    
Recording and Post-Production Methodologies
- Purist "Single Pair"
Recordings
- Lucid uses a single pair of matched
microphones strategically placed to capture the sound of the
performers with the right balance of 'ambience' from the hall.
Traditionally, the ORTF arrangement (mics spaced at the width of the
human head, and angled 110 degrees apart) is used, as it provides
excellent results on both headphones and loudspeakers. An AEA SMP-17
microphone positioner is used to ensure proper alignment for the best
sound.
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- Surround Sound
 Lucid has one of the incredible Soundfield
ST-250 "B Format" surround sound microphones that allows us
to capture sound from all directions onto 4 separate tracks. The
4 recorded tracks from the B-format microphone are run through special
software during post-production that allows us to create numerous 'virtual' microphones
from this single B-format set of tracks. For example, we can
create any of the following mic types: Omni, Cardioid, Hyper Cardiod,
Figure of 8, or any other pattern in-between. We can aim the
directional 'virtual' mics in any direction in three dimensions, front
to back, left to right, and up to down. We can create special
microphone sets, such as an XY set of Cardioids or Figure 8's.
We can create sets of mics optimized for Dolby Digital surround
sound. Or we can create an XY set pointing back into the
audience for hall ambience, for applause, or to pick up an antiphonal
organ rank or choir. The possibilities are endless, and the
decisions don't have to be made until after the recording. -
- B-Plus
- Often the best recordings are those that
capture the sound of the artists with the purist "Single
Pair" of ORTF microphones, while capturing the 'surround' ambience of the hall with
the B-Format Soundfield microphone. These 6 channel recordings
of "B-Format PLUS Single Pair" are known as B-Plus Format
- Multi-Track
- Sometimes the 'purist' recording techniques
don't provide the best results due to the nature of performing group or the
performance hall. The group might be amplified, or might be
performing in a dead space. The sound of the hall may not be all
that good. In these cases, it is often best to fall back to
'multi-track' recording, where each instrument and/or group of voices
is mic'd separately. This allows greater flexibility in
post-production to adjust the relative level of all of the different
parts. However, it also results in a very 'dry' recording, which
is usually not all that pleasing without additional processing. Therefore, artificial
'sweetening' in the form of digital reverb and eq are usually needed to achieve the
best sound. Lucid has a variety of quality reverbs available,
including the excellent "Pristine Space" convolutional
reverb that allows creation of reverbs that are incredibly realistic
sounding.
Lucid utilizes all of these methodologies, depending
upon the nature of the recording and the desired results. We prefer the
B-Plus methodology in most cases, as it provides the excellent imaging and
ability to accurately capture the performance in the live space using the
"Single Pair", while also allowing the full capture of the acoustics
of the space in 3 dimensions using the "B Format" microphone. In
addition, B-Plus recordings allow a lot of flexibility in post-production to get
the right balance of direct and ambient sound into the final
recording.
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