This week UML Masters Graduate Jamie Tagg presented a new microphone technique called STAAG (Stereo Technique for Augmented Ambiance Gradient) that he had
developed during his studies at UMass Lowell. As a concert recordist, Jamie was dissatisfied with the spatial qualities of standard stereo miking techniques and wanted to find a way to improve image, realism and flexibility in his recordings. Jamie's research resulted in a 4 microphone array consisting of two stereo pairs, one facing the performers and one away. Each pair resembles an ORTF setup. The angles between each front mic and each rear mic can be varied to gain the desired balance of direct and ambient information. The left and right microphone of each pair can be set at either 17cm or 30cm depending on the desired sound. A more detailed analysis of these measurements can be found in Jamie's engineering brief on the AES Library.
After describing the technique and its development, Jamie demonstrated some recorded material in both stereo and surround. Lastly, he allowed audience members to interact with mixes of three different recordings he made using STAAG to fully realize the capabilities of the different pairs of microphones. This first hand experience greatly helped our understanding of the technique and solidified an already convincing argument.
Many thanks to Jamie for the enthusiastic pursuit of audio knowledge and for sharing this with us.
http://www.aes.org/tmpFiles/elib/20130211/16626.pdf
