Field Recording with the Sony ECM-MS957 Stereo Microphone
Sony ECM-MS957 Stereo Microphone
As part of a field recording exercise for my Sound Arts course at LCC, I recorded some ambience at the Walworth Road market. This was the day after Barack Obama was announced as the next President of the United States (and also my birthday), so there was quite an atmosphere of optimism amongst the traders and market-goers.
Although a relatively cheap mic, the ECM-MS957 delivers quite natural-sounding dynamic stereo recordings. It also features rotating Mid/Side (MS) capsules with switchable pick-up angle. The midcapsule picks up monophonic sound while the side capsule picks up left/right-difference sound. Subtracting and adding the two capsule signals yields separate left and right channels, and permits electronic adjustment of the pickup angle. The mid/side switch also selects the pickup angle between the left and right channels, either 90 or 120 degrees. The recordings were made with a Marantz PMD-660.