Blumlein MS with micro gobo

[summer_room]

Hi all
I am about to make myself a copy of Steve's Micro Gobos (see attachment + read 'Remote at the Blue Note') for my new Royer SF12, to avoid recording bad acoustics in 'not optimal acoustic spaces'.
I record mostly acoustic music in nice acoustics - classical music in churches or music halls - but occasionally also in less optimal acoustics.

Before I start making the baffle -
Have any of you tried recording in MS (2 figure 8's) with a baffle behind the back lobe of the M (to avoid recording bad acoustics)?

Any thoughts about this?


All the best - jon.

[ghellquist]

I have tried it and it does work to a sort. As always, acoustics can play games with you.

I have also tried creating a cardioid of the M mic in my SF24. Done by placing a good omni very close to the SF24 and adding the signal to the M mic.

Theory says that you can create a cardiod mic by adding together a figure 8 and an omni. Some early cardioids were actually made in that way. On the occasion it did work nicely, but it can also create interesting artifacts.

Gunnar

[summer_room]

Tak Gunnar!

Very interesting - what did you use as baffle - the same type as Steve's?
Which mic did you use as omni?
Also - I could imagine that the omni + 8 technique requires EQ to make the omni and 8 blend?

-jon

[Yannick]

Elegant solutions for baffling of figure eights

I would not make the baffle so small. This way you would always need to put it in the near field of the mic, changing its response and picking up reflections.
Anyway, a small baffle will never work down to very low frequencies.

[summer_room]

Great thread Yannick!
It makes sense to make the baffle bigger and move it more away from the mic.
I'm now browsing all the ribbon tags - good stuff!

-jon

[Remoteness]

The Micro Gobo scenario and technique works well for me.

Many times, we cannot setup large baffles or gobos for a variety of reasons.
I've been using this technique since the mid nineties with very good results.
Keep in mind I'm using them when I close mic instruments in tight quarters.
I've used then when miking pianos, upright basses, percussion, GTR cabs, in front of a bass drum, I've placed them in between the hi-hats and snare, etcetera, etc.

As always YMMV

[JEGG]

I've thought about this for a very long time. Never tried it though. Because of having built a jecklin disk or two, I've located some very good, very thin, and flexible material. I've accepted the compromise of not blocking low frequencies. But that would be not be so important for my uses.

I've thought about using them even on a stereo array of two hypercardioids, blumlein, and even on the back of relatively closely spaced omnis. Often, hypercardioids image better for me than cardioids given the variables of my situations.

For those using this sort of technique, I hope you'll write again and tell us of your experiences.