Using two mics to bleed on purpose?

MattChen · #1 10-21-2010, 06:27 PM

I've watched a few clips of people recording at home on youtube where they have two mics setup side by side.

My basic understanding of recording was that it's preferable NOT to bleed sound from one mic to another.

Is there a benefit to bleeding sound on purpose? And how do you do it properly? I'm having trouble selling my C3000B anyways and might as well put it to some use.

Thanks.

rick-slo · #2 10-21-2010, 06:44 PM

With two mikes for stereo you are bleeding sound between the mikes somewhat, otherwise you have a big vacant hole in the middle of your soundscape.

Herb Hunter · #3 10-22-2010, 05:13 AM

Our brains derive depth and spatial information from the difference between the left and right signals it receives from our ears much the way we perceive depth from the difference between what our eyes see. A pair of microphones is used to capture the information that our ears would when the object is to recreate the soundstage of a performance. In studio settings, when that is not the goal, the engineer will strive to prevent a pair of mics from picking up the same sound source so as not to have the spatial information (the difference in the signal of the two mics) interfere with the artificial information he intends to create during the mixing process. In other words, sometimes bleed through is highly desirable; sometimes it is the bane.

Bob Womack · #4 10-22-2010, 06:20 AM

^ what he said.

Bob

rhancox · #5 10-22-2010, 07:20 AM

If you're trying to isolate your voice from your guitar, while singing and playing at the same time, you won't have much luck with a simple set up.

If you really want separate tracks in your recordings of your guitar and your voice, record them separately. For me, I've done it both ways.

If I just want my guitar, I place my 991 (small condenser mic) around the 14th fret (where the neck meets the body) and point it slight towards the soundhole. This picks up the mids and highs and the sounds of the strings. I place the 990 (large condenser mic) behind the bridge, at the level of the strings or slightly below, and I point it towards the soundhole. This picks up the lows, but you have to be careful with a large condenser mic around the soundhole. The closer you get, the boomier the recorded sound. Don't ever put one directly in front of the soundhole, unless you want that effect.

When I want to include my voice in the same recording, I'll typically move the 990 up to be between the strings and my mouth, keeping the same distance from the guitar. I've moved the 991 up as well, but it's still a work in progress to find the perfect balance to keep guitar and voice in the center of the mix.

If I just want my voice, I'll record a separate track using the 990 in mono.

Ty Ford · #6 10-23-2010, 04:54 AM

The really good jazz engineers actually PLANNED their bleed by knowing the patterns of their mics and positioning them to take advantage of the peaks and nulls (directionality) of their mics. In that way they created their own stereo or mono mixes with mic placement. This was before multitrack recording, but it continues today as sort of an occult art subset of mic placement and recording.

I use variations on the techniques when I'm recording more than one person or even of I'm recording someone singing and playing acoustic guitar at the same time.

Regards,

Ty Ford