Mike Skeet is a free-lance Recording Engineer who has an intense
interest in Audio recording in all its multifarious modes. He has some of the
best microphones around, and is always adding to his collection! He firmly
believes that the Microphone, where it is placed, and how many are in use, is
the greatest determinant on the quality of the reproduced sound, apart from how
'good' the playback speakers are, the room in which they are situated, and
equally vital, how they are placed in that room.
Up to a certain standard, the recording media used in the middle, has really
little bearing on the result, in comparison to the variables listed above. It
also goes without saying, that the quality of the musicianship and the acoustic
in front of the microphone(s) is, in any case, where it all starts anyway!
Microphones
Regarding the number of microphones, i.e. mono or stereo spot mics
in addition to a main pair, Mike Skeet believes they are only really necessary
when, for what ever reason, layout and/or acoustic constraints, a proper musical
and balance perspective cannot be obtained on the main pair, what ever type it
is.
Mid & Side
Mike is very keen on using Mid & Side microphone techniques. He
cannot stand spaced omnis and has in his collection many M&S pairings of many
different makes - your favourite Omni Mic can be used in an M&S rig. All his
small home made ITZA Classical Mixers have the built-in optional use of M&S
pairings throughout.
The assets of M&S are - the Mid mic covers the centre of the sound stage, the
width of the stereo is individually tailored on the desk faders, it is a very
symmetrical stereo spread out from the centre, L/R inversions are set with the
Side mic phase switch. There is demonstrably superior imaging and definitely a
depth perspective.
He feels that stereo should start from in-between the loudspeakers and spread
outwards, and not, as with crossed pairs or especially with spaced omnis, start
in each of the loudspeakers and maybe meet in the middle!
Most BML and EML recordings are Mid & Side stereo microphone recordings. Some
are Dummy Head Binaural in whole or in part. The other three labels are
exclusively Binaural recordings.
Binaural
Mike Skeet's interest in Binaural started back in the late 1960's for
outside location recordings. Any directional microphone has serious problems
with handling noise and wind disturbance when used outside. Omni microphones are
so much less bothered by either, so it had to be a pair of this latter type. For
carrying convenience it was found best to ear-space them apart, either side of a
foam covered wooden baffle, and cover the mics with acoustically transparent
windshields comprising flour sieves and ladies tights.
He has many such DIY Dummy Head systems, incorporating various makes of
microphones, and just loves the effect of quality headphone listening, which of
course, the mic arrangement/spacing particularly suits. The reproduction is not
'in the head' as with ordinary stereo, but, as a result, is very much 'spatial'
and 'more realistic'.
Curiously, his present head designs work well on loudspeakers, hence their more
frequent use for his, and other's, music CDs. There are numerous 'professional'
heads, usually made for industrial measurement, but it is felt that the
headphone stereo is unnaturally wider than reality and that the loudspeaker
playback does not really gel.
Surround Recording
Many different mic rigs for 5.0 Surround recording have been tried out. Surprise, surprise he favours the Double M&S approach, also known as MSM. Adding three ATC SCM10 active loudspeakers to his usual stereo pair of ATC SCM20 active loudspeakers and their ATC Sub has resulted in some very good experimental 5.0 Surround acquistion involving Motu and an AppleMac G4 laptop. A recording colleague, Philip Stokes, on walking into the room playing back one of the recording, said 'Its just like being late for the concert'.
Consultation
Mike Skeet is always happy to be consulted about his recording
techniques and is content to be approached by telephone on the subject, at an
incoming call expense!
Mike Skeet is purely an audio enthusiast - he has no Television Set!
Audio Media
usually publishes some of his equipment reviews.
Mike Skeet:
44 Challacombe
Furzton
Milton Keynes
MK4 1DP
UK Telephone: 01908 502836
