Does stereo matter if your room is nothing special?

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swarfrat

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I'm a newbie to miccing acoustic guitars. I skimmed the stickie but.. I'm wondering if stereo is worth bothering with if I'm in an iffy room. (Bonus room over garage)

I have an AT2020 (and I guess a pair on the zoom r24 if you count them). I was scheming to grab an AT2050 and try mid-side micing but I realized that all the figure 8 will get is the room. I'm thinking mid side is sort of pointless without a better room. I could see some other 2 mic technique to better capture the guitar, but I don't really consider that "stereo" in itself.

So should the AT2050 be on my Christmas wish list, or save my music money and wishes for something else?
 
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swarfrat said:
I'm in an iffy room.?
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Well, at least you realize you have a less than ideal room. The first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one. :)

So, in that case, why don't you treat your room instead of throwing your hands up and just living with it? I'm not saying you should buy the mic, because we never have enough mics. But, with a treated room, you will get the most out of any new gear you buy in the future.
 
Well, its a problematic room to treat so I was just close micing and adding better sounding rooms electronically. A bonus room with a lot of treatment is still a bonus room.
 
swarfrat said:
Well, its a problematic room to treat so I was just close micing and adding better sounding rooms electronically.
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That's better IMO. People always go on about about the magic of natural room sound, but really, most home recordists don't have a room worth hearing. All that room hype is way overrated in the realm of home studios. Most people track and mix in the same space, and they rarely do both well. I'd say setting up your room for better mixing than tracking would be the way to go.

It's like vocal booths. People always want to turn their closet into a vocal booth just so they have a vocal booth. Never mind that real vocal booths, in real studios, that really sound good, are actually bigger than their whole home studios.
 
Since I'm recording with a Zoom R24, it occurs to me that 1) I can easily change my location. 2) I have a deck on the back of the house and live in a rural not-quite-subdivision with extremely light traffic. I suspect if I try it there's way more noise outside than I ever thought possible, but I'll give it a try. Right now the primary daytime noise is the hawks nesting in our back yard (wooded) and at night the coyotes in the neighborhood.
 
I tried some m/s recording with my acoustic guitar in different rooms and halls around the house. Couldn't get a good sound. The best spot was my inadequate little studio. You're right on assuming the room is everything on m/s.

I agree with close micing in your studio. I only use one mic and single or double track the acoustic, depending on the song.
 
Having answered the primary question, I guess what falls out of it is..where the next chunk of change to become available goes. Since that's a bit broad, I'll confine it to mics. I've got a dead 57 that just needs a capsule replacement. Before I broke it, I wasn't real happy with it's intended purpose (micing guitar amps - I found it really harsh. I could make it thin or muddy, but never arrived at a happy result.) My initial attempt at using the 2020 on my amp was actually not bad. And I'm actually using the amp models on the Zoom for guitar and I'm surprised it works so well for sketchpad stuff. (I end up doing a lot of my electric guitar tracking direct while my toddler is sleeping in the next room.)

Right now I think the biggest capability gap in my mic "locker" is being able to record vocals at the same time as acoustic guitar. Another AT2020 (for an unmatched pair of same model), the AT2050 for a multipattern LDC, or something else? (For vocals & guitar amp).
 
If you can't mic a cab with good results using a healthy 57, you're doing it wrong.
 
I agree about the 57. Maybe it was on its way out before it finally died. Either that, or you were doing something wrong.
 
Cause of death was not natural causes, so I'm not sure if it was "going out". My guitar amp is a Carvin X-60C with G12M-70, which is not one of Celestion's favored children. I like the tones I get in the room with it, and the AT2020 sounded just fine, but the presence peak on the 57 was just harsh and it was really hard to tame without sucking any life out of it whatsoever. While I'm more than willing to accept I wasn't doing it right, the fact that the 2020 works great with "shove it oh about there" makes me think the effort isn't worth the effort to work how to work with something that's actively working against me when there are easier ways. FWIW a lot of youtube demos of micing amps I've heard have a similar harshness that on some distorted tones can sound real ugly.
 
Are you sure you didn't have a counterfeit 57? That would explain the harsh peak.

Depending on your money situation, a LDC for vocals might be a good choice, or a pair os SDCs; BUT (big but) investing in some acoustic treatment SHOULD come next - build some 2x4 panels that you can move around, use a gobos, etc. When you move, you can take them with you.
 
swarfrat said:
Cause of death was not natural causes, so I'm not sure if it was "going out". My guitar amp is a Carvin X-60C with G12M-70, which is not one of Celestion's favored children. I like the tones I get in the room with it, and the AT2020 sounded just fine, but the presence peak on the 57 was just harsh and it was really hard to tame without sucking any life out of it whatsoever. While I'm more than willing to accept I wasn't doing it right, the fact that the 2020 works great with "shove it oh about there" makes me think the effort isn't worth the effort to work how to work with something that's actively working against me when there are easier ways. FWIW a lot of youtube demos of micing amps I've heard have a similar harshness that on some distorted tones can sound real ugly.
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Well, youtube vids are 95% shit anyway, but it's possible that maybe your ears just don't jive with the 57.
 
Well, I guess the next mic then is liable to be a Behringer ECM8000 instead of something sexier.
 
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