stereo recording XY

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by KarenB

Doug, since the guitar will be the main instrument, I do like to have it a little wider than smack dab in the middle. Though it surely is easier to record in mono! It's a folk-ish album I'm working on.

If it's the featured instrument, that makes sense. But I thought you said "background". A couple of nice options for when you might want to place the guitar not in the center are MS (which can easily vary from mono to ultrawide at mix time), or the vertical XY Bob mentioned. With both, you can decide during mix to have a wide stereo, or if you want to place the guitar elsewhere in the mix. But if you know guitar is the main thing and should be stereo, then you're all set.

[KarenB]

Thanks Doug. For clarities sake, I should have that my voice is the main instrument.

[runamuck]

Originally Posted by KarenB

Doug, since the guitar will be the main instrument, I do like to have it a little wider than smack dab in the middle. Though it surely is easier to record in mono! It's a folk-ish album I'm working on.

For a some years, I've been writing for and recording an ensemble that consists of cello, ac. guitar, piano, upright bass, percussion and occasionally a clarinet or english horn.

After a couple years of recording the guitar in stereo but always struggling with how much space it took up in the mix, I've taken to recording the guitar in mono and then sending it to a stereo reverb. Try that. You can keep the guitar panned exactly where you want it but also give it a feeling of width with reverb. Also experiment by panning the reverb as well.

By far, my favorite reverb for my uses these days is Seventh Heaven.

[KarenB]

Thanks Runamuck. I'll try this out too.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by KarenB

Doug, since the guitar will be the main instrument, I do like to have it a little wider than smack dab in the middle. Though it surely is easier to record in mono! It's a folk-ish album I'm working on.

Hi Karen,

I am not nearly the expert that some of the folks contributing to this thread are (Bob W, Doug Y, etc.) but I record the kind of stuff you want to record -- voice and single guitar. I am aware of all these microphone techniques discussed here and have experimented with them all over the 50 or so years that I have been recording.

But for the YouTube channel I set up about 4 years ago I wanted to keep things simple and still have the result sound good. I use two small diaphragm condenser mics (Warm Audio WA-84) for guitar, similar to your Oktavas, one panned full left the other panned full right. These are cardioid mics back about 8-12" from the guitar top. So there is some proximity effect. Since the guitar is not competing for audio space with other instruments most of the time, I rarely concern myself with the proximity effect. Also, it's not too extreme with these WA-84 mics.

I mount the two mics on a standard mic plate of 6 or 7" long and the result is essentially a spaced pair. I use a separate large diaphragm mic for my voice.

On this video I just threw together yesterday in about 30 minutes to help a friend on the AGF, you can see the microphone arrangement at about time 1:26 on the video below. If you listen through headphones, you can hear the stereo separation between left and right sides on the guitar. To me this sounds similar to being in the room.



I'm not suggesting this is the ultimate solution for you, but it's something you might consider. I have 3 cameras set up on tripods and two microphone stands holding 3 mics. If I could avoid another mic stand by putting the two guitar mics on a plate, it really helps me avoid one more piece of equipment to take up space or stumble over when I am recording myself and running everything solo.

Hope this is helpful.

- Glenn

[TBman]

Originally Posted by KarenB

How far back from the mics do you have to be to get a true stereo recording? I'm recording an acoustic guitar with a matched pair of Oktavas. Thanks.

Not sure if this helps or hurts your search....

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/ch...-mic-shootout/

Most of the mics sound exactly alike to me, so it must be me....

[guitarmint]

Hi there,
Great advices from people above indeed. I myself just received a pair of Line Audio CM4s and in search for good sound
In this YouTube example Alberto is using a spaced pair of the octava mics.
and the result is quite nice


<br><br>
One more great example here, but I believe Whrighty's room is treated for acoustic recordings..

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by guitarmint

Hi there,
Great advices from people above indeed. I myself just received a pair of Line Audio CM4s and in search for good sound
In this YouTube example Alberto is using a spaced pair of the octava mics.
and the result is quite nice


<br><br>
One more great example here, but I believe Whrighty's room is treated for acoustic recordings..

The Youtube players are not opening in your post ,,, they may be opening on your computer but not on ours (or mine at least)

(Hint) you do not want to paste the address from the address bar at the top of the youtube page between the AGF Youtube tags. Instead you want to place the "Share" address from below the video , and delete everything in the address from the single forward slash to the left....

To get this ::