Mono or stereo field recoding

[davecg321]

Hey,

I'm looking to record some live video sessions of my band at various locations. I have two large diaphragm condensers to work with. However I'm uncertain whether it would be wise to use both (they are not matched) would if just be better to use the one mic strategically placed from song to song?

I'm not after amazing clarity and audio reproduction, but rather something that caprtures the essence of the performance whilst still retaining some audio integrity that is more usable than an onboard camera mic.

The band consists of vocals, guitar, French horn, violin, upright bass

Cheers

 

[Farview]

If one of the mics has a figure 8 pattern, you can set them up as a mid/side pair. They don't have to be matched for it to work.

It also depends on what you mean by matched. If you are saying that they are the same make and model, but weren't bought as a matched stereo pair, don't worry about it. It will work fine for stereo.

If you mean that they are two completely different mics, you might want to experiment to see if you get a decent stereo field when using them together. If you aren't looking for perfection, it might work fine to give the video a sense of depth.

 

[rob aylestone]

If you use non-matched mics (as in the same model, but perhaps different ages), matched mics - (as in tested at the factory and grouped into very similar pairs) or different types of mics, the thing that really matters is the mic technique. If you are making a top class, high budget recording of a subject that has many different sound source locations in an excellent room, then the matched mics make sense. For less critical recordings, or simply less sound sources, two of the same is often the norm - the matched pairs offering quite small improvements.

The key to all this is because depending on the technique you choose, the critical factors for the stereo image are differences in sound level and differences in the time arrival of the sounds. Most techniques use one, the other, or a bit of both to create realism. When it's something like coincident pairs, the time arrival is usually considered to be missing, or if present, very, very small. Differences in level from the mic's polar patterns enables the listener to point to the location. If you use two different mics that have different polar patterns and different frequency response curves, what happens is that the position of instruments shifts as they play through their range. A little peak at a particular frequency means that that note appears to move, but go back again when a different note is played. It's especially noticeable on things like pianos, harps and organs. However - with your band you have a mix of different sounding instruments, so maybe you could experiment with a nice sound balance using spaced pairs. It won't perfectly natural, but the violin, voice and guitar might be flattered by one mic and the horn and bass by the other? You could then blend the two tracks to make them sound balanced as a kind of re-balance. You need to obviously tweak the grouping a bit, but it can work. It's not really a proper stereo microphone technique, but a two microphone technique. With different model mics, I wouldn't try X/Y type recording - it just sounds 'odd'. I'd have an experiment and see what you think?

 

[davecg321]

Sorry for the confusion.. The mics are not the same make/model. I have a rode nt1a and a Samson co3 (has figure of 8)

I may give the mid and side technique a shot. How to I process the tracks after recording i.e do I pan one left and the other right...? Or do I record straight in as a stereo track?

Many thanks for the replies so far

 

[Btyre2013]

Sorry for the confusion.. The mics are not the same make/model. I have a rode nt1a and a Samson co3 (has figure of 8)

I may give the mid and side technique a shot. How to I process the tracks after recording i.e do I pan one left and the other right...? Or do I record straight in as a stereo track?

Many thanks for the replies so far

in the mixing stage,

you simply pan the fig 8 mic hard left and then duplicate it and reverse the phase on the duplicate track and pan it hard right, that's the S in M/S sorted, then you just mix mids and sides until you are happy.

 

[Farview]

The mid mic is panned center.

The figure 8 mic is recorded to two tracks. During the mix, you reverse the phase/polarity on one and pan them wide.

When you mix them all equally, you will hear the stereo field as it was. If you turn down the center mic it will get wider.

Please google mid side mic technique, so that you can find a picture of how the mics have to be configured.