Mid/Side for solo guitar/singer

[Peter B]

I'm a novice at home recording and have a pretty basic recording setup for my sax quartet which consists of a couple of large diaphragm condensers mounted mid/side and we've done some fun recordings which have worked out OK, but with no particular purpose in mind other than to educate us on how we sound to our audiences - and wow, does it do that !!!

Well the other day my youngest daughter and her partner and his buddy arrived at our door, unannounced as usual, and the partner Jay and his buddy had guitars in their hands. My daughter's partner is a pretty mean acoustic guitar player, but his mate who turned up with him this eveing is just as good, and can also sing. Well after a great barbecue supper we went into my little recording studio and had a jam session. The two guitars were great and I suggested recording them. They were OK with that, but then I realised that I was set up for mid/side sax quartet, but what the heck. I sat them down 5 feet in front of the mid mic and just next to each other. I didn't expect much in the side channel, but I told them to play something. They played the U2 song 'With or Without You' and my daughter's partner's buddy sang it really well.

When I processed the tracks and did the ususal with a touch of comp and reverb I was astonished how well the mid/side had worked for what was essesntially a solo recording directly in front of the mid mic. The stereo image was really nice and the voice had a lovely presence to it. It was a good recording, and just done 'on the fly' it amazed me.

So why have I posted this? Well I guess it's because I'd assumed that mid/side recording was aimed at ensebles/groups/ choirs/bands etcettera which had sound coming from both the front and sides. I never imagined that mid/side could also work well for solo recording. So Why does it? I've obviously missed something here and I need to be educated and I'd appreciate any experienced advice on the matter.

Thanks

 

[miroslav]

Google some "Bruce Swedien" (he did most of the engineering for M.J. and Quincy Jones)...he's big on stereo miking just about everything.

I use M/S as my main drum kit setup, with only one spot mic on Kick & Snare...and have always loved that M/S kit sound. I keep them fairly low over the kit, only 7' off the ground, and directly over the drummer's Kick knee, evenly between Kick & Snare.

I've thought about trying more stereo miking setup, but have only used that on piano and maybe acoustic guitar once or twice.
It's a great way to go if you plan to have a sparse mix...with only a few elements. If you are going to have dozens of tracks, it can be a bit too "BIG" using stereo miking on everything...though Bruce Swedien has, with a lot of careful planning as to how each stereo pair of tracks will fit in the overall mix.

 

[Peter B]

Very interesting, and thanks for the link to Bruce Swedien, he's the main man for sure. I see at the bottom of his 'workshop' page that he's got an acoustic guitar miked M/S, (with microphones I can only dream of owning I have to add!!) He also features on the Roya web site.

I tried a solo sax recording M/S last night, something I've never thought of doing before, I've always just used the mid cardioid as a spot. This time I set the mike stand up with the M/S mikes about a foot above my head, 3 feet in front and pointing down at the body of my sax at around 45 degrees. I wasn't sure what to do about mic gain though. The mid mike was getting more than the side, pretty obviously, and I wasn't sure whether to balance them on mike gain or set the two mike gains the same and let the side channel be down a bit on the mid. Right or wrong I set them the same, so had a bit less in the side than the mid.

Again, I was surprised what a nice presence this gives the recording. The side mike obviously gets enough input to provide a nice stereo image and somehow they mix down to give a very pleasing sound. Like I said at the beginning I'm very new to all this and learning as I go really, but using stereo miking in this way has been a very interesting lesson to learn, and thanks for your advice along the way, much appreciated.

 

[miroslav]

I wasn't sure what to do about mic gain though. The mid mike was getting more than the side, pretty obviously, and I wasn't sure whether to balance them on mike gain or set the two mike gains the same and let the side channel be down a bit on the mid. Right or wrong I set them the same, so had a bit less in the side than the mid.

Right...you don't want to overcompensate the side gain too much, since it will mess up the image, but I tend to nudge it up a bit also.

If you then "decode" the combined M/S stereo signal later, into it's Mid and Side components...you can individually adjust the center(M) and width(S) of the stereo image. That way, when your mixing, if something too wide, you can narrow it down to fit it in better with other tracks, but still keep some of the M/S stereo vibe.