What is stereo recording?
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Posted on Jun 04, 2005 12:06 pm
Zen Stapler
Member Since: Mar 02, 2005
I've heard about stereo recording, using two microphones at once (a "stereo pair"), but I've never really understood its purpose. Are there advantages to miking something twice, rather than just miking it once?
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Jun 04, 2005 12:33 pm ahhh yes my student! welcome to the world of stereo, where you'll experiance sound in a whole new way!!!
ok ya know how a painting can create an illusion of depth using only two dementions? height and width...well stereo recording allows you to create the illusion of depth out of two speakers...and can do this quite Stunningly.
in the audio world you have a 3 dimentional space to fill, or create.
width (Left to right panning)
height (frequency)
depth (reverb, and delays)
when you set up two mics in a room, you'll be able to 'take a picture' of that room, acoustically. there are different ways to achievee this with two mics...
XY means you put the mics at 90 degree (although you can go wider or tighter angles and stack the diaphragms over eacthother...this is called a coinsadent pair.
there's also ORTF, i'm not sure what it stands for, but basically, you plase two mics sepearte from eachother, say 5 feet apart. this risks phase issues so i don't mess with it.
MS (mid-side) is where you hafe a figure 8 patteren mic, placed to record the left and right sides, and the second mic is pointed directly forward that would be the center.
the cool thing about this one is you have total control of the width of the stereo field.
mccartyeeeeeeemo.Member
Since: Oct 30, 2003
Jun 04, 2005 01:01 pm i used an XY pair (aka a coincident pair) to record a string quartet, like this
i did this because it allowed me to pick up lots of the room's ambience, but still obtain a good, balanced stereo image of the ensemble.
if i had recorded it with one mic pointing at them, i couldn't have panned anything! however, because i had a stereo recording, i could pan each track a seperate way, and then it would appear to someone sat in front of the speakers that the instruments were in the positions they were in during the performance.
Josh RoseJR ProductionsMember
Since: Mar 03, 2005
Jun 04, 2005 01:20 pm I just read a book with about 6 good techniques along with a bunch of other great stuff called 'Practical Recording Techniques: Third Edition' By Bruce and Jenny Bartlett. $35 USD but its a great book.
Edit: 6 good stereo techniques
mccartyeeeeeeemo.Member
Since: Oct 30, 2003
Jun 04, 2005 01:23 pm i have that book! it was like a bible to me when i was starting out.
Jun 08, 2005 06:29 pm Wow, okay that makes sense. Thanks a lot!
Jun 08, 2005 07:00 pm I have that book to. if you want a really good book, have a look at the "Yamaha Sound Reinforcement" book. Greeeeeaaat book
