Professors from Nagoya and Berlin have collaborated on this project which aurally highlights the effects of microphone placement.
It is common knowledge among sound engineers that every musical instrument has a specific sound radiation pattern and that its recorded sound depends on where the microphone is placed in relation to that instrument.
Investigating this fact has led to a fascinating collaboration between Kazuya Nagae, a sound recording Associate Professor from Soundmedia Composition Course, Nagoya University of the Arts, and Thorsten Weigelt, a Tonmeister and professor from the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK). Taking Jurgen Meyer's renowned book Acoustics and the Performance of Music as their starting point, the pair have used a selection of DPA microphones to produce sound recordings of the most important instruments in the orchestra so that they can aurally highlight the changes made to recorded sound by microphone placement.
Recording depends on so many things from the music content, musicians and instruments to the recording venue and the arrangement of the microphones, Kazuya Nagae says. When I discovered that no sound material is available as a study aid, I suggested to Thorsten that we create recordings so that people working and studying in the field of recording arts could make comparisons. We hope that our examples can supplement the worthwhile and irreplaceable book by Jurgen Meyer, so that we can not only see the differences but also hear them. This will help sound engineers choose the best' or most appropriate mic placement for a specific recording situation.
Nagae and Weigelt recorded their samples at the UdK Concert Hall, which has a mid reverberation time of 1.5 seconds. The instruments they chose include violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute, piccolo, oboe, English horn, clarinet (B flat, A and bass), bassoon, French horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba (B flat and F), snare drum (with and without snare), bass drum and timpani. Every instrument was recorded simultaneously with 14 AB stereo pairs of microphones placed in different horizontal and vertical angles.
We wanted to record samples in a realistic environment and situation, so we opted for stereo recording in a concert hall because we believe that stereo listening is important for the perception of the colour of the recorded instruments, Thorsten Weigelt explains. Based on a standard setup, we adjusted the geometry of the system for every instrument to get the most interesting recording points. Also, the distance to the instrument was chosen specifically for every recording, but with the same distance for every pair of microphones (for example violin 248cm, horn 226cm, timpani 265cm). Where possible, we recorded the musician in a standing and sitting position and adjusted the height of the whole microphone setup accordingly. For every instrument, we recorded a few orchestral studies offering different styles and characters, plus one short solo piece and scales.
A total of 26 d:dicate 4006A microphones were used to capture the sound and they were chosen for their neutral characteristics and excellent sonic qualities. They also used a pair of PZM in front of the musicians.
We decided to use an AB-mic setup, which is realistic because it is often used as a main mic setting in classical music, Nagae says. The most popular mic pattern for this type of work is omnidirectional, which has the advantage of being free from proximity effect and gives a flat response at low frequencies. Even though we recorded in a concert hall and were not too close to the instruments, we wanted to ensure a flat response for the recorded direct sound by using free field equalized capsules. The d:dicate 4006A is famous for its very flat 0 - response if you use the standard silver free-field grid. It was important for a project like this to have very neutral microphones that didn't colour the sound and offered the best high quality specifications in terms of signal to noise ratio, dynamic range and maximum SPL. DPA fitted this brief perfectly. Also having the same type of microphone throughout was another important consideration, otherwise it would be impossible to be sure that the differences you hear are down to microphone position and not some specific microphone characteristic.
Nagae and Weigelt say they are delighted with the support they received from DPA and its Japanese distributor Hibino, who between them supplemented the UdK's existing DPA microphone stock to ensure the recordings were able to go ahead. Other companies involved in supporting this project include RME, Audio AG, Synthax Japan Inc, the Kawai Foundation for Sound Technology & Music and Nagoya University of the Arts. As well as its concert hall and control room, the Berlin University of the Arts also provided musicians and recording students on its Tonmeister course.
Anyone listening to these recordings will need to bear in mind that while they have general validity, they are also specific to the recording situation in the UdK Concert Hall, the instrument used and the musician playing the instrument, Weigelt adds. An attentive listener will take good hints from them but will need to explore his/her own specific recording situation. The listener will also clearly hear very different direct-to-reverberant ratios depending of the position of microphone pairs, which are frequency dependent. This has to do with the frequency dependent directivity factors of the instruments. More interesting angles would have been conceivably, but practically not possible. Also, don't forget that for instruments with more complex radiation patterns, the captured sound changes with the distance between microphone and instrument in more aspects than only direct-to-reverberant ratio. This is clearly shown by Jurgen Meyer, but that would be
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
23/10/2025
A deadline is looming for a new carriage deal between Verizon's Fios TV and Nexstar, with both Verizon and the pay TV-backed American Television Alliance bl...
23/10/2025
NEW YORK During a high-profile session at NAB Show New York, new survey data was shared that revealed significant public concern over artificial intelligence (A...
23/10/2025
BELLEVUE, Wash. and NEW YORK Fox Weather has tapped T-Mobile has as its preferred communications provider and announced that all Fox Weather reporters are being...
23/10/2025
PBS and Amazon Web Services have announced the network is using generative AI to provide enhanced search results to viewers on the PBS App and PBS LearningMedia...
23/10/2025
Series three of the award winning, hit comedy entertainment series The 2 Johnnies Late Night Lock In is back on your screens, celebrating the very best of all t...
23/10/2025
Performances by Michael Flatley, Andy Irvine, Cuckoo's Nest, Foster and Allen and more
Friday 24 October, 8pm on RT One and RT Player
Fleadh Cheoil re...
23/10/2025
The nights grow longer and the shadows get bolder with Vampire The Masquerade: B...
22/10/2025
Prime Video Inks Deal To Present NFL Black Friday Game Worldwide By SVG Staff
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 - 10:06 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story ...
22/10/2025
NBA Tip-Off: ESPN Goes 1080p HDR End-to-End, Flipping HDR Switch on REMI and REM...
22/10/2025
FloSports Empowers Division II, III Athletic Departments With Turnkey Production...
22/10/2025
Wall Street Video Summit Debuts, Bringing Together 200 Financial Enterprise Vide...
22/10/2025
Dueling Pianos: International Chopin Piano Competition Is as Competitive as a Ba...
22/10/2025
In 1995, a young Colombian artist released an album that would change Latin pop ...
22/10/2025
Over the past few months, a photovoltaic system has been installed on a three-he...
22/10/2025
The Orion spacecraft for NASA's Artemis II mission is stacked on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kenn...
22/10/2025
L3Harris' Hybrid SATCOM is resilient by design, offering path diversity that eliminates vulnerabilities by routing data across the best available networks i...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. Organizers of NAB Show New York said they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countries along with 260 exhibitor...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Masque Sound, a leading theatrical sound reinforcement, installation and design company, supplied an extensive gear package of professional-grade equipment for ...
22/10/2025
Lightware, a global leader in signal management and AV connectivity solutions, is seeing strong market momentum for the UCX-3x3-TPX-RX20, a compact transmitter-...
22/10/2025
MELVILLE, N.Y. Chyron has released PAINT 10.2, the latest update for its telestration platform, adding support for SMPTE ST 2110 IP workflows, expanding brandin...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON Run3TV today said NBCUniversal is joining as an investor in the ATSC 3.0 Framework Authority, which develops the Run3TV NextGen TV application platfo...
22/10/2025
ATLANTA swXtch.io will feature two new networking solutions extending the company's reach across more cloud and on-prem workflows at NAB Show New York, set ...
22/10/2025
The Warner Bros. Discoverys HBO Max streaming services has increased prices for all its streaming tiers effectively immediately for new customers. Existing cust...
22/10/2025
LOS ANGELES OpenDrives has signed a new distribution partnership deal with Versatile Distribution Services (VDS) to strengthen its channel and streamline how it...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Samora Pinderhughes Brings Immersive Sound to Berklee's Signature Series The artist and composer, who's worked with Herbie Hancock, Robert Glasper, Co...
22/10/2025
BMI Day at Berklee Celebrates Composer Fil Eisler and Awards Scholarship to Stud...
22/10/2025
October 22nd, 2025 TRIBECA ANNOUNCES STAR-STUDDED LINEUP OF MEMBERSHIP EVENTS F...
22/10/2025
Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF cooperate in drone defense Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF partner to deliver a comprehensive drone defense solution combining Rohde & S...
22/10/2025
European Broadcaster Upgrades To Grass Valley's NativeIP LDX 135 Cameras And...
22/10/2025
Everyone Gets a Better Deal on Verizon with New FOX One Perk The $15 FOX One streaming service perk is yet another way Verizon continues to add savings for cu...
22/10/2025
First Look Hidden Assets Series 3
Premieres on 9th November 9:30pm on RT One & RT Player
WATCH HERE Promo Link: Hidden Assets Series 3 | RT
The Crimin...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Although AES Show Is on Its Own, Audio Will Be a Major Part o...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Business of Broadcast and Media,' Future of Content'...
21/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Ethan Folz, Senior Director, Digital Operations and Quality of Ex...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: Livestream Offers Graphic Overlays, Predictive Gaming, Ancil...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: At the Front Bench With Producer Frank DiGraci and Director ...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: NBC Sports, NEP Build Ultra-Flexible Production Plan That Se...
21/10/2025
Indigenous storytelling has been at the heart of the work of the Sundance Instit...
21/10/2025
Top L-R: Mysterious Skin, American Dream Second Row L-R: Little Miss Sunshine, D...
21/10/2025
Last week, Spotify and Columbia Records transformed Pier 4 at the Brooklyn Army ...
21/10/2025
SBS Learn's Dharug Ngurra resource empowers classrooms to meaningfully celeb...
21/10/2025
As global operators simplify and evolve their digital platforms, NPS improvement...
21/10/2025
Critical Design Review completion is a key milestone on the path toward Wideband Global Satellite Communications certification for the network in 2026, opening ...
21/10/2025
New Australian undersea training range to implement and improve warfighting tactics, proficiency and safety; enable joint/allied training that contributes to pr...
21/10/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
21/10/2025
September, the beginning of autumn, brought an expected revival to the TV market, largely due to the new fall TV schedules. The time spent in front of the TV sc...
Professors from Nagoya and Berlin have collaborated on this project which aurally highlights the effects of microphone placement. 
