Thanks. Will give a listen to the examples posted above when I can.
Breaking it down as simply as possible, to me the best recordings achieve a good balance between two essential things: direct clarity and everything else desirable (which SBD doesn't provide). The simplest routes to achieving that goal are best. That's really the fundamental basis of what I'm trying to do myself and promote here at TS. I hope I don't come across as promoting complexity for its own sake, but rather only as a means of achieving that goal. I prefer to keep things as simple as I can.
Good direct clarity + everything else desirable. A really good basic stereo pair is capable of that! Therein lies the magic of a well configured stereo pair, setup optimally and ideally positioned. I love that. But everything has to be just right for that to happen, and to my way of thinking, expecting everything to be just right is more of a reach than setting about going about it in other ways. So instead I go back to those two most important aspects again, considering how I might be able to focus on each of them individually and then carefully combine them as an alternate route to achieving the goal more fully and consistently.
That's not necessarily complicated. Mic pair + SBD does it.. more so when the SBD feed is good, clean and reliable enough that the mic pair can be more safely dedicated to getting the "everything else" part right by way of being relieved of also having to provide good direct clarity.
Sometimes its done within the mic-setup itself. Spaced omnis + a center coincident pair is a good example. The two pairs play different roles. The center pair provides most of the direct clarity, the spaced omnis most of the everything else desirable. Either pair in isolation may not be as compelling as a single well optimized stereo pair, but in combination they can exceed it, constantly.
Continuing in further pursuit of a richer more rewarding version of everything else, or a cleaner/clearer and sharper version of direct clarity, we might bring in other channels in carefully considered ways. Where best to cease that pursuit comes down to the intersection between the situations in which we find ourselves recording and our own tolerance for doing the extra stuff.
Rocksuitcase's example of having SBD + omnis on stage is an easily achievable method for targeting those two basic elements somewhat more separately. Most listeners will probably feel there's really no need for doing more, to which I say, hallelujah! ..but I'm going to keep chasing the nexus between what's possible and what's practically achievable within my means. That exploration is a big part of where its at for me, but of course it needn't be for other tapers. Thanks to folks like Rock for trying the more out there ideas such as OMT for themselves, and thanks to everyone here for tolerating my oddball take on things and overly-wordy posts. I can only hope sharing of some of this stuff helps others who don't share the same motivations and goals, as much as it does the handful who do.
We stand on the shoulders of giants. I'd not be doing or talking about any of this if it was not for the tapers who forged the way, and if not for experts far more educated, experienced and specialized than I ever hope to be. In that light Michael Williams reached out to me a few months back after he'd found his way to TS and we've been having some good email conversations. I plan to ask him directly about some of this stuff, similar to previous conversations I've been fortunate to have had with other titans including David Greisinger, Jorg Jecklin, Bob Kats, Stan Linkwitz, Dan Healy, and others without easily recognizable names that have been so open, helpful and sharing of what they know and how it might be applied to what we are doing.
Topic: Help on deciding a rig for an outdoor show (Read 1,625 times)