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mic arrays and M/S behaviour

Subject: mic arrays and M/S behaviour
From: "Luiz do Carmo" lecarmo
Date: Mon Aug 30, 2010 10:58 pm ((PDT))
Hi,

I am a sound professional based in Brazil. At the moment I am working in a =
film
in which the action takes place in a rural environment surrounded by a dens=
e
forest. The easy way to work around our low budget enterprise would be the=

utilization of some (quite some=E2=80=A6) stereo ambience recordings I have=
 collected
over the years, but I lost all of them in a =E2=80=98computer accident=E2=
=80=99 =E2=80=93 which is a
story longer than what I believe would suit the present occasion.

The good part of this tragic story is that it forced me to do something I w=
as
procrastinating for quite a while, since I have being inclined to start
producing 4 channel recordings for such purpose, but the lack of available =
time
and money kept delaying my plans.

After gathering (googled) information around and lately here in this list I=

ended up with two types of mic arrays that I suppose would work fine in a 5=
.1
Dolby Digital final mix, which requires discrete channels: An IRT Cross or =
a
Double M/S.

To fit my budget, 4 AT4021 mics in an IRT Cross setup would do it. The only=

problem in using the ATs would be the fact that these mics would only be us=
eful
=E2=80=93 for the kind of work I do: post production and location sound =E2=
=80=93 for ambience
recordings (I have Oktava MK-012s for sfx), as they are not suited for
production sound/dialogues, which are almost always recorded with shotguns,=

principally in outdoors situations.

My first question is: Do the sound of the mid mics on a Double M/S take par=
t in
the overall sound, or the resulting 4 channels only carry the audio informa=
tion
captured by the figure-8?

I ask that because if the sound of the figure-8 mic is what actually is hea=
rd in
the 4 channel image, I could use whatever cardioids or supercardioid =E2=80=
=93 for
example, a MKH-416 or a pair of Oktava MK-012, which I already have =E2=80=
=93 without
altering the quality of the figure-8 mic. I could add to this that with suc=
h
setup I could have a mic array already set for directional plus surround
recording, which would suit perfectly for documentary film situations, besi=
des
the adition of easiness represented by a lot less gear to carry around.

(The second question is about recorders and I rather leave it for another
thread).

I would like to thank all the list members for sharing your knowledge, whic=
h
already helped me a lot and specially, for the present matter, Rob Danielso=
n for
his microphone chart.

Regards,
Luis











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