Yepp as always with those shootouts, ORTF it is for me. MS is also a great option. AB i use more for faraway things or as Main Pair. XY i actually never use.
I like Short AB most, it sounds natural. MS is more impressive, but somehow artificial, you won't hear this kind of sound live, XY is to dry for me, ORTF enlarges the stereo field - nice, but less natural
non ascoltarli Mauro :) l'ortf e' perfetta con la chitarra classica ed in un contesto simile , si sente un corpo ed una dimensione perfettamente coerente con lo strumento suonato nessuna perdita di dettaglio neppure i piu' sottili particolari , una vera incisione professionale complimenti
In my opinion those mics are all too far away. I would have liked to hear this comparison with the mics inside of 2 feet where micing an acoustic is usually done. Too much ambience for me to decide which I really like best.
With EQ on the side address the MS would be the best, but the ABC was the best. ORTF has waves of frequencies between the stereo field that aren't prefect in phase, or kind of annoys me, though it does have the most pleasant treble response.
AB is to me clearly the best sounding. ORTF is the most neutral if you will. XY lacks focus, and I always prefer blumlein to xy whenever possible. MS seems like a fancy party trick: seems wide and punchy, but somehow lacks substance. What a great comparison video!
I really like the transition from ortf to XY 😅 AB with headphones sounds like the guitar plays inside my head while ortf has a wider spread so it sounds it comes from left and right side. Combination of both would be nice
X/Y is very narrow, almost like a more spacious mono signal. I could see that being useful as a mid tree signal in addition to a further spaced pair as outriggers.
Thank you for a great test! MS stereo would be better if the creator of this video adjusted the ratio of the mid and side components of the signal more precisely. Since the side component is much more than required! And even deeper sound can be achieved using two tape microphones using the Blumlein system
Thanks for sharing. Interesting to listen to. I found that recording nerve-wrecking and very unpleasant to listen to. Likely part due the overexposure of the highs with the KM184. I also did not like that there was too much room in the recording, which IMO did not fit to that kind of music.
AB sounds most natural to me, as sitting 3m in front of the performer. XY is great when you want a narrow quasi mono sound, that still retains some life, yet avoid the colapsed small sound of the actual mono recording (i.e. single mic.). M/S can be larger than life, and here it captures a lot of that beautiful room. tho if side channels were mixed little lower in the mix, it would go more towards realism. but this big wide sound is definitely seductive. have to admit i am not a fan of km184 for this application tho. i feel it accentuates top end too much. consequently, using Rode, that hasn't the extreme sdc detail, for the side channel in the m/s pair here, worked out quite well imo. as it somewhat balances out the km184. thank you for doing this demo.
