Owners Manual

SoundField SPS200
User Guide
Microphone positioning and orientation guide Page 11
MICROPHONE POSITIONING AND ORIENTATION GUIDE
As with any other microphone, putting the mic in the right place is the first step to
making a good recording. Admittedly you have more post-production opportunities to
correct problems if you use a SoundField microphone but taking the time to locate the
best mic position always pays off. There’s always a temptation just to put the mic up,
check the levels and get on with the job but a little more attention invariably produces
better results.
Firstly, be sure to select the appropriate orientation mode for the microphone as its
capsule array enables it to be used in Invert or End Fire mode as well as ‘right
way up’. So be sure to ‘tell’ the ‘SPS200 Surround Zone’ software how the microphone is
facing before you start to decode your recording.
Experienced SoundField users understand the importance of checking out your mic
position in mono before you open the sound up to monitor in stereo or surround. Set the
Pattern control to Omni and the Width control to 0° and listen to the overall sound,
paying particular attention to the balance between the various elements, the relationship
of direct-to-reverberant sound and the presence of extraneous noises. If it doesn’t sound
right, move the microphone around until it does, just as with any other mic.
You can also adjust the Pattern control to focus more on the sound source and less on the
surrounding environment (or vice versa) if necessary. Remember that the essence of
SoundField microphones is based on the Mid/Side technique, where the Mid microphone
provides the basic sonic balance. Once the feed sounds good in mono, it will sound fine
in stereo but the converse is not necessarily true, hence the importance of doing a mono
check. Only after you are satisfied with the mono pick-up, should you open-up the
microphone into stereo. Set the Pattern control to the polar pick-up you think will be a
good starting point then adjust the Width control for your desired stereo image. You can
adjust both controls to achieve exactly the right stereo perspective and ambience balance
for your recording and you can refine your settings further during post production.
In acoustically lively venues, pay particular attention to the perceived ratio of direct-to-
reverberant sound. Too much reverb makes a recording sound ‘mushy’ and vague with a
diluted sense of source placement. The beauty of SoundField microphone systems is their
unequalled clarity and articulation. Don’t waste this by including too much extraneous
sound unless you have an artistic reason for doing so. If you’re from the analogue old
school, also leave yourself plenty of headroom: with a 24-but recording resolution you
can afford to leave at least 12dB of headroom on the DAW meters but also check that
you have left adequate analogue headroom in the preamps.