Interesting articles

I can't really comment on it since, for vocals, I've only ever used a single mic, or multiple mics in "normal" positioning (some taped together).
 
I think this is actually got some decent info.

10 Things You Could Be Doing Wrong When Recording at | Reverb News

I'm still trying to understand this affection for active DIs everywhere, but I do understand that some things sound better with them. I'm just not certain the reason is because it's an "active" DI, but might be something else going on, like the impedance load presented or some subtle EQ or compression thing in the circuitry.

Digression: I have been interested enough in acoustic/electric guitar direct-recording to be convinced that the impedance load can make a big difference for some types of acoustic pickups, so do have setups that route guitars either through true-bypass tuners into [XLR powered] active DIs with 1MΩ impedance, or tuners with buffers (also 1MΩ impedance) into good quality passive DIs. But, IME, the majority of modern acoustic/electric guitars with built-in preamps can tolerate passive DIs just fine. I'm only trying to cover the unknowns that show up, and the folks with K&Ks and no belt-clip preamp...
 
IIRC the stuff i have read about DI's all says that the least colored sound is going to come from either; A) expensive transformer or B)active DI. I have one passive/ transformer coupled, and 2 active. The passive definitely has a "sound", while the actives are pretty much transparent. I mostly just use mine for bass but i do prefer the passive if i am using a guitar. The only other thing is the active will cause less signal loss if you are using it as a splitter(balanced and unbalanced outs at the same time). Pretty negligible diff but if your amp is out in the other room it might make a slight improvement.
 
I started to scan that article but stopped when I came across this bit:

"Another great benefit of M/S miking is that it provides true mono compatibility. Since the two Side channels cancel each other out when you switch the mix to mono, only the center Mid channel remains, giving you a perfect monaural signal. And since the Side channels also contain much of the room ambience, collapsing the mix to mono eliminates that sound, resulting in a more direct mix with increased clarity."​

I'm going to possibly say more than I know, but this doesn't seem exactly correct. They don't "cancel each other out" any more than two separate mics on the same guitar amp panned left and right would cancel each other out. Only the material that is completely identical (and now opposite polarity after the S/fig8 mic track is dup'd and one inverted) is removed by that collapse. (N.B. It will sound a lot different on speakers than headphones, where the cancellation of the opposite polarity material is not going to happen!) And, that ambience that's been recorded, i.e., anything that's recorded by the Figure 8 mic that's has a different waveform is going to remain. You can even still boost it in the mix the same way you would have widened the stereo mix.

The mono compatibility is an important factor, because it does mean that the center mic is effectively the only mic track that will contain sound that reached all mics from a centered source, and I *think* some of the comb-filtering issues that might be present in other stereo techniques are reduced, but that's a WAG.

[Pure editorial] I still think this technique is best where you do want to capture and control the room content separately from the main source. So, in some ways, it might work in both great and poorer locations, but in something like my little room, which toggles between fairly dead to made useless by external noise, I've not been able to get any mileage out of it.

I am with you Keith. Like you I do not profess any exoertise here but just "physics" dictates to me that a CO-I pair will give a better mono resultant than any other configuration? Even then, the sharpness of the mono signal will depend upon the degree of matching of the mics.

In an MS rig you have microphones of a different polar pattern FCS! It is well known that a cardiod and an omni sound different even if it is the same capsule that is switched. MS mics are also nothing like as "close" as a CO-I pair.

Dave.
 
YEP.

I find it ironic how much time he spends writing things down. He is good at it...

Only read a dozen or so pages. But he does have some really good points.

May need a book on tape tho...
 
I found myself going back to this page to refresh my memory on something and thought I would post it cuz it's got so much info. Some of it is, of course, dev and sale oriented , but it's a large resource for home and pro audio recording:
Tags | Waves
 
I've been following this mastering vid series from Izotope and while it's been informative up til now, the latest one has some insight into compressor behavior and use that simplified some concepts for me. The page for the latest vid is here
Are You Listening? Episode 3: Compression in Mastering
Here's Episode 5, part 2 (ep. 4 is worthwhile, too, and, of course, pt 1, but I like this one). Anyway, this one had a surprise example at the end - and I'd say don't skip ahead, though it is a little repetitive - where he shows how a limiter introduces harmonic distortion. Pretty eye-opening, even if a little contrived.

YouTube
 
Here's Episode 5, part 2 (ep. 4 is worthwhile, too, and, of course, pt 1, but I like this one). Anyway, this one had a surprise example at the end - and I'd say don't skip ahead, though it is a little repetitive - where he shows how a limiter introduces harmonic distortion. Pretty eye-opening, even if a little contrived

Yeah that got my attention too. Real "aha" moment.
 
I didn't buy one.. Oh no!.. ? I didn't know if they required drivers, like a stand alone interface - so I went looking, just for my own education.

I'm still 98% satisfied with my US-2x2.
 
I didn't buy one.. Oh no!.. �� I didn't know if they required drivers, like a stand alone interface - so I went looking, just for my own education.

I'm still 98% satisfied with my US-2x2.

Gotcha. Yeah, there are some really good USB mixers that work the same as an interface, but with a mixer and nobs and other thingies...
 
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