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From: Steve_Graham@ub.cc.umich.edu
Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end
Subject: mis-attribution/Calrec mike
Message-ID: <7877@uwm.edu>
Date: 26 Nov 90 19:48:22 GMT
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Approved: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
Originator: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu

In the last issue someone attributed to me a quote that was by someone else.
I've never been at U of IL and never have used Sony DATs.
 
The Calrec soundfield mike is rather an unusual beast.  It was developed
in for "ambisonics" use.  Ambisonics attempts to record and reconstruct
the original sound field as closely as is practically possible, and for
full effectiveness requires four channels of recording.  Any number
of playback channels are theoretically possible.  The Calrec system
comes with a controller that allows a great deal of control over perspective.
It can also be used in two-channel mode, as a stereo mike.  
 
Nimbus uses ambisonics for recording their albums.
 
I have not used the Calrec or ambisonics myself.  I did hear a demonstration
of the mike with four channel playback, but the room and speaker placement
were very far from ideal.  Under those conditions I was not impressed.
 
The stereo recordings that I know to have been produced with the Calrec
have generally tended to sound like other coincident-miked recordings; that
is, lacking in depth, but with good left-right imaging.  I must say that I
like the sound of Michael Hedges' album, "Watching my Life", which used
this mike, but it the signal has also been processed with reverb and what not.