Royer-labs R-122 User Manual download pdf (Page 14)

Stereophonic Microphone Techniques

Classic Blumlein Technique

For many years, several “coincident” microphone setups have been widely used for picking up

sounds in stereo as naturally as possible.

The “Blumlein” technique, named for A.D. Blumlein of England, involves the use of two ﬁgure-

eight microphones positioned as in the sketch (see Figure 1), so that one faces left and the other

right, at an angle of 90¼ (i.e. each displaced 45¼ from center).

Each microphone ultimately feeds one speaker in a stereo system, and due to the directionality of

the microphones, the result is a very well deﬁned stereo effect on playback. For classical music,

particularly, the reproduction can be very satisfying.

Figure 1

Classic Blumlein or “coincident” miking technique

Mid-Side (M-S) Technique

In the early days of stereo radio broadcasting, the mid-side recording technique was developed to

allow for 1) simultaneous stereo and mono feeds from the same mic array and 2) electronic

manipulation of the width of the stereo image.

In M-S recording, one mic faces sideways, one faces forward as shown in Figure 2, and they are

connected as shown in Figure 3.

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Royer-labs R-122 User Manual Page 14