Overhead Miking
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v1.0 January. 2022
Example 4:
“Overhead Miking”;
In this example the microphone is placed at 2 meters
distance from a piano.
Assuming that the recording finds place in a concert hall; there will be some
background noise from the audience, actors, technical equipment and re-vibration
from walls etc. So an ambient noise of 25dB would be realistic for the Signal to Noise
calculation, of the intended instrument/multiple instruments sound to be captured.
When recording the “whole” sound of a symphony orchestra; placement of overhead
microphones
(2 or more), needs to be placed so they capture as many of the
instruments as possible. Usually an experienced sound engineer knows how to
place low-loudness instruments and high-loudness instruments in appropriate
distance to the microphones.
Working with microphone placement is in general a “trial and error + adjustment”
learning process. So the learning how a specific microphone will capture sound is
experience based.
The above “dB guide” is just a tool for finding some technical limits, based on some
generalized data.
