NT-SF1

[Wonks]

Have you tried an ambisonic headphone mix yet?

[ConcertinaChap]

Not yet. To do binaural, which is definitely something I want to experiment with, you need another plugin and at present time they all cost money, some lots of money. Hey ho. One day.

CC

[Drew Stephenson]

Gets the thumbs up from me. Feels like you're sat in the middle of the musicians.

[Sam Inglis]

That's lovely! I like the piece, also. Is it based on a folk melody?

[ConcertinaChap]

As I say, it was composed and arranged by my wife Anne. English traditional music is a strong influence on her music and it's likely that which you can hear. The title "Lantern of the West" is a reference to Bath Abbey and we had the pleasure of playing the tune in the Abbey during the Mayor Making ceremony last year.

CC

[Dave B]

(Have to go there ..... )

Needs more .... churchbell ....

[Wonks]

[Hugh Robjohns]

There's a quite a lot of spill in the virtual mics (though there would be a fair bit with real mics)...

Yes, there would be with real mics placed at the same central position too, as you say. Laws of physics and all that...

I've come to look at it, as a sort of "super-stereo" mic, with the advantages of a stereo mic plus to a useful degree some of the advantages of close miking.

It is exactly that -- a 'super-stereo' mic, and yes, it does have the benefit of being able to shape polar patterns and angles after the event, as well as generate multiple separate outputs... And by changing the virtual polar you can have some control of perspectives and discrimination against other sound sources... but that is nothing like the same as physical close-miking.

The relative distance of the mic cannot be changed in post-production so it's never going to give a true 'close-miked' effect and thus you will never gain the separation or reduction in spill that true close miking affords.

SoundField mics are wonderful things, and offer a level of versatility and flexibility well beyond that of a conventional stereo mic array, but they are still, essentially single-point stereo mics and they cannae change the laws of physics!

Fun recording, though. Nice.
H

[jimjazzdad]

Nice recording of the Waits - chapeau! Can you please say a bit about the venue itself? I am not hearing a lot of ambience, so I imagine a pretty dry acoustic...
Thanks.

[ConcertinaChap]

I am not hearing a lot of ambience, so I imagine a pretty dry acoustic...
Thanks.

My living room plus the obligatory quilt

I have added reverb but only a touch.

Needs more .... churchbell ....

It's funny you should say that because Anne has done a lot of work incorporating church bells into instrumental music. I'm not going to give a long talk on Ellacombe Chimes here but listen to this: https://soundcloud.com/mr-punchs-studio ... himes-live

Anne has tried to get the Abbey authorities to let her perform this and other similar pieces at the Abbey. They were supportive but it didn't happen due to the intransigence of the bellringers' tower captain.

Hugh: I wouldn't disagree with a word you say. I've used various stereo mics in the past and know their limitations and the NT-SF1 while not fully overcoming them does go far enough to make it a really useful alternative for a number of situations. This was one of them. Anywhere you've got a group of musicians or singers and for whatever reason you don't want to go the close miking route then an ambisonic mic is an alternative worth considering. The end product, as this shows, can be quite effective.

CC

[Hugh Robjohns]

Anywhere you've got a group of musicians or singers and for whatever reason you don't want to go the close miking route then an ambisonic mic is an alternative worth considering. The end product, as this shows, can be quite effective.

Quite so. And particularly useful when you want to arrange the the performers in a circle and still be able to adjust the balance and stereo fold-down, at least to some extent.

I only raised the point because I didn't want casual readers to run away with the idea that the SoundField software's ability to generate individual virtual mic outputs with controllable polar-patterns (and stereo panning) was in any way equivalent to using real, physical individual close mics. They remain different things with different attributes.

Nevertheless, I'm glad you've become a SoundField convert. It is an ingenious concept, much overlooked and underrated in the past, and has many creative possibilities when used intelligently, as you have in your example above.

H

[ConcertinaChap]

Thanks, Hugh and thanks everyone for the kind words. Very ego boosting. Nice sunny day too.

Cheers,

CC

[IronFilm]

He gave a rave review of the Rode NT-SF1:

https://youtu.be/frN_UsNtyGw

[ConcertinaChap]

Yes I saw that video. You'll gather from my posts above that I think quite highly of it too.

CC