Need help with strange acoustic guitar sound

[keilson]

I recorded a friend playing acoustic guitar. We panned a condenser recording left and a direct recording right. When I play them back together I get a strange sound, which I think could be an overtone, coming from the guitar. I comes out more at certain points in the song. I am at work now so I won't be able to post it. Anybody have any ideas what it could be though? Do you think EQ would remove the sound?

[Track Rat]

Sounds like a phase difference between the direct and mic sound. Can you look at the two different wave forms in a DAW?

[slabrock]

Phase inversion in condenser? Comb filtering?

If you pan both in the center, does it sound thin?

[keilson]

i'm not home right now so I won't be able to try till later. What could I do to fix it? Is there any way to avoid rerecording it?

[Track Rat]

One of two things. If it is phase, listen to the direct send and the mic in mono. mMove the mic and listen. If it's combing, it will sound thin or tuby or have that phasey sound to it. Move the mic until it's least objectionable. If the mic pre hase a phase reverse switch, flip it and see if that helps. If you can view it in a DAW, you can zoom in and actually see the phase relationship between the two wave forms. If the mic track is just slightly late (as its sound takes a little longer to reach the mic than the direct track) you can slide that track forward in time to line them up a little better.

[keilson]

ok thanks Track. I am gonna try this later when I get home. I would hate to have to rerecord this guitar part. I recorded and mixed 5 songs for my friend that he needs for his girlfriends birthday. He needs it by friday so I am trying to get it all together in time. When I zoom in should the two waveforms match exactly location wise?

[Track Rat]

As close as possible. The time difference is what causes the comb filtering.