Comments on: Lens vs Microphone (& why i love myopia)

By: Designing Sound » More than 50 Articles/Tutorials about Sound Design, Recording and more, Plus Wooshes Sound Desing

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:07:02 +0000

[...] Lens vs Microphone (& why i love myopia) [...]

By: neil

neil — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 06:39:27 +0000

“but as with M/S recording that is after the fact” – tim

As far as I remember, the Soundfeld can be after the fact or real-time. The mic I used to use had four outputs (one for each capsule). If one recorded the raw output, it could be manipulated after the fact. Or it could be plugged into a decoder box which had stereo outputs, and controls on the front for controlling pattern and width and something else, but I can’t recall what.

So one could zoom in to an extent. Not quite omni to shotgun, but omni to hyper-cardioid was possible.

By: tim

tim — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 21:18:15 +0000

you know, i have never tried using a parabolic reflector to record sound – i read somewhere ages ago that they have a frequency response limited by the size of them, but i’m not sure of that scale/frequency trade off… more info here:
http://www.telinga.com/attach.htm

pursuing the same goal via other means I just picked up a secondhand Sennheiser MKH70, which is a long (400mm) shotgun mic & is very directional,
will post some recordings once i’ve been out & about with it a bit….
http://www.sennheiserusa.com/newsite/productdetail.asp?transid=003149

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 20:39:08 +0000

I wonder if those parabolic refelctor microphones the FBI uses (at least on TV – that’s my only frame of reference) could do something like that. Not “zoom” in and out, but follow one particular sound source as it moves relative to background sounds.

By: Danijel

Danijel — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:45:19 +0000

Heh, I guess cinematographers are dreaming of being able to change focus during the post

And they will soon have it:
http://www.neublack.com/art-design/adobe-multi-lense-camera/

BTW, when you have sharp vision, with some exercise, you can un-focus things (without crossing eyes and seeing double), so you have the best of both worlds
I sometimes un-focus (along with half-closing my eyelids) when I rest and want to detach myself a bit from the reality.

By: tim

tim — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:44:33 +0000

true, i hadnt thought of the soundfield in that way… but as with M/S recording that is after the fact, I think I am dreaming of a very directional shotgun mic with controllable reach/focus….

By: Martin

Martin — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:08:32 +0000

There’s the Soundfield B-Format microphones… http://www.soundfield.com/

Where you can ‘change the polar pattern’ after recording, or maybe I’m missing your point.