Omnidirectional mics and room sound.

M

MattJames

New member
Hi all

I've been offered a matched pair of Rode NT55s for a pretty good price, which is great because I'd like to have a go at recording acoustic guitar in stereo.

The thing I like about them is that they can do both cardioid and omni patterns. I was keen on giving omni a go - mainly as I'm a finger style guitarist and ballad singer and am looking for a more open and even sound. The idea was that I could close mic but still get a relatively even distribution across the frequency spectrum, due to the omni pattern's lack of proximity effect.

My main concern, however, is that using the omni capsule will mean I'll need to think a lot more about the room acoustics. I really don't have the luxury of putting acoustic tiles up everywhere - it's the family lounge - so I was thinking that a temporary solution would be a couple of thick duvets hanging over some office dividers placed behind the spaced pair, which might help to counter some unwanted room sound.

I'll try this and let you know how I get on, but if anyone has any experience in this or some neat tricks, I'd welcome the input. If my thinking is total bollocks, tell me that too - always keen to learn.

Cheers
Matt
 
Well, a personal opinion...

Using omni mics to get more room tone then using duvets to get rid of the room tone because it doesn't sound good is a bit of a no-win exercise.

Don't getment me wrong, omnis can sound great on acoustic guitar in the right acoustic environment--but the average house just isn't that environment.

I think I've told this story before but when I was working I had to record acoustic guitar a couple of times and ended up dragging the guitarist into a certain corner I'd found in the old Victorian stairwell just behind our control room. That sounded great to my ear. Similarly, I once recorded guitar in an old stone church and, again, omnis sounded awesome.

So my advice would be to stick to cardioid which recording in an imperfect environment but look around for a sexy-sounding space you can borrow!
 
Yes, stick with cardioid, and experiment, instead, with mic placement in relation to your guitar as well as where you are set up in your recording room
 
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