Stereophonic Microphone Techniques
Classic Blumlein Technique
For many years, several coincident microphone setups have been widely used for recording in
stereo as naturally as possible.
The “Blumlein” technique, named for A.D. Blumlein of England, involves the use of two figure-
eight microphones positioned as in the sketch
(see Figure 1)
, so that one faces left and the other
right, at an angle of 90 degrees (i.e. each displaced 45 degrees from center).
Figure 1
Classic Blumlein or coincident miking technique
Each microphone ultimately feeds one speaker in a stereo system, and due to the directionality of
the microphones, the result is a very well defined stereo effect on playback. For classical music,
particularly, the reproduction can be very satisfying.
Mid-Side (M-S) Technique
In the early days of stereo radio broadcasting, the mid-side recording technique was developed to
allow for 1) simultaneous stereo and mono feeds from the same mic array and 2) electronic
manipulation of the width of the stereo image.
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