This is for the nay-sayers and mockers. In another thread I advocated
the use of a duvet as an acoustic treatment for a poor room. So here
is what happens. The first link here is to the imaging screen of Adobe
Audition. It shows where in the phase space between the two
microphones (an ORTF pair in this case) the energy lies. The first
half of the screen is the room untreated. It is a "cosy" room - my
study and music room in fact. It has thick carpets and heavy chairs,
but there is a wall, bare apart from some paintings opposite a large
window. Between the two, they make the space (for me) acoustically
unacceptable for recording. The right hand half shows the effect of a
duvet hung against the wall behind the microphone.

http://www.soundthoughts.co.uk/look/duvet.gif

With the treatment, you can actually see that I am speaking from the
centre of the two mics.

And just to give that some context, you can hear it here.

http://www.soundthoughts.co.uk/listen/duvet.mp3

I was sitting about six feet from the two mics.

Point made, I hope. Certainly the main point that you can't evaluate a
microphone in a bad room.

d