360-degree microphone is a portable recording studio

A Polish startup has developed a light and portable spherical microphone that simplifies multi-track recording.

Zylia is an original way to capture multi-track recordings, replacing the studio set-up with a single microphone. Created by a Polish company, Zylia is coming to the Indiegogo crowdfunding site on 14 September. Traditionally, multi-mic recording requires a high level of expertise to set-up correctly. Balancing the levels on a number of tracks can be tricky, and unless you want the expense of hiring a recording studio, finding the space and time to set everything up can be time consuming.

Zylia comprises of 19 built-in microphone capsules, and is spherical in design. This means that the microphone can be placed in the middle of the environment and the recording can be captured live, with all the instruments playing around it. The band plays each instrument on its own for eight seconds so the microphone can recognise the sound pattern and then they’re ready to record.

Rather than just record the whole track though, Zylia and its supporting software analyzes the sound patterns, separate the recording into its various instruments and saves them accordingly. There’s a built-in mixer too, that allows the user to change to levels and even pan the placement of each part while it’s been recorded. Once the complete track has been recorded, it can then be edited in the traditional way.

Other innovations in recording technology include the installation of a small, drop-in recording studio in London to create podcasts. What other innovative solutions could be used to make sound recording quicker, easier and cheaper?