crosschatter on guitar and vocals

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bdemenil

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I'm trying to record acoustic guitar and vocals on 2 seperate mics. I'm using rhode NT1s. The problem I'm having is that the guitar track is picking up a considerable amount of vocals. I've tried positioning the microphones in different ways, but they must be close together so that I can sing and play guitar to them at the same time. I've heard there are shields you can place around mics to reduce periphial sound. Does anyone have any suggestions.


Also, I'm wondering what the conventional wisdom is regarding those foam wind-guards - or mufflers (I'm not too sure on terminology) you put over your mics. Is it essential to use these? What are the pros and cons?
 
I have seen them use shields..And they used a musicstand placed between the mics.I would cover the divideing surfaces with a towel or similar to cut down on the reflections...Those foam socks are used when you are outside in a windy enviorment..so the mics don't pickup the wind blowing thru them..Also you might try it for your vocal mic to cut down on the pops {expelling of wind}that happen when you sing
 
What Would I Do?

Well the best thing you can do is to make sure the null of each microphone is facing toward the sound source you're trying not to pick-up.

So, I say position the vocal mic upside-down and angle it roughly 45 degress so that the top of the grill is closes to you and the null is pointed down towards your giutar.

Then, place your guitar mic where ever you need to get your prefered tone but with the mic positioned so that the null is pointed toward your mouth.

Also, if you're use compression, it's going to make the bleed worse; which is not a bad thing if your end result is a pleasing tone and a good balance between the guitar and vox.
 
Oh And...

I don't know if you're thinking of pop filters or windscreens.
 
The off-axis rejection of the NT-1 is so poor that the only way I could imagine pulling that off would be to record the vocals and guitar at different times. Plus that would leave you two Rodents to do up each track in stereo. Another factor is concentrating on keeping your mug and your guitar in the same spot throughout the performance; much easier to try this one track at a time.
 
can you suggest a better mic

within a reasonable pricerange
 
bdemenil - RE's suggestion about mic placement and drstawl's opinion about not being able to escape the 'problem' are right on the money. However, the spill shouldn't be much of a problem if you don't need or plan to process the recorded track in the mix - if the mics are placed right, and the room's right, and the guitar's okay, then little or no EQ should be required, right? In fact, I find the spillover between mics adds a certain depth to each track - it's not as 'clean', but it's better.

I've heard pop filters (the hoop with the nylon stretched over it) work better than foam windscreens - apparently some windscreens affect some of the frequencies sometimes.

Finally, no, I don't think you stand the faintest chance of getting a better sounding mic than the NT-1 in its price range. What's 'reasonable' for you?
 
replacement mic

I've been considering an upgrade to the AT 4033. I've heard good things about it. I think I could get 1 on ebay for less than $300 - but the lack of waranty worries me.

Would I hear much of a quality improvement?
 
Well, I'm not exactly the best person to answer this, but that never stopped me before. :D I don't own a 4033, so I don't know how much improvement, if any, you'd hear, compared to the Rode. Are you in a position to go down to your local purveyor of microphones and compare a few?

However, if you're worried about the ebay purchase, why not buy one from 8th St new for $329? Isn't that what they go for?
 
hypercardiod

what about hyper-cardiod pattern mics - are they better at screening out periffial noise? I think on the NT2 and AT4050
you can switch patterns
 
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