Orginally Posted By: Otek on Fri, 11 June 2004
I have used the Blumlein configuration quite extensively for ambience miking, and I have usually been very pleased with the sound. It seems to give a very exact, three-dimensional representation of most ensembles, provided the room is good, and provided I keep plenty of distance to the walls in all directions (I am not sure if this is actually necessary, it's just the way it's sounded to me every time).
Now, I mostly go entirely by subjective opinion. I listen, and if I like it, I use it. Which has been the case with this technique.
But I would definitely be interested in hearing what the theoretical background to the Blumlein configuration is. I don't know how to explain this in correct technical terms, so bear with me here, but I have imagined that its precise nature and ability to pinpoint instruments in the stereo field comes from the fact that the pickup pattern of each figure-eight shares very little "common ground" with the other, and therefore the stereo image becomes clearer.
Am I full of crap here? Can someone explain it to me in a better way?
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