Ortf mic setup

Note that for all of the figures, we are looking straight down at the mics from above. The left channel is marked in green and the right channel in yellow. The most obvious stereo mic setup is the spaced pair sometimes called AB, see Figure 1. Two mics often omni are set some distance apart, delivering stereo information by differences in loudness and precedence. This is often used for relatively large sound sources, like an entire drum kit or a grand piano.

For really huge sources like an orchestra or a choir captured by distant mics, AB is pretty much the only setup that works. Compared to the other stereo techniques we describe below, a spaced pair typically provides the widest and most dramatic stereo image.

This method comes with two potential problems. One is that the distance between the mics means that sound waves arrive at different times and therefore will have phase differences, which can lead to drastically compromised sound when mixed down to a narrower soundstage or to mono. Imagine hearing a choir as two chunks on either side of the stage with nobody in the middle!

The only option here is to either move the mics closer together or to position them further away from the source. Here's a short piano performance captured with a spaced pair of microphones. Notice how the wide stereo image creates a lush sound that complements the piece:.

Two cardioid microphones are set up as close to one another as possible, one stacked atop the other so their diaphragms are effectively at the same point in space with respect to the sound source. XY relies almost exclusively on differences in loudness; precedence times are equal and phase differences are minimal. The Blumlein Pair see Figure 3 uses this same positioning but with figure-8 mics rather than cardioids; this captures out-of-phase information from behind the array and adds to the sense of spaciousness and realism.

We recommend XY and other coincident techniques as a great choice for beginners. The one thing that catches even experienced recording engineers when setting up stereo mic arrays is phase cancellation ; what should be a massive soundstage ends up sounding thin, weak, and hollow in mono. A coincident array completely avoids this. Many portable field recorders come with XY mic arrays built-in. Our Sphere L22 mic is particularly well suited to coincident recording.

It uses two coincident mics: the Mid is a cardioid mic pointed at the sound source, and the Side is a figure-8 mic pointed to the sides, as shown in Figure 4. Why do this? If we split the Side mic signal and send it to two mixer channels, then invert one of those two, we can balance those two signals to adjust the stereo width in the mix—from an ultra-wide stereo soundstage down to perfect mono with no phase problems.

One excellent option is the free Midside Matrix plug-in from the awesome folks at Goodhertz. Some stereo field recorders mimic these arrays in miniature. The theoretical answer, which I can't substantiate but I'm sure someone here can and will is that it has to do with the coverage pattern hypercardioid, I think - been a while since I've written that article or used that setup of the mics that were used for the 'standard' ORTF setup.

The more practical answer is that this is what works in the way the setup is most often used. It's appropriate for a source as wide as an orchestra, with the mic placed some distance away. Putting a near-coincident array up close to a guitar, or relatively close as with drum overheads doesn't make it ORTF even if the mics are the right pattern spaced at degrees.

It's just two mics pointing in different directions. As most people who work with this kind of setup will tell you, the degree angle is a starting point. You should be prepared to make adjustments in position and angle based on what you hear.

If you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo. I believe it has something to do with the -3 dB level on the two microphones.

On standard cardioids at degree separation, the exact center is down -3 dB on both channels, summing to zero across the pair. For hypercardioids it's less and it may be degrees. I use ORTF as my default setup because it comes across wonderfully on headphones and makes an excellent spread on speakers as well. The microhpone spread depends on three factors: 1 the directionality of the microphones 2 the distance from the group to the mics 3 the size of the group.

A thought experiment. Imagine a rhythm guitar on the right, vocal center, and the bass on the left, each with a single amp. Left, center, and right discrete sound sources. If I point one directional mic right at the guitar and another at the bass, they'll be in separate channels far left and right and each will share a portion of the vocal. That's much like the narrow mic spread with a wide stereo image. All three sources will be left of the right mic and right of the left mic.

That's the definition of a narrow stereo image. A second thought experiment for those who aren't yet convinced: Your speakers are set in a stereo pattern, nominally at the corners of an equilateral triangle with your console seat.

That angle is fixed. What effect does that have on the stereo image of microphones? A narrow angle is widened, and a wide angle is narrowed. Finally: It is absolutely true that if you narrow the angle enough, the stereo image collapses entirely and you get mono. But that happens rather suddenly and at a small angle which varies with the mic pattern. Epilogue I'm offering these to satisfy the curious, but the real solution is to try it.

I didn't believe it myself until I tried it. It is now well documented in my music library at least. See the "David Satz wins again" thread I started back in March I was force to record too close and set the mics too wide and damn if the image wasn't all that bad. More experimentation later confirmed it. The other piece of the puzzle which hasn't been discussed enough is the proximity to the sound source.

Depending on distance to the guitar vocal and bass, the effect of mic angle changes significantly. We are making some assumptions about ORTF placement and distance to the source.

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You can vary the amount of room sound by playing with the height and the distance to the kit. These are the results we got using this technique with a couple of Shure KSM mics:. Do you hear how natural the take sounds? Also note that while the kick is well centered, the snare is slightly to the side.

This is one of the issues when recording drums with this technique. Although it probably won't be too annoying for jazz or chanson, for instance, for more "modern" productions, where you need the kick and snare to be right at the center you should probably look into other options, like the ones we'll see in upcoming articles.

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Subscribe to our free newsletter Subscribe. News Media 1, 1,8k. Articles Forums Overview [ hide ]. View other articles in this series The gear to use 2. What format to use? Recording levels 4. Working at the source 5. Recording a trombone 6. Recording a saxophone 7. Recording a flute 8. Look after the musicians 9. The importance of pre-production Setting up the headphone mix How to organize for a recording session Recording a bowed upright bass Recording a pizzicato double bass The rule Tidy up!

Recording a hardware synth The bothers of a home studio The importance of good tuning Recording drums — Introduction Recording drums — Mono Room Recording drums — Overheads and the A-B technique Recording drums — Last advice on overheads Recording drums — The snare drum Part 1 Recording drums — The snare drum Part 2 Recording drums — The kick drum Part 1 Recording drums — Aligning the kick drum tracks