Problem with spaced pair.

[tjohnston]

Ok, so I am using 2 sm -81 to mic my acoustic guitar. One mic is pointed near the bridge. The other is pointed at the 12 fret. The problem is that one side is always louder than the other. Is this normal? If I move the mics so both sides are equal volume then the bass treble balance is wrong. Should I be trying to balance volume with the faders? Mabey I am positioning the mics wrong.
I spent a fair amount of money on this guitar so I take micing it seriously.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

[eddbud]

One will be louder than the other, so adjust your gain settings, but if you put your hear right close to an acoustic guitar it will be louder in one ear than the other!

[omtayslick]

Bass/treble balance wrong is exactly what you want I would think. And that's why you're using 2 mics on different parts of the guitar. You've got the whole spectrum (hopefully) on two dicrete tracks. Blend to taste. Each track by itself may not sound wonderful, but pan them left and right (10 o'clock and 2 o'clock are good starting points) and you've got something.

I personally use an sm81 to capture the highs, either about the 12th fret -or- below the soundhole pointed up towards it. (to avoid that little soundhole puff of air thing)
And then a LD on the soundboard just beyond the bridge. Usually from above. -or- A LD pointed parallel to the top pointing in from the end of the guitar. (from the end-pin side if that wasn't clear) I find that sometimes pointing the mic to pick up accross the top, rather than at the top, reduces boominess. (Don't forget the bass roll-off switch) No reason these methods can't be applied with 2 81's. In fact, it may work even better. (Don't know, I only have one 81) Good, solid mic choice BTW.

But, YMMV. Depends a lot on the characteristics of your guitar.
Mine BTW is a very tonally complex 20+ year old Martin D35. If you have something similar, one of these methods should work well for you. As far as volume balance goes: That's why the preamps and mixers have those little buttons and sliders on 'em.

Getting a good solo acoustic sound will take some experimentation. Just an inch or two difference in mic placement sometimes changes the tone.

Have fun!

Tom

[tjohnston]

ok I get it. So its ok that they are two different volumes. I just have to adjust the faders to get a nice blend. Ok thanks a lot.

[Richard Monroe]

First, adjust the input trim so that you're tracking fairly close to 0dB as is safe- say -6 to -4 dB on peaks. Then blend the tracks to taste in playback and mixdown.-Richie

[DJL]

Originally posted by tjohnston
Ok, so I am using 2 sm -81 to mic my acoustic guitar. One mic is pointed near the bridge. The other is pointed at the 12 fret. The problem is that one side is always louder than the other. Is this normal? If I move the mics so both sides are equal volume then the bass treble balance is wrong. Should I be trying to balance volume with the faders? Mabey I am positioning the mics wrong.
I spent a fair amount of money on this guitar so I take micing it seriously.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Your not experiencing phase cancellations between the microphones are you?

[Michael Jones]

Sounds to me like you need to do a little gain staging.
Make sure your pre-amp gain is set to the same on each channel, then adjust output trim so that the levels are close, and upon mixing use your faders on your board or console to blend to taste.

[tjohnston]

thats another thing... phase cancellations.... How do I know if that is happening? I can get a nice balence between bass and treble stings in stereo. When I playback in mono it sounds very hollow and muted. But really I am not at all concearned with mono capability.

[Michael Jones]

The easiest way for me to tell if there are phase anomolies going on is to listen to the recording in stereo. If the music seems to... sort of float around... one side comes in stronger at times than the other one, and vice-versa, then you have a phase problem.

Another way is to (I think) sum both channels to mono. If the music gets noticably thinner, there's likely a phase anomolie.

Use the 3:1 rule in your mike placement, and you can usually rule out the chance of any out-of-phase problems.

[DJL]

Originally posted by tjohnston
thats another thing... phase cancellations.... How do I know if that is happening? I can get a nice balence between bass and treble stings in stereo. When I playback in mono it sounds very hollow and muted. But really I am not at all concearned with mono capability.

After reading your first post... the first thing that came to mind was that you may be having some phase cancellation problems. Anyway, you may want to check that out by trying what Michael Jones said above. Good luck.