Any stereo array can easily be tested for efficacy by the simple expedient =
of (while recording) walking across the soundfield in an arc equidistant fr=
om the mic array. If the spatial representation is accurate as captured, wh=
en the recording is played back over properly positioned loudspeakers (=B13=
0=BA for conventional stereo; =B145=BA for X-Y Blumlein crossed figure-of-e=
ight) the footsteps should progress evenly from one side to the other. You =
could be forgiven for thinking this would be the result in most cases, but =
in fact it seems to work only with crossed figure of eights and M-S arrays,=
both coincident. All spaced arrays produce extremely aberrant results with=
this experiment.
For most nature sound recordings I don't think it matters much - especially=
of animal sounds - but to me it does matter when I am trying to capture wh=
at might be called an acoustic, such as a stream or a beachfront with waves=
(to realistically capture the movement of the breaking part of the wave).
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