Mid/Side Recording Of Acoustic Guitar...
- Thread starter drbluezz
- Start date
rob aylestone
Moderator
The centre mic goes to the place you would normally select for that guitar as 'best'. The figure 8 mic needs to be as close to it as possible, but oriented so it faces up and down the neck, if your intention is to use it to hear the picking/struming and fret noise elements. Just don;t be tempted to widen the stereo field in the mix too much, it sounds odd if you do. Gentle side level to get it away from centre works best for me, although I rarely use M/S on guitars unless they are really well played with clever stuff on the fretboard and useful percussive stiff from the players right hand.
rob, thank you so very much for your post. I'm a bluegrass flatpicker but with an unorthodox rhythm technique. I use a flat pick held between my thumb and index finger as most players do but I also wear finger picks on my middle and ring fingers. I use the finger picks for rhythm and I use them for playing various rolls. I play leads and solos with the flat pick. The reason I bring all this up is I think it may help you to know how I play.
I also think it would help you to know what mics I have and how I plan to use them. I've been recording my acoustic guitar with a stereo pair of AT 4041s (SDC) using the traditional method of aiming one mic at the 12th fret and the other at the bridge (about a 12" to 18" above and aimed at the bridge) with really good results. I then pan them hard left and right.
But I've been wanting to experiment with m/s recording and using some combinations of other mics. I also have a recently purchased Manley Reference Gold (LDC) mic that I've been using for vocals only so far. Simply incredible mic. I have a Royer R 122 ribbon mic and a Shure KSM 44 LDC. My tube preamps are a Universal Audio Solo 610 and LA 610.
Anyway, I've thought of using one of the AT 4041s and the Royer R 122 figure 8 ribbon mic (rotated 90 degrees) for m/s recording. I would likely experiment with using the backside of the Royer since it is slightly brighter. I will also experiment with the Manley Reference Gold and Royer R 122. I'd be interested in any comments about which mics to use for m/s recording and how to use them.
Tom
I also think it would help you to know what mics I have and how I plan to use them. I've been recording my acoustic guitar with a stereo pair of AT 4041s (SDC) using the traditional method of aiming one mic at the 12th fret and the other at the bridge (about a 12" to 18" above and aimed at the bridge) with really good results. I then pan them hard left and right.
But I've been wanting to experiment with m/s recording and using some combinations of other mics. I also have a recently purchased Manley Reference Gold (LDC) mic that I've been using for vocals only so far. Simply incredible mic. I have a Royer R 122 ribbon mic and a Shure KSM 44 LDC. My tube preamps are a Universal Audio Solo 610 and LA 610.
Anyway, I've thought of using one of the AT 4041s and the Royer R 122 figure 8 ribbon mic (rotated 90 degrees) for m/s recording. I would likely experiment with using the backside of the Royer since it is slightly brighter. I will also experiment with the Manley Reference Gold and Royer R 122. I'd be interested in any comments about which mics to use for m/s recording and how to use them.
Tom
rob aylestone
Moderator
Out of that lot, I think I'd head to the KSM44 - as I rather like their sound. The Royer is an unknown mic to me, although I hear great things about them. With the mics at your disposal, you have plenty of choice, but the only thing that leaps out at me is the interesting right hand technique. I've never been that good at making picks sound good. No matter what I seem to do, they don't sound as good to mics as they do to ears. I've never learned to play with a pick at all - but I do have a set of finger picks for the pedal steel (which I'm dreadful at playing so far) - I've experimented with these on my guitars and can't get a good sound on any condensers - best sound was an old Beyer 201 hyper, which took the hard click away?
Sounds like a few hours worth of fiddling needed!
Sounds like a few hours worth of fiddling needed!
DM60
Well-known member
Why would you hard pan? For an acoustic I would go slight pan to no more than half way. Seems like more than that the guitars get thinner.
David, I just picked this technique up from forums like this one. The result sounds good to me. Perhaps because I fill up the center of the field with lead vox and harmony vox and mandolin. Gives the guitar a bigger sound. I haven't done a lot of recording over the years so I still see myself as a novice. Perhaps there's a better way to record acoustic guitar? How do you do it? What mics and pres do you use? Thanks for your post/s.
Tom
DM60
Well-known member
Tom, I am still experimenting myself, I've tried 12th fret and over the shoulder, Sound hole, etc. I am still a novice as well. I was just commenting more around, the further pan L/R the thinner it sounds (to me). Many times a try to get it just out of center and leave the rest of field for other instruments.
Like I said, I am by no means an expert or even mid-level, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
bouldersoundguy
Well-known member
It's better practice to render a wave and compress it to mp3 as a separate step. There are lots of options for doing this besides LAME.
Monkey Allen
Fork and spoon operator
I find that if you just stick it roughly near the hole somewhere she'll open up and you can make sweet sweet music 
dudernut
New member
I am also no expert, but I got some pretty usable results recently from pointing a pencil condenser at the 12th fret and large diaphragm condenser at the bridge. I ended up pointing the large slightly toward the tail of the guitar to counteract an overly bassy tone. The strings sound pretty dead live, it's been a while since they've been changed. However, the recorded tone ended up sounding fairly nice. This song was more strumming and less picking, but the attack was still nice and clear while still retaining a rich sound. Hope this helps!