Topic: Using 2 Cardiod's back to back to make a Figure 8 possible???

[fmaderjr]

Anyone have any idea whether is would be worth experimenting mounting 2 Cardiod mics (such as CA-14s) back to back and combining the signal (maybe with a stereo 1/8 jack to mono 1/8 plug) in order to come up with an inexpensive figure 8 mic to use for mid side recording?

Has anyone tried tried this or are there reasons that should be obvious to me that it wouldn't work well?

[Gutbucket]

Electrically, you could invert the polarity of one of the side cardioid signals and sum them after the preamp stage but before the two track recorder.  That would require three preamp channels and some sort of mixer or a DIY summing + ploarity inversion box. That's after all how all dual diaphragm figure 8's mics work internally.

The primary problem is physical mounting the capsules close enough together, one directly behind the other.  Look at how close the capsules are in a multi-pattern large diaphragm mic.

[fmaderjr]

MS & GB-thanks so much for your helpful responses. Saved me a lot of aggravation!

[Will_S]

Something of this nature is possible using an AT822 stereo mic, if you swap a regular XLR cable in for its XLR>unbalanced stereo standard connector, and connect it to a typical (single channel) XLR input (be sure phantom power is off).

[DSatz]

The AT 822 is NOT a coincident stereo microphone--its two cardioid capsules are slightly spaced apart within the capsule head, like a "shrunken ORTF" arrangement.