Mics for M-S

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ecc83

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I don't have a suitable fig 8 mic, can I therefore use two 'identical' cardioid SDCs ' back to back at right angles to the front facing mic?
Now, I presume I shall have to flip the polarity of one of the side facing mics, sum them and treat that signal as the Side signal?

However, it occurs that maybe I can simply use the "in pol' mic as one side channel and the flipped mic as the other?

Dave.
 
It works quite well, if you flip the polarity of one - BUT - 90 degrees on a cardioid is nowhere near the kind of null you get on a fig-8. So your side component has an awful lot of front in it. Just reduces the stereo width quite a bit.
 
rob aylestone said:
It works quite well, if you flip the polarity of one - BUT - 90 degrees on a cardioid is nowhere near the kind of null you get on a fig-8. So your side component has an awful lot of front in it. Just reduces the stereo width quite a bit.
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Thank you Rob. I have since found out that I* need to 'stack' the mics and align the diaphragms, NOT just have them poked out back to back.

*Actually it is my son who wants to play with this but the semantics gets clumsy! He will also have to make up a Pol rev cable/combiner, means some soldering which he hates!

Dave.
 
You can buy XLR reversers from CPC for a few quid. Thinking a bit more, maybe you could create some sort of barrier? A big thick bit of foam or rockwool with two hold in it? Shove the mics through from opposite sides so the barriercuts down sound from the 'front'. Might be worth experimenting with. A big bit of dense foam sculpted to shield the side? Wouldn't do much for the bass, but as most detail is in the mids and upwards, could be a new mic technique!
 
rob aylestone said:
You can buy XLR reversers from CPC for a few quid. Thinking a bit more, maybe you could create some sort of barrier? A big thick bit of foam or rockwool with two hold in it? Shove the mics through from opposite sides so the barriercuts down sound from the 'front'. Might be worth experimenting with. A big bit of dense foam sculpted to shield the side? Wouldn't do much for the bass, but as most detail is in the mids and upwards, could be a new mic technique!
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Indeed you can Rob and I found a pair for under a tenner. But he still needs to combine the two S mics to feed one input of his M4. He will then copy that track in Sam Prox3 and polarity flip it. He has suddenly got this M-S bee under his chapau! What started him off was that he found his Tascam Pro40X HH recorder has a built in M-S decoder. Took me QUITE some time to make him realize that the DEcoder is of no 'king use to him until he gets some EN coded signals!

Yes, the barrier idea is a good one. I shall keep it in mind but for the present we shall "K.I.S.Sir!

Dave.
 
I'm pretty sure that back to back cardioid mics, with one inverted, will produce a good figure-8 pattern. That's essentially what a dual diaphragm condenser does.
 
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That would be an interesting experiment. I've got several pairs of pencil mics, and a few 3 pattern mics. Sounds like a New Years project to me. Compare an real MS with a 3 cardioid set up.
 
TalismanRich said:
That would be an interesting experiment. I've got several pairs of pencil mics, and a few 3 pattern mics. Sounds like a New Years project to me. Compare an real MS with a 3 cardioid set up.
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I have done a scribble for son for how the mics need to be arranged (M mic not shown) and the wiring for the OOP cable. Turns out he does not have enough spare XLRs so dad has spent last night making it and will post it off to him tomorrow. I have set it up with a pair of AKG P150s and will have a "walk round it waffling" then post audio and smudges.

(why does "cardioid" always show as a spelling error? HTF else can you spell it?)

Dave.
 

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You should be able to right click on any word that is highlighted as misspelled and add that to your dictionary. I do that in Firefox. I've added quite a few words that are technical terms not found in normal use.
ecc83 said:
(why does "cardioid" always show as a spelling error? HTF else can you spell it?)

Dave.
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