DPA microphones' workshop explores new surround microphone techniques

22 October 2003

Canada - DPA Microphones is known for its commitment to exploring new technologies and techniques such as mic'ing for Surround, the company was recently invited to present a paper and host a special workshop at the AES 24th International Conference in Banff, Canada.

The results of this popular and successful workshop are currently on view at www.dpamicrophones.com, within the company¹s highly informative "Microphone University" area. The workshop, attended by leading professionals in the field from recording, broadcast and commercial sound, produced a number of new techniques and approaches reflecting the very latest thinking in mic'ing for Surround.

Although many different microphone configurations were explored during the workshop conducted by DPA engineers Mikkel Nymand, Eddy Bøgh Brixen, and company principal Morten Stove, the overall conclusion according to Stove was, "There is no one way of mic'ing for Surround. This is great because it shows that you can do the same recording in many different ways and achieve many different experiences. It¹s an open book with most variations based on personal taste, the application, and the room, of course."

The individual sessions included: Introduction to Microphone Techniques for 5.1 Surround Sound by Nymand, an overview of the latest thinking in multi-channel setups. A Surround Microphone Setup for Classical Music by Lars S. Christensen of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation exploring new setups for broadcasting larger musical setups in Surround.

Further Surround techniques were explored in Recording DNRSO in surround 5.0 by Jan Oldrup of the Danish Broadcast Corporation; Description of a five-channel microphone technique by Jason Corey, University of Michigan and Geoff Martin, Bang & Olufsen; A five-microphone technique for music recording in a large venue by Richard King, Sony Music Studios; Practical surround microphone techniques by Mike Sokol and Hector La Torre; Swan Lake in 5.1 by Hans Evers, Sound Supervisor, SVT, Sweden; and Capturing continuous phantom image in a four channel microphone array by Gary F. Baldassari, incorporated Magi, Holmes Beach, Florida.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)