Microphone Advice For A Session

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chrisharris

chrisharris

King of Bling
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So if you were recording a singer/guitarist in one take, how would you mic it?
 
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I just tested out the 2 mic configuration for the guitar and I wasn't crazy about it, so I went with 2 on the instrument.

This uses the shitty mxl at bridge and the dynamic at the 12th fret. Other than a limiter on the stereo bus to make it audible, there's nothing on this. I don't have a matched pair of anything, and I can't imagine anything more UNMATCHED that what I'm using, but I don't hate it. The tracks are hard panned...not sure that's a good idea.

GUITAR TEST MXL AND 57
 
chrisharris said:
So if you were recording a singer/guitarist in one take, how would you mic it?
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I would record it with a simple stereo pair and capture the sound in the room as the audience would hear it.

I would use a simple ORTF pair, an MS rig or a Jecklin disk. The final choice would depend on the room.

I would also consider using a Soundfield mic.

What I would not do is to close mic. the guitar and voice separately.
 
John Willett said:
I would record it with a simple stereo pair and capture the sound in the room as the audience would hear it.

I would use a simple ORTF pair, an MS rig or a Jecklin disk. The final choice would depend on the room.

I would also consider using a Soundfield mic.

What I would not do is to close mic. the guitar and voice separately.
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+1 to this^^^^
 
I would do what the others suggest if limited to two mikes.

However, what I prefer to do is use three: two on the guitar, and one on vocals. The reason I do this is to give an interesting spatial effect to the guitar.
 
In these situations, if I really want isolation (minimal bleed), I would use two fig8 mics - one for vocal with null pointed at the guitar and one for the guitar with null pointed at the voice.
 
Get a hold of MSH and purchase a few of the MSH1 that he may have left in is inventory to expand your mic locker for just such occasions.
 
John Willett said:
I would record it with a simple stereo pair and capture the sound in the room as the audience would hear it.
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How would you start off with mic placement if you were only using 2?

By the way, I appreciate the responses. I don't know what ORTF and "MS rig" means, but you guys obviously do this more than I do. I usually just point a mic at a source until I like the sound, but I'm used to tracking one acoustic source at a time.
 
gehauser said:
In these situations, if I really want isolation (minimal bleed), I would use two fig8 mics - one for vocal with null pointed at the guitar and one for the guitar with null pointed at the voice.
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I appreciate the response. I have one mic that can be placed in a fig8 configuration...I've never used that configuration... How does one have "null pointed at the guitar?"

:D
 
If you only have one take, use as many mics and channels as you have. And only use the ones that sound good. The AT4050 should be good by itself with a little distance from subject. But it depends on the room and other factors. It never hurts to have more than you need. There are some standard techniques with names, which you might look up and give a try beforehand to get a feel for if they work (for you and the space). Three mics, hole, frets, voice is pretty common, and opens up the option to balance the sound to taste. But you also want at least one audience perspective POV mic IMO. As long as it sounds good in the end.
 
Shadow_7 said:
If you only have one take, use as many mics and channels as you have. And only use the ones that sound good. The AT4050 should be good by itself with a little distance from subject. But it depends on the room and other factors. It never hurts to have more than you need. There are some standard techniques with names, which you might look up and give a try beforehand to get a feel for if they work (for you and the space). Three mics, hole, frets, voice is pretty common, and opens up the option to balance the sound to taste. But you also want at least one audience perspective POV mic IMO. As long as it sounds good in the end.
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Yeah use a bunch. I'd mic the guitar as usual, with 2xSDC at neck and body, and I'd put an LDC up for the vocals. I may also throw a pair of figure 8 ribbons up as well to get a more roomy, audience perspective sound. Then I'd likely use one or the other of those two set ups when it came time to mix. I've done it both ways and liked the results.
 
In a perfect world I'd want them one at a time. The times they wanted to sing while playing, I've not had great luck using more than one mic. I always seemed to end up with some phasing going on so I'd end up with the vocal mic with the guitar leakage as the keeper.
 
You mentioned having an AT4050. If your room sounds ok, put it in Omni and with careful placement capture both with it. Add a spot mic on the guitar, and you'll have it for the mix if needed. (and if it sounds good) I usually use 2 omnis spaced out in front of the player for this kind of thing. But you need a good or dead room to get away with that.
 
I appreciate the responses. Everybody.

TrackRat, I hear you. But she needed to do ten songs today, and the only way that was going to happen was if she did them in single takes.

She's not the greatest guitar player, but I thought I'd post one of the tunes and let you guys hear how I think it's going to end up. This was a lot harder than doing individual tracks, but it's sort of rewarding too.

I used 2 shit mics on the guitar...Shure AXS 3 (no idea where I got this) on the body, an MXL 990 (hate it) on the 12th fret, and the AT4050 for the vocal. I don't dare play this in mono, but it's not super phasey to me. Lemme' know whatcha' think?

Pretty Mouth
 
Or, you can come up to the studio tomorrow and either borrow some mics, or let me do the recordings.
 
Harvey Gerst said:
Or, you can come up to the studio tomorrow and either borrow some mics, or let me do the recordings.
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Super nice of you, Harvey...but the damage is done now. 3 hours, ten songs. She had to start over on a couple, but all the finals are single takes.

She's getting ready to go into a "real" studio in Austin and needed some scratch tracks for "real" musicians to learn the tunes. I'm so insulted, lol.
 
chrisharris said:
I thought I'd post one of the tunes and let you guys hear how I think it's going to end up. This was a lot harder than doing individual tracks, but it's sort of rewarding too.

Lemme' know whatcha' think?

Pretty Mouth
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Not bad Chris. Is that the natural reverb of your recording space with her voice?
 
moresound said:
Not bad Chris. Is that the natural reverb of your recording space with her voice?
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Oh Lord No. I was told I overdid it on the reverb on the version you heard, but I took another crack at it. Thanks for checking it out.

I'm not happy with the guitar sound, but I think the method itself was solid...poor execution by moi', but I learned some stuff.

omtayslick said:
Yes! That actually came out pretty decent.
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Thanks! I appreciate you checking it out.
 
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