The cocktail party effect refers to people's ability to focus on a single talking person or conversation in noisy environments.
For example, if you talk to a friend in a group of loud people, you can listen and understand what your friend is talking about - while ignoring what other people nearby are talking about. It is an ability that diminishes with age. Older people have problems doing that.
The cocktail party effect does not work with audio recordings, neither in mono nor stereo.
Creating a stereophonic image with two microphones depends on the directional characteristics of the microphones, their angling and the distance between them.
The overall aim when recording large orchestras using just a main stereo pair is to faithfully reproduce the instruments, the tonal balance of the orchestra, the directivity of instrument sections and the concert hall in which the orchestra is to be recorded. This juggling act requires more than a few compromises and the art is in reducing these compromises to a minimum.
Lavalier
Headset & Earset
Handheld
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Gooseneck
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