Topic: Oddball microphone technique (OMT) - part 4

[Gutbucket]

Right on.  Nice to be approaching what seems the point of diminishing returns where we're mostly tweaking details, having already achieved the most significant advancements by way of the general concept.  That's kind of where I feel we are with all of this at this point.  Thanks for taking it up, sharing your thoughts and recordings and helping to refine it to the nth degree.

[rocksuitcase]

Our latest effort- an OMT6 at Phish SPAC night1
https://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=207845.0

We ran kindms AKGc34 in the middle DFC in the OTS int a Sonosax SX-M2D2; I took a digi feed and added a pair of AKG ck8's PAS and DPA 4060's spread 10 feet on other stands.
All in all a great experience; show and recording wise. 
PHISH
2025-07-25 FRIDAY
Broadview Stage at SPAC
Saratoga Springs NY

MDAUD OMT6
microphones:
ch1/2: DPA 4060 Omnis spread 10 feet apart > Grace V2 sn001 >
ch3/4: AKG ck8 supercardioids PAS > Grace V2 >
ch5/6: AKG c34 M/S [ Mid=cardioid; Side=fig 8 ] >
recorder: Tascam DR680|SD
processing: SD|Audacity|cdwaveditor|TLH|foobar2000 tagger
recorded by: Kyle Holbrook; Michael Deary
processed by: Kyle Holbrook

SET 1:
d1t01. First Tube
d1t02. Bathtub Gin
d1t03. Devotion To a Dream
d1t04. The Well
d1t05. Birds of a Feather
d1t06. Strawberry Letter 23
d1t07. Lawn Boy
d1t08. The Old Home Place
d1t09. Hey Stranger
d1t10. Walls of the Cave

SET 2:
d2t01. Set Your Soul Free >
d2t02. Chalk Dust Torture ->
d2t03. Beneath a Sea of Stars Part 1 ->
d2t04. Piper >
d2t05. Everything's Right
d2t06. encore break
d2t07. Loving Cup >
d2t08. Run Like an Antelope


Following Lawn Boy, Trey introduced Page as "The Chairman of the Mound."
Setlist from phish.net

edited to add rig pics: This night I only got a shot of our stand, no DPA's in the shot.
That is kindms' AKGc34 anchoring the middle and the AKGck8's aimed PAS.

[Gutbucket]

Thanks Kyle! Now back home again I've got something to listen to tonight!

[rocksuitcase]

https://archive.org/details/gmule2025-10-30akgc34dpa4060

This is a pretty nice sounding 4 channel OMT Audience.
What do you guys think of the spaciousness, etc?
kindms is working up the straight AKG c34 recording so we can compare once it is up.

[kuba e]

Thank your Rock. I am just listening your Phish from July now. It sounds great. I quickly compared it to other recordings and I like the omt the most. I am looking forward to listen Mule.

[Thelonious]

https://archive.org/details/gmule2025-10-30akgc34dpa4060

This is a pretty nice sounding 4 channel OMT Audience.
What do you guys think of the spaciousness, etc?
kindms is working up the straight AKG c34 recording so we can compare once it is up.

Thanks for sharing this Rock. Another outstanding audience recording.

On speakers I immediately like the frequency response and how balanced it is. When I listened on headphones to check the imaging it's great. Not super wide, but the distribution from left to right across the soundstage is very linear and sounds very natural. When Warren's guitar comes in on Soulshine it's right in the middle of the image. Overall really nice.

Was the omni spacing 3' or plus/minus 3' (6' overall)? With the XY in the centre, do you leave those mics panned fully L/R or bring them in from that? I'm assuming this is mounted out from the balcony based on your pics and the distance from the audience in the recording?

I have been recording my local "acoustic" (non PA) residency and have only recently started bringing the XY mics in from the extremes (when panning in post) to kind of fill the hole in the middle and even the spacing out a bit more. I think I was like plus of minus 60% of the pan for the centre pair on this one. MK22 26" +/-55degrees, mk41 xy (panned +/-60% in post), 4060s +/- 24". Mk22s are the main pair and others brought in to taste.  https://samply.app/p/tgv6DWzEMn2gFCvS6VVF?si=MwM4exTQgoUbSFONGIz3QqxORdl2

Different as the instruments are primarily far left and right in mine and there is less going on in the centre on stage so I'm interested how you find it in the live show application.

[rocksuitcase]

https://archive.org/details/gmule2025-10-30akgc34dpa4060

This is a pretty nice sounding 4 channel OMT Audience.
What do you guys think of the spaciousness, etc?
kindms is working up the straight AKG c34 recording so we can compare once it is up.

Thanks for sharing this Rock. Another outstanding audience recording.

On speakers I immediately like the frequency response and how balanced it is. When I listened on headphones to check the imaging it's great. Not super wide, but the distribution from left to right across the soundstage is very linear and sounds very natural. When Warren's guitar comes in on Soulshine it's right in the middle of the image. Overall really nice.

Was the omni spacing 3' or plus/minus 3' (6' overall)? A= spread 6 feet, 3 feet from the C34 XY

With the XY in the centre, do you leave those mics panned fully L/R or bring them in from that? A = Live, we left them at 90 degrees XY cardioids. Mixed, I did have the XY at 0 and the omnis at -2 dB relative to the cards.

I'm assuming this is mounted out from the balcony based on your pics and the distance from the audience in the recording? A = we got a VERY quiet audience- AKG was mounted on the railing and the DPA's were gaffed to the front of the balcony facade.


I will check out your recording and report my thinking! THANKS for listening and asking and sharing your efforts.

[Gutbucket]

I have been recording my local "acoustic" (non PA) residency and have only recently started bringing the XY mics in from the extremes (when panning in post) to kind of fill the hole in the middle and even the spacing out a bit more. [..snip..]
Different as the instruments are primarily far left and right in mine and there is less going on in the centre on stage so I'm interested how you find it in the live show application.

I find it really helpful to be able to compensate for the angling of a mic-pair with panning when needed, and the other way around, including sometimes intentionally playing one off the other to best advantage.  Although I don't stray overly far from my typical arrangement, I do angle the directional mics for clarity of pickup depending on the situation, based mostly on visual assessment of the room/PA/on-stage setup but also possibly informed by listening to the soundcheck or previous band, then adjust level and panning afterward as needed so as to achieve best balance and image.  That said, I also try to arrange my setup so the spaced / near-spaced mic-pair channels ideally remain hard panned, with panning or M/S ratio adjustments (essentially the same thing) made to the coincident center pair.