In starting the chapter, Toop enumerated a myriad of specific sounds, such as “a thump like the underwater pressure from the air guns of an oil rig” and “the whisper voice of professional sex.” It feels almost overwhelming trying to imagine all of it, one phrase after the next. Perhaps, Toop’s intention was exactly this. He aimed to immerse the reader in a world of heightened auditory perception, where every sound is heard.
Speaking of hearing every sound, Toop proceeds to bring up the topic of “field recordings”.
Field Recordings
Toop mentions how Robin Rimbaud used a “hand-held scanner” to listen in on conversations in public. Conversations that, when blended in with every other sound, appear like muffled speech that can’t be clearly heard. These “private” exchanges, which feel not very far from stalking, are exactly what Rimbaud utilizes in his ambient tracks.
In the 1990s, scanners were what musicians used to do field recordings, which most likely had relatively limited capabilities when compared to our modern-day microphones. This caused me to recall my Audio Principles for Music Production module, where I was taught about three different microphone techniques.
Microphone Techniques
Placing microphones in different positions affects the way they pick up sound, and in turn, changes what the listener will hear in the audio in stereo.
- Spaced pair
This is also known as the A/B technique, where two microphones are positioned parallel to one another. The distance between both microphones is 65cm. A setup like this allows the microphones to pick up a “wide” and enveloping stereo image and is usually used for instruments like drums, which have many different parts (snare, cymbal, toms), or pianos because they have a long keyboard. In post-production, recordings with a spaced pair cannot be widened or shrunken, so it isn’t compatible with mono.
- Coincident pair
The X/Y pair involves two cardioid microphones placed as close as possible on top of each other. The angle of the mics should be 90 degrees. The stereo playback using this setup is narrow and not very impressive, so it has excellent compatibility with mono.
- Near coincident pair
The ORTF pair has the mics facing away from each other, with one mic end 17cm away from the other mic end. Like the coincident pair, It also uses cardioid mics. This setup has a good stereo playback with moderate mono compatibility.