Microphone Techniques

Close Miking

Is also commonly known as 'spot micing'. Close Miking will mostly consist of just direct sound with some room sound depending on the polar pattern. Generally close miking is considered when it is approximately 2-15 cm away from the sound source. You may get more clarity but may sound unnatural when it is isolated. Close miking will introduce an element of the Proximity effect, unless the polar pattern used is omni directional.

Still mostly direct sound, but has some space between the microphone and the sound source and allows more air in between. This gives a bit more of a “natural” sound. Generally distant miking is considered when it is approximately 1m-3m away from the sound source. Has more clarity compared to close miking.

The microphone is placed quite far away from the sound source to capture mostly the sound of the space or room. Generally ambient miking is considered when it is approximately 4 or more meters away from the sound source. Ambient miking is also commonly known as 'Room miking'. Ambient miking can be used to record crowds in live concerts. Used to capture the acoustics of the room.

The two microphones should be at an angle between approx. 90 degrees to 120 degrees. The XY technique only uses utilises inter-aural amplitude difference to create a stereo image.
Greatly reduces phase issues as the microphones are placed as close together as possible. Usually standard cardioid patterns are used, but any type of cardioid will work.
This technique is great to use on instruments such as Acoustic Guitar.

This technique uses the same XY setup however the microphones need to have a figure-8 pattern.
This technique is great for capturing the direct sound as well as some ambience.
This technique can be used for a wild range of instruments.

One cardioid (the Mid) and one figure-8 (the side) setup coincident to each other with the cardioid pointed towards the sound source and the figure-8 with the null-side pointed in the direction of the cardioid
Cardioid picks up the direct (mid) sound and the figure-8 picks up the ambient (side) sound. When mixing the two signal together the microphones can be blended differently for a wider or narrower sound.
You need to duplicate the signal on the figure-8 microphone then pan one to the left and one to the right.
This will achieve the ability to mix mix with a wide stereo image or narrow.

Uses two microphone set apart from each other in parallel (Ensure that it conforms to the 3:1 rule). Common to use two cardioid microphones, but omni and figure-8 are also useable for this. The AB technique utilises inter-aural amplitude difference and inter-aural time difference to create a stereo image.
The 3:1 rule states that the distance between the spaced pair should be three times the distance from the sound source, for example if the sound source is 1 meter away then the space pair should be 3 meters apart. This rule helps us to ensure that all microphones used together that are not placed coincident with each other far enough apart so they are not phase cancelling.

The Decca Tree formation uses three omnidirectional microphones. Can be thought of like an AB pair with a centre/mid microphone. The centre microphone is slightly forward of the LR pair. Because the sound arrives at the centre of the tree, the law of the first wave front guarantees that this central image will be strongly focused and clear. This results in a significant improvement over previous spaced pair configurations with poor central imaging.