can work well mind you, especially when you're recording in a room that has no particular personality that you'd want to capture.
Practical Uses
This technique was used recently on the Page/Plant record a few years ago. Use the pair as overheads on a drum kit in a large room. This would also be a great technique for micing an acoustic solo piano in a nice concert hall. As always, use your ears to decide what technique is best for you. If you're recording in your bedroom and it sounds bad, obviously you would not want to capture that. You want to record in a nice arena, or if you're stuck, treat the room to make it a better place to record. Keep the Blumlein technique in your bag of recording secrets.
