The mic placement ideas for acoustic guitar make a lot of sense. I guess the part I didn't realize was the "wild-card" factor of the large diaphragm mics. I understand that they "color" the sound, but from what you seem to be saying, there's no way to predict in just what way they will color it....which is kind of a bummer. I notice when people are using them for voice that there is a certain "depth" added to the spoken sound that the smaller condensers don't seem to add, but I have no idea how this would translate to instruments.
It's a major problem, Chris, especially when talking about this new crop of low cost, condenser microphones from Russia and China. The Quality Control from many of the distributors leaves a lot to be desired. Some capsules have a very ragged and peaky top end, while others either have a diminished bottom end or they're bloated in close. The depth you hear on vocals is usually from the "proximity effect" when singing in the microphone's near field, boosting the bass at around 250 to 400 Hz to produce a fullness that's usually very desirable.
I'm happy to wait for the installment on grand piano, but even with my own NEWBIE mic placement I notice that the mxl 603s gets a much better sound than anything I've used before (including AT
Pro 37). The "xy" thing is going to require a special mounting device, and it probably means I need to order at least 1 or 2 new mics for the other instruments since I want to do 90% live recording.
Yes, the 603S mics are an amazing buy right now for x/y use and many other applications. Acoustic bass, cello, flute, and fiddle are other uses for the 603S, which I'll try to cover in further installments.
What about acoustic bass? The biggest problem I have noticed with trying to record this instrument is that there is one note (the open "D") string which seems to record way hotter than the rest of the range of the instrument, so that when the rest of the range is in balance and sounds great, that D comes in and bottoms the whole track out. How should I deal with this? Bass roll of on the board while recording? Moving the mics further away? This may be an EQ question rather than a mic question...
There are several mic positions that can lessen that "hyped D" effect, like miking on the bass side of the bridge, and even with a mic stuffed part way inside the "f" hole. You can also use a parametric equalizer to lessen the effect. I'll get into all that in another posting later in the series.
I know a lot depends on the instrument, the player, and the mic, BUT....when recording acoustic bass, do you often use a large diaphragm mic? If so, have you ever used
the V67G for this purpose? Over at my bass site, there is a lot of heated discussion about the issue, but it's coming from players - most of whom (like myself) don't know much about recording - rather than engineers. I'd love to hear your input, even though I realize that there is no definitive answer for all situations.
There are times when a large diaphragm mic can sound very good on upright bass, but it's usually from the middle of the nearfield (about 2 feet)to the far edge of the nearfield (about 42")where it sounds best. Any closer and the proximity effect will produce a boomy upper bass tone that destroys any definition and detail in the tone.
I'm in no hurry, take care of that pinched nerve!
Thanks.
