RE: Spatial sound

["Bailey, Jim" <JBailey@corporate.southam.ca>]

First off, sorry for that MIME crap last time. We recently had an "upgrade"
to our mail system, and I was unaware that it would happen. Where's my gun,
gotta go find Marcel Marceau! ;-)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: L Tremblay [mailto:ltct@concentric.net]
> Sent: Friday, November 05, 1999 3:03 PM
> 
> Another neat trick for recording: get yourself a syrofoam 
> "wig" dummy-head
> and place/pin one tiny mic where each ear would be on the 
> dummy-head. Then
> send the signal from your deck into the room to be recorded 
> by the dummy.
> This technique effectively reproduces the stereo field. 
> (Watch for phase,
> though.)
> 
> It can be equally effective reproducing an "ambient" speaker 
> set up too!
> 
> There was a well-know product in the '80s called 'ringo' based on this
> exact concept.

I hate to sound like a broken record (or, indeed, a loop), but I've done
that too. The aforementioned open-air headphones can be used for this also.
My personal favourites are an old pair of Sennheiser 414s that I bought 
back
in the '70s (they've had a new cable, new earpieces, and new foams, but
they're ORIGINAL - well, the headband is, anyway :->). The earpieces can be
removed from the headband, reversed, and re-installed. Placed on a 
styrofoam
head, they work in a similar way to the "artificial head" mic's. All that's
needed is an adaptor to split the stereo plug into two mono's, of whatever
sort you need, and you're away!

Another handy thing about the old 414's was the fact that the cable could 
be
removed. Back in the days when I was into recording live shows (he admits,
red-faced with embarrassment), I would completely disassemble them, put the
two sides of the cable through specially made holes in the back of the
breast pockets on a Levi's jacket, and re-attach them to the earpieces.
Provided I didn't move around much, the sound was amazingly good.
Unfortunately, I don't remember taping any loop-type material. (I wish I'd
had it for that Terry Riley concert I went to!).

Jim Bailey