Stereo Micing Technique - Acoustic Guitar and Flute

GTE

Hello,

I have a project coming up where I have to record some un-amplified sources using a stereo micing technique of my choice.

Would anyone have any tips for recording these sources on which stereo technique you would use? I can use spot mics in addition but I am not to rely on them solely.

I'm giving The Microphone Book by John Eargle a good read through but a bit of advice wouldn't go a miss!


Thanks!
bbk!

krd

Daniel Lanois - the Guy who did lots of U2 stuff - He's also done some really great stuff with Neil Young, what's her face, and Bob Dylan.

He has this technique of setting up lots of cheap mics and then using the recordings to give this huge spacey sound to mix.

studiorat

Which stereo technique depends as much on what the room is like as much as what the instrumentation is. Personally I'd go for an XY set-up, as I find the image is sharper. For more instruments I'd try a more diffuse sound from a spaced pair, ORTF or something.

I'd say set up the mic's on one stand using a stereo bar and with a set of headphones on move the mics around until you have a good balance and both instruments sound full in the cans.

trackmixstudio

For acoustic guitar, one SDC pointing straight at the body just below sound hole and one pointing at the 12th fret (both 6" away) sounds great.
Any stereo mic techniques will bring the quality of your room into focus

GTE

Cool, thanks for the replies.

It will be a bit of trial and error but Ill do a bit of testing with placement and have one or two spot mics at the ready.

studiorat

I'm presuming the purpose of the project is to examine stereo mic techniques, rather than just record a flute and guitar.
If the music is sparse, ie. if the acoustic isn't strumming away like a mad thing, preferably classical guitar or picking, stereo mic'ing would be suitable. For trad. you'd normally mic stuff up closer, it's generally what I'd call close up music ,more intimate if you will, more classical styles you can get a bit of space between the mic and instrument.

Don't count out MS recording either, like the XY recording it usually is a bit sharper in image than the spaced techniques.

madtheory

Check out the dpa microphone university.

trackmixstudio wrote: »

For acoustic guitar, one SDC pointing straight at the body just below sound hole and one pointing at the 12th fret (both 6" away) sounds great.

But that totally depends on the guitar, the player and the room. And the mic. The rat is right- put on the cans and move the mics around. Guarantees the beset mic position, assuming the cans are decent.

GTE

studiorat wrote: »

I'm presuming the purpose of the project is to examine stereo mic techniques, rather than just record a flute and guitar.
If the music is sparse, ie. if the acoustic isn't strumming away like a mad thing, preferably classical guitar or picking, stereo mic'ing would be suitable. For trad. you'd normally mic stuff up closer, it's generally what I'd call close up music ,more intimate if you will, more classical styles you can get a bit of space between the mic and instrument.

Don't count out MS recording either, like the XY recording it usually is a bit sharper in image than the spaced techniques.

Yes, this is purely for examining stereo micing techniques.

Im giving MS a go too if I can get the mics. Looking forward to it now!

SonasRec

If I was setting up for this recording, I'd record the guitar in ms & the flute with 1 mic. With ms, you can chose how wide the guitar stereo image will be after, and should have no problems with mono compatibility.

Maybe set up a stereo room mic pair if you have a nice room & want to make it more ambient.

madtheory

MS is not suitable for close in work like this. It comes out lop sided. XY is better. You can always MS process afterwards if you want to adjust the width.

GTE

Ended up having one ambient mic, one spot mic for the guitar and the following main pairs.

1) Cardioid 90 degree XY - SE Electronics Se2200a
2) Bloomline - AKG 414
3) 90cm Spaced Omni - AKG 414

The Bloomline didnt sound fantastic as it had too much ambience so I switch the 414 to hyper cardioid and it sounded much better. It gave me a good choice between the XY.

All sounded good in the end. Well worth doing and learned a lot.

Thanks all.