Posted by: "ozrall"
> My thinking (and questioning) was that the two L an R cardiods say at
> 90-110=B0 might record stereo ambiance better than M/S ?
I think your problem is a lack of understanding of what the figure 8 is
recording. It's not recording the two sides separately, but it's
recording the difference between the sound pressure of the two sides. As
such doing it with two separate mics no matter how well matched is not
as accurate.
> I wasn't necessarily concerned that I was technically recording M/S
> style, but rather attempting to get a better stereo version of the
> real world.
Then it's simple, don't call it M/S or imply it's a version of M/S.
It's some experimental mic setup. And there is certainly endless
variation there.
Blurring the definitions of standard setup types eventually leads to not
being able to be sure what someone is talking about.
If you study the various stereo setups that have been used you are
describing quite a different setup from M/S. And it's been done.
> I guess it was also questioning the rationale behind M/S which I
> presumed was only using two mics to record to two channels, whereas
> some modern sound gear allows for more. (although I will still only be
> able to record to 2 channels not 3, I can mix three.)
Just because you can record more channels does not mean it's better.
M/S is preferred because of it's perfect mix to mono. You will not get
that with three or more mics.
The ultimate in this route is when you record each instrument of a band
with a separate mic. Then someone mixes those individual voices to their
view of what the stereo field might have been. But there is no actual
background stereo ambiance preserved in such recordings. In fact to
work at all each channel has to be set up to not record background
ambiance as the mix would just be confusing. What you have is a bunch
of panned individual mono recordings.
If you want to record the full stereo ambiance from loudest caller to
the quiet whisper of the gentle breeze or whatever, you need to keep
your stereo setup as simple as possible. Why most nature recording
stereo mic setups are limited to two mics.
> I think I understand the issue of the phasing of the L and R mics, but
> wouldn't that still be the case even if you were only using two mics
> in a standard stereo arrangement ?
>
Stereo mics always are recording different fields for the two mics.
Phase differences is one of the ways we hear in stereo, eliminating them
will lead to a weaker stereo that won't even sound right. Different
stereo mic setup record the phase differences differently. One of the
reasons there is not just one stereo setup used by all.
Walt
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