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Chapter 7 Imaging processors 144
XY miking
In an XY recording, two directional microphones are symmetrically angled from the center of the
stereo eld. The right-hand microphone is aimed at a point between the left side and the center
of the sound source. The left-hand microphone is aimed at a point between the right side and
the center of the sound source. This results in a 45° to 60° o-axis recording on each channel (or
90° to 120° between channels).
XY recordings tend to be balanced in both channels, with good positional information being
encoded. XY recording is commonly used for drum recording and is also suitable for larger
ensembles and many individual instruments.
Typically, XY recordings have a narrower sound eld than AB recordings, so they can lack a sense
of perceived width when played back. XY recordings can be mixed down to mono.
MS miking
To make a Middle and Side (MS) recording, two microphones are positioned as closely together
as possible—usually placed on a stand or hung from the studio ceiling. One is a cardioid (or
omnidirectional) microphone that directly faces the sound source you want to record—in a
straight alignment. The other is a bidirectional microphone, with its axes pointing to the left and
right of the sound source at 90° angles. The cardioid microphone records the middle signal to
one side of a stereo recording. The bidirectional microphone records the side signal to the other
side of a stereo recording. MS recordings made in this way can be decoded by the Direction
Mixer.
When MS recordings are played back, the side signal is used twice:
•
As recorded
•
Panned hard left and phase reversed, panned hard right
MS is ideal for all situations where you need to retain absolute mono compatibility. The
advantage of MS recordings over XY recordings is that the stereo middle is positioned on the
main recording direction (on-axis) of the cardioid microphone. This means that slight uctuations
in frequency response that occur o the on-axis—as is the case with every microphone—are less
troublesome, because the recording always retains mono compatibility.