Mid Side

Mid-Side is another interesting technique that bullseyes the direct sound source with a cardioid (directional) mic while capturing ambience with a second microphone that records both left and right in a figure-8 pattern. The ambience is then adjustable during mixing after the recording takes place. The figure-8 mic track must be copied and inverted. Then the two figure-8 tracks are panned hard left and right and summed with the mid mic. All of this happens in post production if a mid-side decoder is not available during tracking.

Potential foils of this technique include duets where performers split the stage unevenly and effectively remove the duet from "sweet spot," singers moving around the stage for dramatic effect, or anything else that might take the target out of the range of the "mid" microphone. If used at a distance, Mid-Side can function well as an ambient pair - then the sweet spot is not really a factor.

This technique has seemed particularly well suited to PAH when the mics are fairly close and a tube mic (Sputnik, or other mic with lots of low end) is used as the figure-8. (Piano is often close mic'ed with Avenson STO-2 omnis).