Topic: Pickup Pattern question?

[brewcrew87]

can someone please explain or point me to a thread explaining what situation is best to use a certain pickup pattern. I have a newly acquired set of busmans which have 4 pickup patterns

thanks

[acidjack]

I think there's a sticky on this at the top of this thread, but...

Very general advice:

Up very close: Subcards aka wide cards, or omnis
Reasonably close/FOB/generally good placement: cards
Farther back, less ideal placement, bad room, etc: hypers
Outdoors: conventional wisdom is also with omnis but you'll see that debated

There are all manner of caveats and opinions beyond that.  I guess I'd say the general rule is the farther back you are and the worse the room is, the more you want a tighter pattern like hypers.  The closer you are, and the better sounding the room and situation are, the more you want a natural, more open soundstage that you get with a wider pattern like subcards or omnis.  Omnis also get a lot of love outdoors in part because they are less prone to wind noise.

[hi and lo]

I think your question is a little open-ended, but here are a few resources that should be a good start. Really, you just need to start reading up on the many, many, many threads covering this topic on the boards.

- http://www.dpamicrophones.com/en/Mic-University.aspx
- http://www.rycote.com/images/uploads/The_Stereophonic_Zoom.pdf

With regards to the Busmans, you're probably not going to find that highly academic techniques are 100% applicable. While I'm sure the Busmans will not disappoint in their sonic quality, you're probably going to find that the Cardioid and Omni are the 'best' capsules. Making both is relatively straightforward for a microphone maker, however making a very high quality hyper or sub- Cardioid microphone takes considerably more effort (tip-toeing a bit here). So, even thought a situation you are in might call for a sub-card, it might be that the Cardioid is significantly better sounding and is the correct choice in spite of 'what the book says.'

[page]

I think your question is a little open-ended, but here are a few resources that should be a good start. Really, you just need to start reading up on the many, many, many threads covering this topic on the boards.

- http://www.dpamicrophones.com/en/Mic-University.aspx
- http://www.rycote.com/images/uploads/The_Stereophonic_Zoom.pdf

With regards to the Busmans, you're probably not going to find that highly academic techniques are 100% applicable.

solid reference links. I'm not sure with *any* mics, that the general techniques are always applicable. Sometimes I'll condense an angle to avoid reflections or widen it cause I can get away with it.

I think there's a sticky on this at the top of this thread, but...

Very general advice:

Up very close: Subcards aka wide cards, or omnis
Reasonably close/FOB/generally good placement: cards
Farther back, less ideal placement, bad room, etc: hypers
Outdoors: conventional wisdom is also with omnis but you'll see that debated

There are all manner of caveats and opinions beyond that.  I guess I'd say the general rule is the farther back you are and the worse the room is, the more you want a tighter pattern like hypers.  The closer you are, and the better sounding the room and situation are, the more you want a natural, more open soundstage that you get with a wider pattern like subcards or omnis.  Omnis also get a lot of love outdoors in part because they are less prone to wind noise.

To piggy back on this, the biggest skill I think you (the OP) might benefit from is the ability to think in terms of reflections and in terms of sound source and identify those reflections when you walk into a venue. if you are in a wide open field, the only reflections would be from other people which isn't nearly as much of a concern in planning as it would be if you're in a room made of brick (which creates a different bouce sound than wood for example). Where there are less reflections and less unwanted noise that will show up in your recording sound stage and you are close to your intended sound source, choose a more open pattern with an angle and spacing that promote a pleasing stereo image. In a place where you will encounter lots of reflections or unwanted noises and you are far away from it, go for a tighter pattern and as direct of a micing as prudent to maximize on-axis signal and maximize rejection of everything else. Those three categories of factors (reflections, noise, distance to sound source), then just adjust the three variables you can (assuming distance to sound source isn't realistically adjustable), those being angle, spacing, and pattern.

I find I choose my pattern based on the three factors first, then angle and spacing afterward. For example, there are a couple of indoor environments where I'd use subcards in because the room sounds great or I'm right up on stage or the stage lip. Conversely, there have been outdoor places or semi-outdoor sheds where I've used hypers because I was far back. It's a balance of the three factors.

An interesting test to practice with is to put music on at normal volume (or quieter) in your home and set your mics up more then 7 feet away. Now put your headphones on (preferably isolating ones like a cheap set of etymotic ER-6s so that you don't hear bleed through) and listen to the resulting effects as you change angle and spacing or spinning the rig around from left to right a little bit to move "the center". Listen for the "room sound" (read: echo). I didn't realize just how much echo is in my kitchen until I tried this, and now I hear it whenever I'm on the phone and walking into the room. 

best of luck.

[Fried Chicken Boy]

An interesting test to practice with is to put music on at normal volume (or quieter) in your home and set your mics up more then 7 feet away. Now put your headphones on (preferably isolating ones like a cheap set of etymotic ER-6s so that you don't hear bleed through) and listen to the resulting effects as you change angle and spacing or spinning the rig around from left to right a little bit to move "the center". Listen for the "room sound" (read: echo). I didn't realize just how much echo is in my kitchen until I tried this, and now I hear it whenever I'm on the phone and walking into the room. 

Good test suggestion.  When I was doing studio work I learned the similar "mic placement through headphone monitoring" technique from one of the elder engineers.  Worked particularly well with acoustic instruments and made the process less painstaking and took out a lot of guesswork.

[skaggs]

I would add the omnis will sound the best outdoors with some sort of split, i like both small and large spacing arrangements, depending on the space, which can change from band to band say in Telluride Town Park, where i run 2-3 times a year. It is nice to have some sort of a split bar option.  I have a NOLA H2O bar, that is 20 inches, when i am not at a festy, and find it too hard to run two stands.  There is also the 180 degree opposed option with the omnis, which is also referred to as the Healy method, i have not run that way, nor have i run my omnis in indoors ever.  good luck, as you go to differing venues you will figure out what you like with the patterns. 

[F.O.Bean]

I would add the omnis will sound the best outdoors with some sort of split, i like both small and large spacing arrangements, depending on the space, which can change from band to band say in Telluride Town Park, where i run 2-3 times a year. It is nice to have some sort of a split bar option.  I have a NOLA H2O bar, that is 20 inches, when i am not at a festy, and find it too hard to run two stands.  There is also the 180 degree opposed option with the omnis, which is also referred to as the Healy method, i have not run that way, nor have i run my omnis in indoors ever.  good luck, as you go to differing venues you will figure out what you like with the patterns. 

well said!