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  #1  
Old 12-03-2014, 06:56 PM
mc1 mc1 is offline
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Default how to make an acoustic guitar recording sound more distant

i've been playing around with my zoom h2n. i use the xy pattern and keep it fairly close to the guitar (10"-16"), using headphones to move it around until i find an acceptable spot. i find this gets a reasonable sound and reduces background noise and room effects.

however, when i listen back, the recordings sound "too close", if that makes sense. adding some reverb helps, but i'm wondering if there is anything i can do to make it sound a little less close. maybe it needs more stereo separation, i'm not sure.

any advice?
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Old 12-03-2014, 07:31 PM
sdelsolray sdelsolray is offline
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i've been playing around with my zoom h2n. i use the xy pattern and keep it fairly close to the guitar (10"-16"), using headphones to move it around until i find an acceptable spot. i find this gets a reasonable sound and reduces background noise and room effects.

however, when i listen back, the recordings sound "too close", if that makes sense. adding some reverb helps, but i'm wondering if there is anything i can do to make it sound a little less close. maybe it needs more stereo separation, i'm not sure.

any advice?
Where are you sitting (relative to the speakers) when you are listening to the playback? Compare listening (i) in the normal mixing position in an equilateral triangle with nearfield monitors (ii) in a position at the other side of the room listening to the nearfield monitors. That alone should make it sound less close.

One of the side effects of close micing is that mechanical sounds (such as string squeaks, picking attacks, hammer on thuds, etc.) are relatively louder than if your recorded from, say, three feet away. Normally, when a person sitting 15 feet away from hears you play, those mechanical noises will be relatively softer. With a close mic recording, they are relatively louder, making playback sound slightly different.

Yes, reverb can help, but too much reverb has it own host of issues. If you adjust the reverb's pre delay parameter, that will change things a bit (all other things in the reverb instance being equal).

Two reverbs might get you some "distance", an ambient or room verb followed by a small dose of a large hall with a long tail.

From an eq perspective, tightening the bass and cutting a bit of the high frequencies could help.

A stereo spatial enhancer might possibly help, by generating a wider stereo image. But this can be easily overdone and generate some phase unpleasantness.

Running your tracks through an MS decoder could also help with widening the stereo image.
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Old 12-03-2014, 07:34 PM
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Where are you sitting (relative to the speakers) when you are listening to the playback? Compare listening (i) in the normal mixing position in an equilateral triangle with nearfield monitors (ii) in a position at the other side of the room listening to the nearfield monitors. That alone should make it sound less close.

One of the side effects of close micing is that mechanical sounds (such as string squeaks, picking attacks, hammer on thuds, etc.) are relatively louder than if your recorded from, say, three feet away. Normally, when a person sitting 15 feet away from hears you play, those mechanical noises will be relatively softer. With a close mic recording, they are relatively louder, making playback sound slightly different.

Yes, reverb can help, but too much reverb has it own host of issues. If you adjust the reverb's pre delay parameter, that will change things a bit (all other things in the reverb instance being equal).

Two reverbs might get you some "distance", an ambient or room verb followed by a small dose of a large hall with a long tail.

A stereo spatial enhancer might possible help, by generating a wider stereo image. But this can be easily overdone and generate some phase unpleasantness.
thanks for the reply. i should have mentioned i'm using headphones to listen back.

it might be the picking and other finger noises (and breathing sounds too).
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Old 12-03-2014, 08:43 PM
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Bob Womack Bob Womack is offline
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Back up the mics, roll off the bass and treble with either roll-off filters or shelving EQ, add room reflections. Perhaps record with two sets of mics, a near pair and a far pair, and blend them.

Those are tricks you can use. You can also "re-room" a recording by playing the tracks back through a good set of speakers in a good room, recording at a distance, and blending into the original recording.

Bob
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Old 12-03-2014, 08:46 PM
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thanks bob.
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Old 12-04-2014, 09:56 AM
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Don't judge your recordings with headphones! They give false stereo image - when you are listening to speakers your right ear hears some sound from the left speaker and vice-versa.
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Old 12-04-2014, 10:07 AM
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thanks for the reply. i should have mentioned i'm using headphones to listen back.

it might be the picking and other finger noises (and breathing sounds too).
Get a pair of nearfield monitors and a table to properly position them.
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Old 12-04-2014, 10:10 AM
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Record further out and/or add the right hall or chamber reverb.
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Old 12-04-2014, 10:12 AM
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thanks guys. i don't see any nearfield monitors coming in the near future, but i have some reasonable quality computer speakers and stereo speakers. i will check those out, and experiment with some reverb, mic placement, and maybe mixing in a more distant source.
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Old 12-04-2014, 12:22 PM
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thanks guys. i don't see any nearfield monitors coming in the near future, but i have some reasonable quality computer speakers and stereo speakers. i will check those out, and experiment with some reverb, mic placement, and maybe mixing in a more distant source.
I am very far from an expert on these matters, but one thing I tried recently was recording using my Zoom H2N in front of the guitar as normal, and also recording on a second device which I placed on the bookshelf on the other side of the room (about 6 feet away) and mixed a bit of that in. I imagine this would be a bit like what Bob Womack suggested in re-recording a pass through the speakers.
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Old 12-04-2014, 01:20 PM
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I am very far from an expert on these matters, but one thing I tried recently was recording using my Zoom H2N in front of the guitar as normal, and also recording on a second device which I placed on the bookshelf on the other side of the room (about 6 feet away) and mixed a bit of that in. I imagine this would be a bit like what Bob Womack suggested in re-recording a pass through the speakers.
thanks, i think i'll try that.
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Old 12-12-2014, 12:30 PM
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You could try buying a pop filter, itīs not expensive and you could use it to reduce the unwanted string pop, percussive noises without having to record further from the mics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_filter
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Old 12-12-2014, 01:17 PM
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You could try buying a pop filter, itīs not expensive and you could use it to reduce the unwanted string pop, percussive noises without having to record further from the mics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_filter
That won't work. Pop filters work on vocals by reducing/deflecting the sudden outrush of air from the lips.
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Old 12-15-2014, 08:45 AM
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In my experience, it works reducing string squeak and percussive right hand noises when recording acoustic. He also says it might be the breathing noises, it would deffinitely work for THAT
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Old 12-15-2014, 08:57 AM
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Try reading to your guitar from the works of Existential philosophers. I bet that will make it quite aloof and more distant.
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