Percussion Ensemble takes up an extremely wide space on the stage of Lovett, but often plays pieces on either the far left or right of the stage and rarely uses the entire width of the set up for any singular piece. When using standard ORTF configuration, this can be a problem, as nearly all of the sound would be coming from one speaker or the other, or might be too wide. To remedy this, put an ORTF wide (110 degrees) and very close (several feet inside the stage) to capture all the presence of whole stage. Then place two omni mics about 10 feet apart (5 feet to either side of center) up as high as they'll go at at the same distance as the main pair. When using the omni mics in this way, they are called "outriggers." If omni mics are placed further back, delaying the main mic pair may be necessary (17.7 milliseconds per 20 feet).
The trick comes when mixing after the recording session. When the ensemble is centered on the stage, simply blend the stereo image from the ORTF with the two omni mics to get both a good representation of presence and ambience. If the ensemble is center, but small, you may want to pan the ORTF pair less wide (try between 30-45 rather than the full 64). This will help fill in the "hole in the middle" than can result when ORTF is too wide for the actual playing ensemble. If the ensemble is all stage right or stage left, mute the close mic (ORTF) that is aimed away from the ensemble and bring the mic that is targeting them to center pan (0). Keep the omnis hard left and right. This will give you a centered image with stereo ambience even though the ensemble may be hard stage right. You may want to boost the weaker omni mic just a bit to balance. This can be an even better sound than having both near and close mics in stereo, as a mono signal has fewer mathematical errors than the combination of stereo.
In theory, this concept would work well for just about any recital if you have the time to set up 3 stands and 4 mics.
Alternatively, four mics on one stand that can be paired to capture left/center/right ensembles is the quick and dirty approach. This can still be blended with an ambient pair of some variety or artificial reverb could be added if needed.
