Harvard's New SoundField Mark V Microphone Broadens Horizons

Harvard University's media production center has added a SoundField Mark V 

B-Format microphone to its existing inventory, which already includes a

SoundField SPS422B mic and an SP451 surround sound processor. The Mark V is

being used to make stereo and surround-sound recordings for various depart-

ments at the university, including the music faculty.

Anthony Di Bartolo, manager of the university's media production center,

provides audio, video and multimedia services across the university, and has

himself long been a user of SoundField microphones for jazz and acoustic

recording, including the older ST250 portable microphone system. "We already

have an SPS422B and the SP451 surround processor here," he explains, "but we

were looking for another mic or system that would enable us to record in

surround. Of course, there are now various ways to do that, and we

considered those, but it was the flexibility that the Mark V offers after

recording that really did it for us, as well as its phase coherence and

tonal neutrality."

Like all SoundField's microphone systems, the Mark V comprises a

multi-capsule microphone that produces audio in a four-channel proprietary

format. Known as SoundField B-Format, the four-channel signal may be decoded

using SoundField hardware or software to produce audio in a variety of

formats, from phase-coherent mono to multi-channel surround, via stereo and

M&S. If the four-channel B-format signals are recorded, the processing and

decoding may be carried out at a later date, allowing the audio output

format to be determined long after the recording. The Mark V's hardware

processor offers many options for processing B-Format signals captured with

its associated microphone, including the ability to change the microphone's

orientation and virtual pickup pattern after recording if required.

"Much of the audio work we do at Harvard ends up in stereo," explains

Anthony Di Bartolo, "but we do archive the four-channel B-Format signal for

post-production flexibility later. We have used our older SPS422B and SP451

processor to create 5.1 surround soundscapes, and the Mark V offers us even

more options, with the ability to move the mic after the recording, or

change the pickup pattern in post. That's useful to us, as we don't always

get a soundcheck, and we're often constrained by where we can place mics.

With the Mark V's processing options, we can remedy some of those issues.

"Since purchasing the Mark V, we've used it to produce audio in 5.1 for an

innovative surround sound concert here at Harvard, the Sound Space

Experience. The Mark V was also used on some recent university choral

sessions featuring a wonderful new Skinner organ, as well as the historic

Skinner Op. 308 organ in downtown Boston. Both recordings are currently

being prepared for release."