Tabitha - DIY MS mic from JLI

[fluxmonkey]

Anyone have any experience building and/or using the Tabitha Mid-Side microphone?

https://www.jlielectronics.com/diy-microphone-kits/tabitha-microphone-kit/

I always wanted to play w/ MS stereo but didn't have access to a fig-8 mic.

 

[gyraf]

They do fig-8with two cardioid capsules, I wonder if that works well, pattern-wise?

 

[hop.sing]

Neumann did that in the km56 and km86 microphones, if it worked well enough for them…

 

[emrr]

I think what Gyraf is discretely hinting at is the figure 8 looks side by side rather than back to back. Hard to tell.

The Oktava adapter makes something kinda like the Neumann KM86 approach but with even more space between the capsules. Many criticize the spacing of both, but it does work. Side by side would be a whole different cup of fur, but I’ve done that satisfactorily (enough) too.

Neither will compete with the pattern control of a proper single capsule approach

Also hilarious is the statement that Blumlein described MS but there was no equipment available to execute the technique.

 

[rogs]

They do fig-8with two cardioid capsules, I wonder if that works well, pattern-wise?

I did an OPIC Mid/Side mic based on this format back in 2022. (See here: https://www.opic.jp137.com/index-ms.html )
The side capsules were 2 x TSB160a Fetless electrets, wired in series, and mounted side by side. As M/S mics are not generally used in a close mic configuration, the small offset seems to make no appreciable diffference. ....The idea works well.

 

[k brown]

Also hilarious is the statement that Blumlein described MS but there was no equipment available to execute the technique.

Well, they're half right; what Blumlein didn't have available to him was a cardiod mic to do what is now the most popular form of mid-side; with a cardioid mid. The mid-side he describes in the patent was implemented with a figure 8 mid.

The patent describes two cross-8 configurations: mid-side with a fig-8 mid, and the config that now bears his name (which he actually called 'XY'), crossed '8s' at 45 degrees L and 45 degrees R.

At the time the 'splayed XY' was theoretical (though I'm sure he knew that mixing an omni and a fig-8 would produce such a pattern, such 'combo' mics [such as the Altec Birdcage] weren't yet commercially available).

 

[emrr]

I use MS with M figure 8 as much as I do omni and cardioid. Given the choice of two 8’s in MS or Blumlein 45, i more frequently use MS for the stability of the center image with width control.

I do use MS a lot at close distances.

 

[Angie]

I built one with different capsules. So far I have used it on a handbell choir for a church which worked well. I have a string ensemble coming up and may try it there too.

 

[ccaudle]

the small offset seems to make no appreciable diffference.

How does the pattern compare to a dual diaphragm capsule like a typical K67 or K47 capsule with oppositely polarized sides?

 

[rogs]

How does the pattern compare to a dual diaphragm capsule like a typical K67 or K47 capsule with oppositely polarized sides?

Difficult to be exact .... I used some TSB160s I'd 'rescued' from BM800 mics used as donor bodies (back in the day when BM800s came with fetless electrets and not nasty 6mm omni electrets dressed up to look like fetless ones!)

Seem to get a pretty good null at at the 90 degree points. The other difference is that using LDCs capsules for M/S mics tends to require two mic enclosures -- one for mid, one for side - and mounting them as close as possible to each other. The single enclosure for both tends to allow the capsules to be more coincident.
It's also quite interesting to realise that the character of the mic tends to come from the capsule selected for the primary Mid function... the more 'secondary' Side capsules can even be of a different type altogether (as they are in my M/S mic - and in this JLI one ) and still be capable of producing good results.