Stereo recording?

[wheater]

I currently have a shure sm-81lc going through an apogee duet 2. What would I gain by adding another sm-81lc for a stereo effect? Is it really worth the extra 250$ (used)?

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by wheater

I currently have a shure sm-81lc going through an apogee duet 2. What would I gain by adding another sm-81lc for a stereo effect? Is it really worth the extra 250$ (used)?

What are you recording? With 2 mics for stereo, you get.... stereo. That may make a huge difference, or it may be unecesaary or even a bad idea, it all depends on what you're doing and what kind of sound you want.

[wheater]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

What are you recording? With 2 mics for stereo, you get.... stereo. That may make a huge difference, or it may be unecesaary or even a bad idea, it all depends on what you're doing and what kind of sound you want.

Sorry about that, to clarify, I'm recording solo acoustic guitar similar to what is in my signature. I've read that stereo is good for fingerstyle guitar, but I'm not exactly sure why.

[Doug Young]

For solo guitar, stereo will give you a bigger, wider, more multi-dimensional sound, with more "space" to the sound. For the 2 examples in your signature, those artists record in stereo (and may even use more than 2 mics). Your sound is very "single point" - the sound comes from a single spot in front of me as I listen. If I listen to Tommy or Pete's recordings, they tend to envelop you.

We've had a number of debates on here in the past, with some people advocating mono recordings, and they do have a certain focus to them. But for solo acoustic instrumental guitar, 99.9% of what you hear is recorded in stereo, so if you're trying to emulate what you hear, 2 mics will contribute to getting you closer.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by wheater

Sorry about that, to clarify, I'm recording solo acoustic guitar similar to what is in my signature. I've read that stereo is good for fingerstyle guitar, but I'm not exactly sure why.

Stereo recording is virtually universal for recording solo guitar. Of course there are good reasons for that. I suggest perusing prior threads posted here for specifics.

[wheater]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

For solo guitar, stereo will give you a bigger, wider, more multi-dimensional sound, with more "space" to the sound. For the 2 examples in your signature, those artists record in stereo (and may even use more than 2 mics). Your sound is very "single point" - the sound comes from a single spot in front of me as I listen. If I listen to Tommy or Pete's recordings, they tend to envelop you.

We've had a number of debates on here in the past, with some people advocating mono recordings, and they do have a certain focus to them. But for solo acoustic instrumental guitar, 99.9% of what you hear is recorded in stereo, so if you're trying to emulate what you hear, 2 mics will contribute to getting you closer.

Thank you for the feedback, Doug. Is it recommended to use multiple condenser mics, or is there some other preferred arrangement?

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by wheater

Thank you for the feedback, Doug. Is it recommended to use multiple condenser mics, or is there some other preferred arrangement?

A search on stereo guitar micing will turn up endless articles on the standard mic positions. 2 mics in XY, ORTF, or spaced pairs is a good place to start. Here's a few sites with more details than I can type here (this is just the top few results from google): (Yes, 2 condenser mics is the basic setup)

http://www.homestudiocorner.com/stereo-mic-techniques/

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug0...cacgtr0801.asp

http://www.uaudio.com/blog/stereo-mi...oustic-guitar/

https://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Kno...coustic-Guitar

[Doug Young]

Oh, here's one more with some demos. I think I know this guy :-)

http://acousticguitar.com/all-about-...ome-recording/