SOUND ON SOUND

[shufflebeat]

I broke out my olde Sony ECM ms907 "mid/side" stereo mic that I used to use with my Boss MicroBR and gave it a little stretch on acoustic guitar.

I've skimmed various articles on M/S recording but didn't really dig in too much as I didn't see the need for it but I'll have to understand it at some point.

Anyhoo, the mic is a bit noisy but good enough for sketching out ideas. I'm a bit confused about the actual polar pattern(s) of the mic and there aren't many discussions beyond, "hey, man, this sounds crap", "Dude, it's stereo and doesn't work in your soundcard".

If I stand the mic up like a side address mic I get something like a conventional stereo mix and when I use it end-on I get more of a centre-heavy sound. I'm happy to carry on experimenting but if anyone could point me towards chapter and verse (beyond the user guide) it would be very much appraciated.

[Bob Bickerton]

I think I have one of those hanging around somewhere.

From memory it’s designed as an end address microphone and the m/s decoding is done in the mic so you just have standard stereo to work with at its outputs. But there is a switch to select one of two ‘width’ options.

From memory (or lack of), I cannot actually recall how it sounds or behaves.

Bob

[forumuser840717]

Sony ECM MS907 Manual.

Not that it's overly informative.

There's also the more useful Sony ECM MS907 Service Manual

It's a long time since I've been inside one of these but I did once have to fix one that was outputting an intermittent width, down to a dry joint on the power/width selection switch . It's an end address mic using two small diaphragm electret capsules, a forward (end) facing (iirr) cardioid for M and, mounted behind this and at 90 degrees to the M capsule, is a sideways facing capsule, which (again iirr) is a dual diaphragm cardioid but there might've been something odd about that one. I vaguely remember it wasn't what I expected but I can't remember why.

The MS matrixing is done in the mic, giving an unbalanced L-R output.

If the mic is old and the sensitivity or stereo width seems wrong/limited, it's possible that the polarizing charge has dissipated on the electret capsules.

[shufflebeat]

Cheers for that guys.

That service manual is quite interesting. I'm none the wiser but it's good to peruse.

I'll carry on exploring.

I notice at one point Hugh suggested running this mic off 5v "plug in power" provided by a recorder. The MicroBR has this option, am I likely to notice any more headroom (there's plenty already) or lower noise or would the voltage be dropped before operation?

Assuming also this would require a dummy battery to complete the circuit, does that make sense?

[Hugh Robjohns]

I notice at one point Hugh suggested running this mic off 5v "plug in power" provided by a recorder.

Looking at the manual and service manual, it appears that this mic can only be powered by an internal battery. It has no facility to take external plug-in power. I can't remember when or why I made that suggestion... But it was clearly wrong! :shocked:

[shufflebeat]

I notice at one point Hugh suggested running this mic off 5v "plug in power" provided by a recorder.

Looking at the manual and service manual, it appears that this mic can only be powered by an internal battery. It has no facility to take external plug-in power. I can't remember when or why I made that suggestion... But it was clearly wrong! :shocked:

Oops.

I didn't check the date but it was many moons ago and I think the main point was that 5v would do no harm.

Anyway, it didn't work and now you've explained very clearly the reason why, :)

And you were right, it didn't do any harm, I think.

I do have a couple of other cheap stereo mics which are much newer and smaller but there's something about this one that I like working with, I think it reminds me of working with old cassette recorders.

[Bob Bickerton]

I do have a couple of other cheap stereo mics which are much newer and smaller but there's something about this one that I like working with, I think it reminds me of working with old cassette recorders.

Ah, that’ll be its superior sonic attributes matching those of the old cassette recorders ;)

Bob

[shufflebeat]

I do have a couple of other cheap stereo mics which are much newer and smaller but there's something about this one that I like working with, I think it reminds me of working with old cassette recorders.

Ah, that’ll be its superior sonic attributes matching those of the old cassette recorders ;)

Bob

It seems to have some kind of native app for simulating analogue noise which sounds very convincing but I haven't figured out how to uninstall it.