One Mic recording

[Rudy4]

Here's some food for thought about what a single stereo mic can accomplish.

[AcousticDreams]

Incredible musicians....Thank you for sharing

Very humbling.

Often when I show a great musical recording to one of my engineers friends, he sometimes says:
Not sure if it is the musician or the mics that makes this recording sound so good. Backing of the the statement that many Recording engineers profess:
First it is the musician,
second it is the instrument,
Third the Mic,
Fourth the Preamp

I think there is a lot of truth to that statement. These are great musicians who are perfectionist in their playing as well as playing with others. They are in perfect balance.

Of course, the AREA Ribbon mic is well known for its abilities.

[FrankHudson]

I'm a hug fan of some high-quality late 50s and early 60s live jazz recordings' sound. I'm not sure if which were single-mic position or not, but some were. The whole get the right mic in the right position in the room and let the musician's balance themselves thing does have some magic.

[min7b5]

I come back to this series on YouTube fairly often. I love all of these recordings.

[Doug Young]

I really like that series. I have that mic, and like it, but I have not been able to get that sound out of it. Quite possibly because I don't have people like David Grisman playing into it, possibly because my room pales in comparison. I keep wanting to spend more time exploring that idea and figuring out how to make it work. Maybe when we're allowed to have a group of people in a room again...

[rick-slo]

A stereo figure 8 mike of course. Blumlein pair does sound very nice here. Maybe not so much with a lesser room to record in. Maybe not so much recording just a guitar compared to some other alternatives. Would be interesting to hear in a very nice recording space a Blumlein pair recording of a solo guitar (probably on the internet somewhere). I have the feeling that the recording soundstage would likely be too narrow though for my taste.

[keith.rogers]

Lovely.

Yeah, with nothing better to do than drool (virtually!) over mics I spent a lot of time lately looking at some of those AEA ribbons, and a couple of stereo/Blumlein all-in-one mics from them and others. But, it needs a small group and that's just not happening right now. Plus, as mentioned, the space will determine the outcome considerably, even assuming you can get enough folks in one place at the same time worth recording and that understand how to move (or not) around a mic like that. These folks certainly do.

I've been a fan of "Dawg" since I heard and immediately ran (probably literally) to the record store for that first quartet album. Somehow I've never seen him live, and I'll probably have that as one of my biggest regrets.

[KevWind]

Sounds great. The one mic technique (started I believe as a single LDC mono) has long been a favorite of small combo acoustic groups , used extensively in Bluegrass performance for example . The ability for the musicians to balance the sound themselves "in the moment" can bring a great feel to the music
Then adding a stereo mic (which could be argued to technically be two mics) IMO makes it even better. And may give a bit more space for the different instruments to be heard a bit more distinctly ?(as opposed to mono mic)

And then also (only in general) ribbon mics tend bring something a bit unique to the table.
I have a pair of AEA N 22's that I like very much on guitar ,both acoustic and electric .

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by keith.rogers

Lovely.

Yeah, with nothing better to do than drool (virtually!) over mics I spent a lot of time lately looking at some of those AEA ribbons, and a couple of stereo/Blumlein all-in-one mics from them and others. But, it needs a small group and that's just not happening right now. Plus, as mentioned, the space will determine the outcome considerably, even assuming you can get enough folks in one place at the same time worth recording and that understand how to move (or not) around a mic like that. These folks certainly do.

I've been a fan of "Dawg" since I heard and immediately ran (probably literally) to the record store for that first quartet album. Somehow I've never seen him live, and I'll probably have that as one of my biggest regrets.

Yes, musicianship doesn't hurt anything here. I saw DG Quintet in a small intimate setting in the early 80's. I know the guys that booked them for this benefit show. They got Jethro Burns to drive down from Chicago to open for them and he was incredible by himself. Jethro played several classical music selections on mandolin and totally convinced me to take up the instrument.
The only bad thing about seeing the Quintet was they were so jaw-dropping good it made me want to quit playing.

[Brent Hahn]

The room and the reverb count for a lot. And video does, too. While Grisman recording's basic character is terrific, Grisman himself is perhaps more dominant in the mix than he should be (and I, personally, could have stood a little more upright bass). But the camera work helps to compensate for that.

[Mr. Jelly]

But what about compression? What roll or how big of roll does it play in a situation like this?

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

But what about compression? What roll or how big of roll does it play in a situation like this?

No real need to grab peaks in a situation like that, as long as the flute player doesn't suddenly rush the mic. Me, I'd just keep the level cool during the capture and save the compression for mastering, just using it to delicately push back a tiny bit when I shove the overall level up.

[min7b5]

Definitely check out some of the other videos videos in this series too. While I really love this one, it's not that uncommon for bluegrassy acoustic groups to perform and record using a single mic. But I personally think that some his recordings with bass, drums, keys, vocals, etc, are even more impressive mixes for being just one microphone.

[ljguitar]

Hey Rudy & others

Thanks for pointing out the YouTube channel…lots of rabbit holes to explore there! Loved the behind the scenes ones as well.

[DukeX]

This was terrific, the performance and the recording.

...and I've been thinking about a single fig-8 ribbon (for electric, acoustic, vocals) to add to my little mic closet. There are many to choose from, including the AEA lineup, but the new Royer R-10 (price and performance) may be a new major player at only $500.