Sitting in Boston Symphony Hall the other evening, I counted about 30 microphones distributed around and over the stage and hanging over the front quarter of the audience. (Part of DG's recording project of the Shostakovitch symphony series.) Obviously the final product will be a mix of these inputs.

Got me wondering if anyone has tried a multichannel recording using just 5 quasi-directional microphones set in the audience and placed/oriented akin to a home theater speaker setup. On one hand such a protocol would seem to have the potential for making a home theater experience very similar to that when physically sitting in the audience of a live performance. The downside I suppose is that the recording would include all the coughing, paper shuffling and other distractions that I'm finding increasingly annoying at the BSO. (Don't people know to stifle their coughing!)

What is the standard procedure for multichannel recording - create it by mixing after recording using many many microphones, or simply recording 5 channels directly and just going with it?

I see there is a new thread about the possibility of MCH MQA over on the Meridian Sooloos forum. As my musing is more general in nature, I thought I'd post it here.


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