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Microphone Techniques for Improved Pickup of Stage Performances

Effective microphone pickup of stage presentations has always been difficult because of the wide area covered on stage, location of actors in different places at varying distances from the microphone, and pickup of ambient noise. This paper describes a study of microphone placement techniques utilizing the stage floor surface to reflect sound out to the microphone at the stage apron. Measurements have been made of a variety of microphone types ranging from the single element dynamic cardioid microphone to the condenser shotgun microphone. Data is presented for usable acoustic gain before feedback, effective area of microphone pickup, and microphone frequency response for each type of microphone tested and in each placement position.

Author: Smith, Allan P.
Affiliation: Naval Training Device Center, Orlando, FL
AES Convention:41 (October 1971) Paper Number:830 Import into BibTeX

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