Jecklin Disk for Omni Stereo

Thursday, March 15th, 2018

Omnidirectional microphones are often undervalued by amateur recordists, I think. It’s certainly true that when I started recording I was always looking for directional mics. In my case I was probably influenced by my use of mics for sound reinforcement before I started recording. A fairly loud band with PA and monitors is not a situation that favors omni mics.

I distinctly remember when one of the leading lights in my little internet circle of self-recordists declared his DPA omni to be the ultimate tool for capturing acoustic guitar. I thought he was nuts! As I understood things at the time, a directional mic (or mic pair) was needed to reduce room effects, because it was assumed that our recording space would sound bad. We close miked everything, tried to reduce room sound as much as possible, and added ambience with plugins or boxes in the mixing stage. And I think this is still the most widely recommended and commonly used approach for acoustic guitar recording at home.

As I’ve gained more experience and done more research, though, I discovered that the omni mic is the preferred tool of many classical recording engineers. It seems that a true pressure transducer omni hears the world in a different way than any directional mic and the difference is worth exploring. The exploration includes various arrangements like AB and Decca Tree along with variations in frequency response and devices for modifying response.

One approach to stereo recording with omni mics was developed by Jorg Jecklin in the 1980s. He sought to improve image stability and separation by placing a baffle between two omni mics. His technique specified the size of the disk and the spacing of the mics, and in practical application includes acoustic treatment on the surface of the baffle to avoid early reflections.

Here’s a video that takes a look at a commercial Jecklin disc that I’ve owned and used for a number of years:

And here are the audio files for the J Disk and ORTF recordings so you can download and compare them:

Jecklin Disk – Shure KSM141s
ORTF – Schoeps CMC64s

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 15th, 2018 at 7:50 pm and is filed under Recording. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


2 Responses to ' Jecklin Disk for Omni Stereo '

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  1. scott campbell said in post # 1,

    on November 25th, 2018 at 12:55 pm

    hey there!! just wanted to say hello. I’ve really enjoyed watchng some of your LAMPG videos on youtube and then finally found this site. I’m a fellow guitar nut (and member of Acoustic Guitar Forum/AGF) and I’m interested in being able to make some simple point-and-shoot sound clips/videos. Occasionally I will sell a guitar online in the classifieds, and I’m always deterred when someone asks me for a clip . The ones I’ve shot on my Galaxy S7 are plain horrid and don’t accurately represent the guitar.

    Anyway, I was wondering if you could email me your recommendation for the easiest solution here.. I want good video, but doesn’t have to be perfect, good audio (a bit more concerned with the audio), and most of all, I only have a sorta slow laptop… so… video editing and syncing audio is kind of outta the question. I know that I should learn it and get some suitable software, but I really just want to be able to shoot a good looking HD video of me sitting down and playing a bit of guitar. seems like it shouldn’t be that difficult!

    I have been deterred by the fish-eye look of the zoom cameras I’ve seen; the sony HDM or whatever it’s called looks better video-wise, but I don’t like the look of scrolling the menus and the tiny button.. I’m actually a bit intrigued by the Zoom Q2, which… looking from the outside, it looks really cheap and I don’t like the aesthetic, but having seen some guitar videos shot with it, I really liked.

    What would you recommend for the most simple, user-friendly, (somewhat) budget friendly way for me to just set up a system to do little sit down sound clips and guitar reviews/unboxings? I’m having trouble getting started.

    Thanks
    Scott C – machinistworks@gmail.com

  2. Fran Guidry said in post # 2,

    on November 25th, 2018 at 6:54 pm

    If you like the video from your phone I would look at one of the audio attachments for that. Mic placement makes a huge difference, so I would look for a solution that let me place the mic within a foot or two of the guitar. I’m not sure what solutions are available for your phone but I’m sure there are some out there, either an audio interface or an auxiliary mic.

    I haven’t used the Q2/Q2n/Q2n-4K models at all, so I have no idea how they compare to the Q4 that I used.

    Fran

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About the Blog

    Howdy, my name is Fran Guidry and this is my Homebrewed Music blog.

    I play Hawaiian slack key guitar and recorded my solo acoustic CD at home. Most of the recording information I find on the internet seems focused on bands, drums, multitracking, and so on but my main focus is recording solo acoustic guitar. Lately I’ve been enjoying video recording along with audio, so that shows up in the blog as well.

    I’m also a guitar nut. I love big ones and little ones, handmades and factory guitars, cheap ones and expensive ones. So I’ll be sharing the fun of exploring guitars as well, along with the challenges of amplifying acoustic guitars for live performance.

    Welcome!

Philosophy

    My recording philosophy is pragmatic, skeptical, not super critical. After all, the performance is by far the most important component of a track, and every aspect of any recording is a matter of taste.

    But I do like to know “about stuff.” Back in hifi days I learned about double blind testing. I learned that we humans can easily hear differences that don’t really exist. The more I’ve learned about our human auditory system, the more I’m skeptical of what people say they hear, especially if they claim that a particular microphone or preamp or cable has some magical property.

    I’ve only been recording since 2001, and when I started I found the usual places on the internet. I sought advice and accepted it, thought I would improve my recordings by using more expensive equipment. It didn’t work.

    Two things that did seem to lead to better recordings were experience and room treatment. Getting an appealing sound is the combination of many small details, and learning those details only comes from experience. Amd the sound of the recording space is obviously a big factor.

    I’ve only recorded seriously using digital technology, but I remember trying to record rehearsals and gigs back in analog days. I don’t have any nostalgia for analog recording and playback systems at all. I think even low end digital systems can capture marvelous recordings. So when I look at gear, I look for good specs: low noise, broad flat frequency response, wide dynamic range, low distortion. I’m not interested in colorful components, mics and preamps with a sound, I want the sound to be the sound of my guitar.

    But the last word is that I’m just learning and I hope you find something useful in my posts.