Gerzon Array for Ambient Recording

[Bob Bickerton]

Having read Hugh's article on the not-so-well-known Gerzon Array (as he calls it), I tried it out on some chamber music concerts and was well pleased using it as an alternative to my usual ORTF plus omni outrigger array.

I also like to make ambient recordings in the bush (forest) and was taking an ORTF array out tramping which is a sizeable setup when you take the Rycote blimp to go with it!

The success of using the Gerzon array in concert got me thinking that it may work well for ambient recording AND that it would make for a more compact setup.

I took it out over the weekend using MKH8040s in a Gerzon array and mounted in a baby ball gag, so thought I'd report back. I happened to have a couple of remote cables for the MKHs which allow remote mounting of their XLR connectors - however in a rash move I butchered these so that I could connect them directly to a 5pin (XLR?) connector.

I managed to buy some Sommer Cicada So-D14 cable locally, which is tiny 3.4mm diameter star quad cable.

So anyway here's a pic of the MKHs in the baby ball gag:



and so my entire ambient recording kit now looks like this (instead of an entire backpack):



I'm pretty pleased with the outcome - so thought I'd share.

Of course there's lots of alternatives and the Rode NT4 and Audio Technica BP4025 spring to mind.

Bob

[forumuser840717]

That looks very neat. I've been wondering about a double ORTF setup with Schoeps CCM4s (or more likely CMC14Ls) for some surround atmos recording but it won't be as compact as yours! I only have one 8040 and rarely use it but If the 8040s will fit in the BBG then the CCM4s/CMC14Ls should fit too.

(Call me a pedant (it's one of the nicer things I get called!) but, assuming the picture isn't reversed, either you don't follow normal broadcast colour coding standards or you have your red and green L-R reversed )

[Arpangel]

Very neat set-up, amazing, I’d like to try this with a couple of Schoeps CCM's, but I’ve only got one CCM4, I may have to get another!
Intrigued by this "Gerzon Array"

[Bob Bickerton]

(Call me a pedant (it's one of the nicer things I get called!) but, assuming the picture isn't reversed, either you don't follow normal broadcast colour coding standards or you have your red and green L-R reversed )

Well you might be a pedant but I would never call you that! Actually I wouldn't have a clue what the broadcast colour coding standard is - I've always used Green for Left and Red for Right simply because Red and Right start with the letter R!

Bob

[Wonks]

Green for starboard (right side of the ship/boat looking forwards) and red for port (left side of the ship/boat) for navigation lights and buoy colours, so I'd assume other uses of green and red for left/right designation would follow this long-established international principle.

[Mike Stranks]

For the record... I'm with Bob... Red is Right!

... and unless other people are working on things you've rigged - and vice versa... it matters not a jot...

Neat set-up Bob. I used an NT4 when I was doing outdoor recordings, but it is very heavy compared to your 'Gerzon'.

[Arpangel]

Green for starboard (right side of the ship/boat looking forwards) and red for port (left side of the ship/boat) for navigation lights and buoy colours, so I'd assume other uses of green and red for left/right designation would follow this long-established international principle.

Didn’t the port/starboard thing originate as a BBC standard? I use it, but it clashes with red/right channel, so I always avoid it on some leads.

[Wonks]

Red/green port/starboard was long before the BBC! 1848 or so.

Surely if you go by the names of the colours, you should use lavender or lilac for left?

[Mike Stranks]

Red/green port/starboard was long before the BBC! 1848 or so.

Surely if you go by the names of the colours, you should use lavender or lilac for left?

Nah! White is left... just checkout the RCA phono colours on innumerable bits of domestic and semi-pro gear...

Sorry Bob... back to Gerzon arrays... I commend the idea to the house... Hugh's article which has started Bob and others experimenting is at https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/gerzon-array

[Kwackman]

Twin needle PPMs (Stereo PPMs), the A/B meters have the Left/ Red, the Right/Green "standard".

[Bob Bickerton]

I think everyone is forgetting - I'm in the Southern Hemisphere - everything is back to front here!

Bob

[Wonks]

I think everyone is forgetting - I'm in the Southern Hemisphere - everything is back to front here!

Bob

!boB ,eno taht htiw su loof t'nac uoY

[Hugh Robjohns]

The BBC engineers, when choosing a colour-coding scheme for stereo applications back in the 60s (predominantly for stereo PPMs) took the obvious decision to adopt the well-established international navigation light scheme of red-left, green-right.

And anyone who has passed through the BBC's technical training, or who has been trained in flying or sailing will be very comfortable with that convention.

However, the hi-fi world inevitably took a different approach... Typically the channel colour codes in that application are:

L-front - white
R-front - red
Centre - green
LFE - violet
Rear-left - blue
Rear-right - grey
In eight-channel systems channel 7 is brown, and 8 is khaki (faded yellow)!

But the Germans, for some weird reason known only to themselves, use a different scheme (I'm thinking primarily about Schoeps surround rigs here), which is:

L-front - yellow
R-front - red
Centre - orange
LFE - grey
Rear-left - blue
Rear-right - green
In eight-channel systems, channel 7 is violet and 8 is brown

I've seen this 'German' code used in professional Dolby installations a few times too.

As Mike says, it matters not what the colours are as long as you which is which... but for me -- inevitably -- red is always left and green always right. And so I agree with my friends comment about Bob's array being upside down... although that does seem entirely appropriate somehow!

One other thing in passing about Bob's array... those capsules are extremely close to the inner surface of the ball gag, and therefore wind attenuation will be considerably poorer than intended.... although it may still be adequate for the intended application.

[Wonks]

One other thing in passing about Bob's array... those capsules are extremely close to the inner surface of the ball gag, and therefore wind attenuation will be considerably poorer than intended.... although it may still be adequate for the intended application.

Are you saying Bob needs bigger balls?

[Bob Bickerton]

One other thing in passing about Bob's array... those capsules are extremely close to the inner surface of the ball gag, and therefore wind attenuation will be considerably poorer than intended.... although it may still be adequate for the intended application.

Yes, that’s worth noting, but so far hasn’t proved to be a problem.

Bob

[Bob Bickerton]

One other thing in passing about Bob's array... those capsules are extremely close to the inner surface of the ball gag, and therefore wind attenuation will be considerably poorer than intended.... although it may still be adequate for the intended application.

Are you saying Bob needs bigger balls?

Unnecessary.......

Bob

[Hugh Robjohns]

[Dave B]

I can't comment on the array or its usage, but what I can say is : anyone interested in the 'surround-y bit around the microphones' should NOT google 'ball gag'. Trust me on this one...

[Hugh Robjohns]

Definitely NSFW

[forumuser840717]

A few years ago I got some very funny looks on an outdoor stage after putting out a call on a walkie-talkie saying that I'd forgotten to pick up the ball gags and if anyone was near the van could they bring them to the stage please!

The only female on the crew, a student doing her first work experience job with us, said she was thinking of reporting me to her professor for being "inappropriate" until she saw that the cases I received were labelled "Rycote Ball Gags 1 (Strings)" and "Rycote Ball Gags 2 (Wind)" and discovered that that was what they were actually called!

[Hugh Robjohns]

[Arpangel]

Red/green port/starboard was long before the BBC! 1848 or so.

Surely if you go by the names of the colours, you should use lavender or lilac for left?

Yes, I was referring to its use when identifying audio cables, wonder when that came in, and was it the BBC?
Also, this must be the only forum in the world where you can "safely" talk about Bobs array and ball-gags.

[Tomás Mulcahy]

It looks lovely Bob, I'd love to hear your bush recordings (seriously, I would). I'm experimenting here with a much cheaper rig. Sony ECM-717 XY plugin power mic in a parabolic reflector from https://parabolicmicrophone.co.uk/

First experiment had some issues, but the imaging is great:
https://parabolicmicrophone.co.uk/pages ... -in-stereo

(I am not affiliated with the site BTW)

[Sam Spoons]

As a few of you probably know I'm a keen sailor and the problem I have with green for right and red for left is that cables often come in other colours so I have never properly settled on a standard. Given the choice I do go for the BBC standard but if you ain't got a green cable you're buggered (an old sailing term BTW ).

[forumuser840717]

As a few of you probably know I'm a keen sailor and the problem I have with green for right and red for left is that cables often come in other colours so I have never properly settled on a standard. Given the choice I do go for the BBC standard but if you ain't got a green cable you're buggered (an old sailing term BTW ).

If you mean things like signal cables with XLRs or 1/4" jacks (or many other connectors really), there are lots of temporary, semi permanent or permanent ways to colour code things.

I try really hard not to use coloured cables on stages or to hang mics as they can be visually distracting and upset lighting directors or vidiots. All but a handful of my XLR mic cables are black, dark 'BBC brown', or VDC dark blue (those, mostly 2 channel cables). I do have some others like grey for when they blend better with the surroundings, or for use on sessions where it doesn't matter what colour they are, or for shorter cables (<3m) which are mostly used as extensions or to plug things together in the control room or other out of sight locations, and some VDC green AES multipairs but they generally don't get used anywhere that they'll be obviously visible (unlike one major venue which mistakenly ordered an entire new stage-multi system in VDC Green Series multicore, which doesn't look great).

To ident cables, I ignore the colour of the cable itself and use a mixture of coloured cable glands like these and/or marker rings like these. There are similar products available for jacks, Ethercons, etc.. Or, failing that, a piece of some kind of coloured marker, e.g. a colour coded plastic cable marker like these (lots of types are available, with or without numbers/letters/symbols on them), or something as simple as a piece of coloured electrical tape (or even coloured paper) fitted to the cable under a piece of transparent heat shrink to protect it (don't use ink jet printed colours as they change relatively quickly, especially when exposed to sunlight or other UV sources).