Testing various stereo recording techniques

[greenmachine]

I've been messing around with different stereo recording techniques for omnidirectional microphones out of interest and recorded some samples to be compared directly.

1) microphones 1" apart, no baffle in between

2) microphones 6" apart, no baffle

3) microphones 20" apart, no baffle ('split omnis')

4) microphones 6" apart, human head as a baffle ('hrtf')

5) microphones 6" apart, human head as a baffle, placed inside the pinna ('binaural')

6) microphones mounted directly to the surfaces of a small jecklin disk

7) microphones 6" apart, small jecklin disk in between

8) microphones mounted directly to the surfaces of a large jecklin disk

9) microphones 6" apart, large jecklin disk in between

opinions/preferences wanted

.

[MDnewuser]

2) microphones 6" apart, no baffle sounds most natural i think. I did a similiar recording today and it came out awesome, ears seem good too but it lack something of that "3D being-there-sound". BTW what is no baffle ?

[greenmachine]

A baffle is a physical barrier between the microphones in order to block sound waves coming from one side to directly hit the opposite mic. The baffle can be flat (j-disk), spherical (head) or anything in between. Other variations are possible.

Here's an extreme example of a baffle: http://www.kimber.com/IsoMike/

[boojum]

I've been messing around with different stereo recording techniques for omnidirectional microphones out of interest and recorded some samples to be compared directly.

1) microphones 1" apart, no baffle in between

2) microphones 6" apart, no baffle

3) microphones 20" apart, no baffle ('split omnis')

4) microphones 6" apart, human head as a baffle ('hrtf')

5) microphones 6" apart, human head as a baffle, placed inside the pinna ('binaural')

6) microphones mounted directly to the surfaces of a small jecklin disk

7) microphones 6" apart, small jecklin disk in between

8) microphones mounted directly to the surfaces of a large jecklin disk

9) microphones 6" apart, large jecklin disk in between

opinions/preferences wanted

.

GM -

I can hear differences but to eliminate the placebo effect I would like to be able to D/L them and ABX them in foobar2000. It is also going to be hard to judge something recorded from music played through loudspeakers as some version of your test may work well with your speakers but not in the real world. As for the music, is it for meditation?? LOL ;o)

Edited March 8, 2007 by boojum