M-S techniques provide useful sound-field positioning and a convenient way to check mono compatibility. We explain the hard science behind this often misunderstood technique.

Here we look at the science of using a matched pair of microphones positioned as a coincident pair to capture stereo sound images.

The audio vectorscope is an excellent tool for assuring quality in stereo sound production, because it makes the virtual sound image visible in the same way that a television vectorscope allows the color signals to be seen.

Once the basic requirements for reproducing sound were in place, the most significant next step was to reproduce to some extent the spatial attributes of sound. Stereophony, using two channels, was the first successful system.

The variable directivity microphone is very popular for studio work. What goes on inside is very clever and not widely appreciated.