Sound Studio, 7th Edition

Chapter 8

Music balance

 

 

 

 

There are two main types of music balance. One is ‘natural’ – that is, music heard in natural acoustics – and is generally preferred for classical music. For a single instrument or for a group having perfect internal balance, one microphone (or stereo pair) may be sufficient. But such perfection is rare: a singer may be overwhelmed by all but the quietest of pianos; an orchestra may be dominated by its brass. So even ‘natural’ balance often requires additional microphones.

Most music is balanced in stereo, for which the techniques may be further subdivided into those using coincident pairs and others with spaced microphone arrangements. Mono is still used in parts of the world where, for economic or language reasons, ...