MIC UNIVERSITY

Audio formats have developed over time. Starting with narrow bandwidth mono, moving on to various versions of two-channel stereo and finally to full-band, multi-channel immersive audio. The sound is reproduced in many ways, ranging from personal headphones to multi-channel systems in cinemas or other big venues.

Immersive audio can be described as a group of recording- and reproduction formats that involve more than a basic two-channel stereo.

The 5100 Mobile Surround Microphone is a plug and play solution for 5.1 capture. It employs five miniature pressure transducers with interference tubes and acoustic baffles.

The overall aim when recording large orchestras using just a main stereo pair is to faithfully reproduce the instruments and the concert hall. This juggling act requires more than a few compromises and the art is in reducing these compromises to a minimum.

Multi-track recording techniques are mainly built up around a main stereo pair using the A-B Stereo principle. The stereo image is created from the main stereo pair and it is therefore extremely important to place the microphone pair correctly before any support microphones are set up.

Baffled stereo is a generic term for a lot of different stereo techniques using an acoustic baffle to enhance the channel separation of the stereo signals.

When selecting microphones for stereo or multi-channel recordings, it is crucial to ensure that the frequency response and sensitivity are virtually identical.  Carefully-matched stereo pairs and surround sets are key to successful stereo or multi-channel recordings.