User Manual

time. This means that the two channels can be summed to mono with no comb ﬁlter effects, and

room reverberation (undesirable in mono) is cancelled to a surprising degree.

For the sake of clarity, engineers commonly refer to similar stereo miking with cardioid mics as

“X-Y.” When ﬁgure-8’s are used, it is more commonly referred to as “Blumlein” recording.

Mid-Side (M-S) Technique

In the early days of stereo radio broadcasting, the Mid-Side recording technique was developed

to allow for 1) simultaneous stereo and mono feeds

from the same mic array and 2) electronic

manipulation of the width of the stereo image. In

M-S recording, one mic faces sideways, one faces

forward as shown in Figure 2, and they are

connected as shown in Figure 3.

With the SF-12's logo facing the center of the

performance, the mic is positioned for X-Y

recording. Rotating the SF-12 counter-clockwise

by 45¼ positions it for M-S recording.

With the SF-12 in a vertical position, cable end

down, the upper ribbon element faces the center of

the performance and is the ‘mid’ microphone, and

the lower ribbon element is at 90¼ to the

performance and is the ‘side’ microphone. If the

microphone is to be mounted upside down, make

the proper adjustments in your wiring orientation.

If the outputs of the mid and side elements are

made equal using gain controls, the stereo pickup will be similar to that of two microphones

placed as a Blumlein X-Y pair, delivering a wide stereo image. As you reduce the level of the

side element, the width of the stereo image will narrow until, with the side element turned all the

way down, you have just the “mid” element panned center and giving a mono pickup.

If the outputs of the mid and side elements are recorded on separate tracks, the electrical

connections shown in Figure 3 can be made at the mixer outputs and the adjustment of the stereo

separation can be done during mixdown, rather than during the actual recording.

Space does not permit a fuller discussion of the M-S intensity stereo format, ﬁrst described by

Alan D. Blumlein over 50 years ago. We suggest the following reading on the subject:

W. Dooley & R. Streicher

“M-S Stereo: A Powerful Technique for Working in Stereo”

J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 30 pp.707 (1982 Oct.)

Figure 2