Last week I expanded on the
mics on welding rod stalks at the stage-lip technique that I posted about
on the 1st page of the thread. I used the same construction as before, I increased the mic count from two to four 4060s on separate stalks, evenly spaced across the front of the stage. The center pair was about 4' apart and a second stereo pair was flanking that, 4' to either side of the central pair, with a 12' total distance across the front of the stage. They are so thin and black that they were nearly invisible even in the direct line of sight from the crowd and just wiggle a bit if bumped on stage. I setup like this for Bonerama / New Mastersounds on NYE, then again for MMW at a different venue last Saturday. The venue MMW played in here this year was a bit of a pain. There was no stage-lip so I had to tape all wires down well and hang the shaving bag containing preamps and recorders from a strategically located hook under the center stage lip so I had enough cable to space the center pair properly. In addition, I had to quickly re-tape the outside stalks when the heavy, motorized stage-front curtain pulled them over.
I've panned the center L-R pair inwards, halfway towards the center and left the outsides panned hard left-right which spreads the sources across the playback stage and solidifies the center nicely. The NYE recordings are sounding really good. The MMW needs more work as the massive venue subs were directly under center stage and the band was a bit farther back on the stage making the direct drum sound a bit less forward. Regardless, I'm quite pleased with the technique.
There is no isolation between mics at all so perhaps contrary to appearance (four mics arranged in a line across the front of the stage), this is not at all like FOH mixing. I felt a little kindred with Owsley's OAITW technique mixing to stereo, but also thought about Harvey Fletcher's Bell Labs 'curtain of mics' experiment from the 30's. It would be interesting to play the 4 channel recordings back with four speakers in a line, like a very limited version of the Bell Labs 'curtain of speakers. From the Wikipedia article-
In the 1930s, Harvey Fletcher of Bell Laboratories investigated techniques for stereophonic recording and reproduction. One of the techniques investigated was the 'Wall of Sound,' which used an enormous array of microphones hung in a line across the front of an orchestra. Up to eighty microphones were used, and each fed a corresponding loudspeaker, placed in an identical position, in a separate listening room.Unfortunately I didn't have a camera at either concert. If I get some photos from others I'll post some here later, but here are some I took today to help explain the setup-
Aluminum TIG welding rod (a straightened coat hanger would work the same), closeup of one mic taped on the rod, & the full bent rod which points the mics at the band and gets them farther onstage, up and away from the crowd.