2 SM57s and a SP B1 on acoustic...

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dannydigital

New member
hey all, my first post here! i normally reside over at teh harmony centrals :) this is a great forum!

i have 2 SM57s (well i acually have 1 SM57 and 2 SM58s, but thast close enough right?) that i use in an XY to record acoustic and im pretty happy with how it sounds and the image it creates.

However i just got a new Studio Projects B1 and im eager to use it on the acoustic as well. How can i integrate it into my setup? I wish i had 2 so i could get a good stereo image using 2 B1s.. but i dont. How could i mix a stereo SM57 track w/ a mono B1 track? any creative ideas?

its for a song w/ just an acoustic and a female singer (im gonna try the B1 on her too!) so id liek the acoustic to sound really good.

thanks a lot!
 
Welcome to the board!

I've got a very similiar set up. I've got 2 57's, a 58, and a SP B1, along with a couple other misc mics.

My suggestion, is to have the guitar player play, plug one ear, and move around until you love the sound you hear. Put the B1 right there.

Throw on the phones, and tell her to keep playing, and then bring up the B1 fader, and see what happens.

I made the mistake of putting the B1 too far away the first time that I tried, and through info on this site, and experimentation, I usually throw it between my 57's, somewhere around 1 foot back, perhaps.

Keep the 57's panned one left, one right, and the B1 up the middle, and just play with the mix a bit until you like the way that it sounds.

Good luck! Make sure to post in the mp3 mixing clinic when you get something down for us to hear!

Welcome again,

-Speedy
 
How about just double tracking using the B1. Record two tracks, pan them left and right. You will get a decent acoustic sound like that.
 
yeh i thought of that but im not sure itd work out too good w/o pecussion and a metronome. its actually me playing guitar and her singing so we kinda play off each other rhythmwise.. im not sure id be able to replicate it on take two..

thanks for all the advice thus far, ill post what we come up w/ soon.

ohyeh, so you think keeping the B1 centered will work? i was just worried abotu it fighting w/ the vocals that i was planning on putting center.. hrm maybe i can put the B1 slightly off center the the vox slightly off opposite. hrmmmmm w/ the SM57s panned harder..

what makes this hard is that i only have an audiophile 2496 2 chan soundcard so ill have to mix this on my mixer and record.. if its not right ill have to rerecord after each tweak.. argg
 
If you've saved some money, buy a B3. You can use it with the B1 in an XY, AB, ORTF or NOS placement in cardioid pattern, but even more important, as an MS pair in figure 8 pattern.

I realize this all sounds pretty weird for someone who doesn't know about stereo mic techniques, but you can find all about it on the DPA website (dpamicrophones.com) under 'microphone university'.

In a good sounding room, an MS pair can do a miracle on acoustic instruments.

A figure of eight mic is completely deaf on the side, this can be a great benefit in some situations. Think of recording a guitar and vocals together, aim the fig 8 to the guitar, with the side pointing to the singer's nose.

You'll have guitar bleed into the vocal mic, which isn't a problem, but you'll have almost zero vocal bleed into the guitar mic, so you can EQ the hell out of it without affecting the vocal sound.
 
Han said:
If you've saved some money, buy a B3. You can use it with the B1 in an XY, AB, ORTF or NOS placement in cardioid pattern, but even more important, as an MS pair in figure 8 pattern.
Click to expand...

I would double check with the guys at Studio Projects, but I think that the B1 and B3 are different enough that you would not want to use them as a stereo pair.
 
The B1 and B3 don't sound exactly the same, but very much alike.

And if you record a guitar in stereo, even with a matched pair of mics you will not have the same sound out of both mics.

Plus in an MS placement it is no problem at all.

Plus 2, even a matched pair of B1's don't have the same sound.
 
thanks a lot for the tips.. interesting indeed.

however i just bought a ton of junk and im done spending money for awhile.. any ideas for what i currently have?

thanks
 
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