"X/Y" is a general class of stereo recording methods in which two directional microphones are placed at a single point in the horizontal plane. Setting up one microphone or capsule directly above the other, with the center lines of their membranes aligned vertically, is the usual way to do this. The resulting recordings are mono-compatible: you can sum the left and right channels and there will be no destructive interference in the direct sound pickup, since all sound arrives at both microphones at the same moment.
No specific angle between the axes of the microphones is implied by the term "X/Y," and where cardioids are concerned, not only is 90 degrees not a standard angle of any kind, it is actually a rather poor choice for most music recording because of the absurdly wide stereophonic recording angle which is produced. Sound sources tend to bunch up toward the center during playback. There also is very little sense of spaciousness--the pickup of low-frequency energy is essentially mono as is the pickup of diffuse sound energy.
To lessen the bunching up toward center you can angle the capsules farther apart, but the other problems just mentioned are inherent in any X/Y cardioid arrangement and can be helped only by using a non-coincident method (such as ORTF and the rest of the alphabet-soup gang) and/or by using other microphone patterns.
--best regards
Topic: cardioid xy question... (Read 2124 times)