Topic: blumein question??

[slightlys]

would it be a good idea to run blumien on stage at medium sized club?

[J.T.L]

YES!

[tgakidis]

YES!

Ditto

[page]

I'll go with probably.

If your rear lobe of a channel captures identical sound from the opposite front lobe, then it (that specific sound) will cancel out and you get this strange effect of the remaining sound minus that specific sound due to the + and - lobes being null'ed. One instance where blumlein onstage/stage lip might be of concern is the monitors. Just keep that in mind when setting up and things should be ok.

[boojum]

I have yet to run across a rule that says you should always run X in situation Y.  If you are not plastering spot mics on each instrument you must always remember you are recording a room with music in it.  A Blumlein could work, if the acoustics in the room are good.  If the acoustics are not good you will have a worse than ordinary recording.  It is a characteristic of the Blumelein setup.  Blumelin is just like that little girl:

"There was a little girl, who had a little curl
        right in the middle of her forehead.
And when she was good, she was very, very good.
        But when she was bad she was horrid.

This is the easiest link for info on Mr. Blumlein's setup. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blumlein_Pair   Bartlett, Eargle,Williams and Katz are the first names which come to mind for real references on this setup.  In the right space, Blumlein shines.

Cheers

[Len Moskowitz (Core Sound)]

would it be a good idea to run blumien on stage at medium sized club?

It can work fine, and it can be a disaster.

Almost no stereo technique will preserve location cues (soundstage) and "airiness" as well as Blumlein (crossed figure-8s).

But figure-8's pick up as well to their rear as they do to the front.  So if the crowd is loud, they can drown out the performers.

Also, anything to the rear will have its phase reversed.  When the rear sounds get played back in front-only stereo, their positions will be reversed.  If that's not what you want, Blumlein is not what you should be using.

[DSatz]

Blumlein can be wonderful but for it to work, rule #1 is that you have to respect its total pickup angle of 90 degrees--all direct sound sources must fit within the quadrant in front of the pair.

Since a recordist can't usually "pose" all the direct sound sources close together like a photographer posing a family for a group portrait, you may have to back the mikes away from the sound sources until 90 degrees will fully encompass those sound sources.

The problem is, figure-8 microphones are fully as sensitive to sound coming from behind them as to sound coming from in front of them. So a Blumlein pair will pick up a relatively large amount of room sound unless you place it fairly close to the sound sources. And then, unfortunately, you tend to run smack into rule #1.

So it's not a technique that can produce satisfactory results in all venues; I would actually call it the most limited (or limiting) of the fundamental two-mike stereo techniques in that respect. As I said it can be wonderful, so by all means consider it and try it if the geometry of the location can support its use. But always have a "plan B" in the bag unless prior experience tells you that it's going to work.

--best regards