Fostex 250 - Stereo Recording

section 7 STEREO RECORDING
Stereo recordings involve 2 channels of information that are
integrally related; when monitored with a pair of stereo head¬
phones or a stereo speaker system, such recordings create
an acoustic image known as the "stereo panorama" or
"stereo perspective".
There are two general methods to creating a stereo record¬
ing. A "purist" stereo recording method places a pair of
microphones in the midst of a performance, assigning each
mic to its own track, and then recording the program essen¬
tially in one take (Fig. 12). A second approach to stereo
recording utilizes several microphones, locating each mic
close to an individual sound source, and panning each to a
location in the stereo perspective when recording the two
tracks (Fig. 13). In this case, the recorded perspective may
or may not be true to actual sound source locations.
With either method of stereo recording, 2-mic "purist" or
panned multiple mics, the recording can be completed in one
Figure 12. Stereo recording using 2 microphones, one
assigned to a “left" track (track 1) and one to a "right"
track (track 2), to capture the stereo panorama: a purist”
approach. A typical Model 250 setup for this recording is
shown.
take, or it may be augmented in subsequent overdubs. To
overdub, the original pair of stereo tracks are transferred 1:1
to a second pair of tracks, and at the same time are mixed
with any new sound sources (stereo mic or otherwise).
The term “stereo" often has been used imprecisely to
describe 2-track (or 2-channel) recordings. In 2 track record¬
ings, a pair of tracks contain related sounds (whether record¬
ed at the same time, or via an overdub), but each track has a
discrete sound source so that playback does not create a
coherent stereo panorama. In this instance, remixing (and
panning each track somewhere from left-to-right) will be
required to obtain a stereo image.
In practice, the distinction between stereo and 2-track
recording is primarily a matter of mic placement and pan pot
position. For this reason, both techniques are discussed
together in this section of the manual.
Figure 13. Stereo recording using multiple microphones,
each panned at some location between the "left” and
“right" tracks (1 and 2), to emulate or artificially create a
stereo panorama. A typical Model 250 setup for this
recording is shown.