An usual acoustic recording session...

[815C]

I played a session yesterday at one of the big studios in Nashville and they mic'd my acoustic as shown in the photo below.

Put a mic where each ear would be. Makes sense. It sounded great. It just took awhile getting over having someone stare at me like that.

[JanVigne]

I assume what the engineer was trying to accomplish was a replication of the rather old "binaural" recording technique; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural_recording Not many engineers use this technique today.

This method of recording works well when played back over headphones though less well with headphones which are not designed for binaural playback. Was the recording going to be released strictly as a MP3 download? Most MP3's are heard through headphones. I'm a bit surprised there weren't other mics which would have made for a better "alternate" track for later use.

[815C]

All I know is it sounded great when we played it back thru speakers in the control room. This producer has a Grammy sitting on his control board so I guess he knows what he I doing.

[Fran Guidry]

This is the second unusual mic arrangement you've shown us, and both times the results were excellent to your ear. Very interesting, indeed.

One way to look at this array is to compare it to an ORTF near coincident configuration. ORTF is a standard developed by the French national broadcasting organization, and specifies SD cardioids. It is usually described as offering a wider soundstage than coincident arrays like XY, while maintaining better aural positioning and mono compatibility than a wider arrangement like AB.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ORTF_stereo_technique

Of course all these issues really only apply to ensemble recording. For solo acoustic guitar ORTF just sounds good <grin>. And in the end, nothing excels like experience.

Fran

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Fran Guidry

One way to look at this array is to compare it to an ORTF near coincident configuration.

You could also compare it to a Jecklin Disk - same basic idea, with a "disk" that has a bit more personality :-)

[robj144]

Yes, it's a binaural technique. Some of the well done binaural demos (not music) are quite amazing.

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by 815C

I played a session yesterday at one of the big studios in Nashville and they mic'd my acoustic as shown in the photo below.

Put a mic where each ear would be. Makes sense. It sounded great. It just took awhile getting over having someone stare at me like that.

Did you by any chance catch the ID of the mics? Look like Shure KSM42s, their newish cardioid only dual diaphragm offshoot of the KSM44a.

Fran

[ukejon]

No phase issues with this setup?

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by ukejon

No phase issues with this setup?

Wonder if the head in between may have helped ?

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Wonder if the head in between may have helped ?

Phase differences are part of how our ears hear directionality. There will be more phase differences with a mic setup like this (or ORTF, NOS, etc), that with an X/Y totally coincident setup, but that's not necessarily bad. It's just a choice of what sound you want. Spaced pairs will have even more phase differences, but people use that all the time for guitar. Each mic configuration has it's own phase and intensity characteristics, but I think of them as part of the sound of that setup, not really as "issues", if the positioning is done correctly.

[Bob Womack]

This a poor man's Neumann's Binaural "head" mic system.



It is a wonderful sounding little unit containing a pair of condensers. Cheap too! LOOK HERE for more.

Bob