Immersive Field Recording

The Quest for Perfect Nature Soundscapes

For nature sound recordist and audio engineer Matthew Mikkelsen, capturing the essence of the natural world isn’t just a profession—it’s a lifelong mission. Based in Duluth, Minnesota, Mikkelsen has spent years exploring some of the world’s most remote and pristine environments, recording soundscapes that transport listeners to untouched landscapes. With a career that spans documentary filmmaking, game audio, and immersive sound design, his dedication to preserving and sharing nature’s sonic beauty has led him to develop one of the most extensive collections of immersive nature recordings in the world.

A pivotal tool in his work is the Schoeps ORTF-3D microphone array, which has allowed him to push the boundaries of nature sound recording. From the rainforests of Costa Rica to the storm-tracked plains of the United States, the ORTF-3D has accompanied Mikkelsen on thousands of miles of field recording expeditions. This microphone array has become an essential companion in his mission to document and preserve the world’s natural soundscapes.

In this article, Matt tells us about his work.

Can you briefly introduce yourself?

I’m Matthew Mikkelson. I'm based in the United States; specifically, I live in northern Minnesota. I work as a sound recordist and a sound designer, mostly recording the sounds of nature for nature sound libraries. I also work in film, I work with apps, and I work with game developers as well. But my real specialty is recording ORTF-3D for my clients.

How did you get to know the ORTF-3D?

I think it was 2017 or 2018. I was seeing the boom of Ambisonics microphones and immersive microphones, and seeing a gap in the world of sound libraries where people were still recording stereo and maybe a little bit of Double MS. But there was really no big nature sound library that was recorded well in an immersive format or in an Ambisonics format. So, I saw this gap in the market and I said okay, I would like to fill this gap. I had been a well-trained nature sound recordist by Gordon Hampton for many years at that point. So, I set out on a journey to test every single microphone that was either Ambisonics or immersive that I could get my hands on. Over the course of about a year I found people who would lend me microphones, or I'd buy a microphone or rent a microphone and send it back. I probably tested about 12 different microphones including the ORTF-3D.

To me the ORTF-3D has two things going for it, in my mind. One is just, the sonic quality of the Schoeps capsules are beautiful - they're just beautiful sounding microphone capsules. And the other is flexibility—so instead of having to record an Ambisonics and then also have a stereo capture (because Ambisonics to stereo just doesn't work super well in my mind for the most part), I can take my one recording that I do with ORTF-3D and there's nearly unlimited possibilities in terms of how I can utilize that sound in the post-production process. I can have a beautiful stereo pair or four stereo pairs or eight stereo pairs depending on how it comes together. But then I can also drop these things into Atmos, into 5.1 or into 7.1, and I can do head-tracked VR stuff—and those can go into an Ambisonics encoder and are beautiful. So for me it was the most flexible and the best-sounding option all at the same time. So that's what I settled on. I was a little upset to settle on what was the most expensive option (laughs), but it's not an overpriced array; it's just expensive because what you're getting is these eight beautiful capsules and workmanship that's really top notch. So that's how I settled on the ORTF-3D, and purchased one as soon as I was able to in 2018.

Can you tell us about projects with the ORTF-3D?

Since purchasing the ORTF-3D I've recorded—before this call I was trying to think how many hours of ORTF-3D recording I've done—the easier way to put it is in terms of terabytes, and I've recorded 36 terabytes of ORTF-3D, so months’ worth of running time. The microphone has traveled with me extensively around the United States—over 96,000 miles on trips I've done around the United States recording every type of ecosystem, from deserts that are 110 degrees Fahrenheit all the way to high Alpine zones that are negative 25 Fahrenheit in all sorts of weather conditions: rain, hail, sleet. For the past five years I've done thunderstorm tracking trips with the microphone and taken it to record storms. It's traveled with me to the Amazon jungle for three weeks. It traveled with me to Costa Rica for a month to record in jungles in Costa Rica. This microphone really hasn't left my side over the past few years, and what I've ended up with is the largest collection of immersive nature recordings that I think exists, honestly, in any format, but definitely ORTF-3D. It's been a real joy to work with!

It has its own unique challenges. As a field recordist you learn how to position your microphones not only to capture the right portrait but also to deal with things like weather and wind. All those things that I had learned when I was learning to record, I had to relearn with ORTF-3D because you can't tuck it in against a rock, and you can't have a shelter hanging right over it. I'm still learning new things and developing new methods of shielding the microphone from weather and things like this. But the payoff has been really wonderful. It's allowed me to approach the craft of recording completely differently, and it's been amazing!

Do you have any practical experience with heating the ORTF-3D rig?

The built-in heater is an amazing feature. Any microphone system has tradeoffs. Certain microphones sound great but their noise floor is high. Certain microphones sound great but as soon as they touch humidity they fritz out. I think at some point I've heard people have this kind of misconception that Schoeps microphones and humidity don't work well together, but that hasn't really been my experience. If it's raining hard and I stick the microphone in a bag after it's been rained on and it sits there, sure, there can be some problems; that's just normal electronics stuff. But I've never had a failure of the microphone that wasn't a result of my own negligence. Even in the Amazon jungle I started to experience some issues, some popping, some weird fluttering in one or two of the channels and I thought: here's the humidity messing with the microphone—it was actually a bad cable. I swapped out the cable and it was fine. So I've never had a real failure of the microphone in a way that has prevented me from doing my work. In any case that's different from lots of my other microphone systems. When I bring my [Neumann] dummy head out into the field, that is a picky microphone and you have to treat that thing like a princess. Then it's beautiful, but its reliability has been exactly what I'd expect from an extremely technical, sensitive piece of electronics that I'm putting out into these areas.

The ORTF-3D heating system works great. I use it especially in these kind of wet environments that I'm in. Recording storms, it's been really useful because once the storm passes I can plug the heater in and help dry the microphone out a bit. It's been awesome, it's very well designed, very well thought out.

BOOM LIBRARY

All of these libraries were recorded with the Schoeps ORTF-3D.

For more information on Boom Library's products including information about the usage of ORTF-3D, check out these videos:

SEASONS OF EARTH - EUROPEAN SPRING | 3D Surround | Trailer

TROPICAL JUNGLE | 3D Surround | Trailer 

SEASONS OF EARTH - SPRING | 3D Surround | Trailer

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