Recording backgrounds

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beachhead98

New member
What kind of mic configurations do you guys like to use for recording backgrounds?
stereo?mono?M/S? Etc? (Pictures would be cool too)
What files will they be looking for in post generally (m/st/lcr)?
What specific mics do you guys like using?



(if this has been discussed elsewhere please link me to the thread)
thanks
 
I have used a sony ECM MS 957 and 907 mics for over 15 years to record background atmos and spot effects.

Mainly with a mini disc recorder but recently with a Marantz compact flash recorder.

I tend to record background atmos or buzz/wild tracks at around -18dbfs as this beds in right for most dubbing purposes and also means that all my tracks are around the same levels.

I find that using an M/S mic that is then recorded as A/B gives the best compromise between stereo for backgrounds and mono for spot effects, it also means that if I wish to mono or make a recording wider for surround that everything is pretty much spot on for phase too.

I have used this set-up for all my broadcast film and TV work and it works well for me, I never record M/S but the AMS Neve digital consoles I tend to use have an AB- wide control that allows you to adjust the width of any A/B signal from wide all the way down to mono, you can also automate it to timecode so can do some nice things with the soundfield width in post.
 
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I'd like to know as well what kind of mic configurations people are using for ambient background noise. Is it just the XY Tascam/h4n mics or just a stereo mic or a combination of or with other mics? It's said for dialogue you need a shotgun for outdoors and a hypercardioid for indoors but what about for ambient background sound?
 
There are a couple of things that will color responses. First M/S is more common in certain areas and with certain studios. Generally it is more common in Europe and less in the US. In the end it doesn't make that much difference. Most film recordists I know (US) use XY cardioids for BG's and bigger FX and either a shotgun or a hyper for smaller closer FX.

For mics I use a pair of Oktava's in a custom shock mount in a Rycote zeppelin for stereo FX and a hyper in another zeppelin for most mono FX. Everyone I know also has a collection of other mics for different purposes. I have an SM58 for rear of car and some other rough positions, some wired lavs for hard to get places, a cheap cardioid condenser for dangerous places, a pair of PZMs and a couple of shotguns. I also usually carry a contact mic around.

For FX work a really clean preamp is a near necessity, I'm using a MixPre.

Over the years I have used MiniDisk, DAT, RtoR, cassette, and Harddrive/ flash recorders. Flash is the flavor of choice and is actually better than harddrive in some cases. I had a harddrive recorder shut down because of the low end from an F14 starting up.

A kit we put together that also worked really well was a pair of Neumann capsules in a smallish ball shaped zeppelin. Neumann makes an extension that lets you use the capsule a fair distance from the power unit so the mic array is quite small. We copied this from another recordist who came up with it. Those are running to a Nagra V, in our case, or a Sound Devices 744T in our friends case.

We were all using XY but that was a mostly because of the preferences of the post supervisors we were working with.

Everything that will be small, specific, etc. gets recorded mono. Anything big gets stereo. Though in practice a lot of things get recorded stereo even if they probably will be used mono. Film practice was to use the left channel if you were going to use a stereo sound as mono.

Some things are covered in more than two tracks but that is almost always in stereo pairs or a mix of stereo and mono and because you are doing a bunch of sync coverage not for any "surround" effect. For example we would often use four or more mic in different positions for car driving recordings.

You would never see LCR FX recordings for big screen film because the center is reserved for Foley and Dialog. FX do creep into the center at times but not too often.

People have been playing with recording "surround" FX for a long time but as a rule they are never used as such in post because of practical problems. Those problems are that you are locked into a perspective that will almost never match the picture, and you will have a hell of a time making them work with the stereo and mono tracks that are 99% of your sound.
 
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Not sure how much the nature recording (or other field recording like the London Sound Survey) approaches - or DIY - are relevant/of interest to you, but amongst a plethora of websites I found those of Curt Olson http://www.trackseventeen.com/mic_rigs.html and Rob Danielson http://diystereoboundarymics.blogspot.co.uk/ the most useful and they inspired me to make a pair of spaced omnis flanking a barrier (not a winged array, but more like a miniature SASS array) using the very cheap but excellent Primo 172 capsules, which sit suspended within a Rode Blimp. Plugged straight into a Sony M10, this is a portable set-up giving excellent results and nicely wind resistant. For off-the-shelf solutions along these lines, Crown's SASS-P Mkii gives a similar sound, but is rather larger. Cheers, Roland
 
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