Panning when micing acoustic with 1 mic

  • Thread starter Thread starter Elmo89m
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Elmo89m

Elmo89m

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until i get my 603s im micing my acoustic with my v67g...where should i pan...center..but wont it get int the way of vocals.
 
I'm assuming that the acoustic has a very important role in the song? If you pan it too much on one side, the stereo image will be "unbalanced". I suggest duplicating the track so that you can have a stereo guitar track. Then, you can experiment with panning and still keep the stereo image in tact.
 
i thought duplicating the same track and panning doesnt really give you stereo....just +3db? yes it is just acoustic and vox
 
You're right, it's not a true stero image of the guitar (because you're only using 1 mic), but it sounds better to me than just having a single guitar track in the middle.

As for the volume increase, you'll just adjust that in the mix. I group the guitar tracks together so the volume is the same on both tracks. Again, this is when I want the left or right channel to have equal levels of the guitar.
 
but if its not a true stereo image then it wont help me in terms of making room for vox
 
or if you can be bothered, record it again and use both tracks, panning each hard left and right, or however sounds good to you. thats if thats a possibility.
 
ghettorig said:
You're right, it's not a true stero image of the guitar (because you're only using 1 mic), but it sounds better to me than just having a single guitar track in the middle.
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Is that because it sounds louder? :D
 
haha...thank you chess....i know you know this stuff so if you could tell me that'd be great
 
Generally, if your project consists of one acoustic guitar and one voice, both will be in the center. Don't worry about "making room" - guitar and voice are different enough so it's not a problem. This approach has worked for hundreds - thousands? - of singer/guitarists.
 
okay...i beleive you their....but dont most "good" recorders (for lack of a better word) use a matched pair and record XY in stereo?
 
Elmo89m said:
okay...i beleive you their....but dont most "good" recorders (for lack of a better word) use a matched pair and record XY in stereo?
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Many do. But if you don't have a pair, you're recording in mono. I would not pan an acoustic guitar if it were my only instrument.
 
okay...i just thought you were saying that most people record acoustic with one mic
 
i also record accoustic guitar with one mic,
but i try to record the same part twice, isn't always easy,
if it works, pan "part 1 " left, "part2" right

if u only record one track, then i still suggest you duplicate the track and pan L+R, play with how hard you pan, and i guess its not a bad idea to try to put a few milliseconds of delay on one side...

my 2 cents
 
earworm said:
i also record accoustic guitar with one mic,
but i try to record the same part twice, isn't always easy,
if it works, pan "part 1 " left, "part2" right

if u only record one track, then i still suggest you duplicate the track and pan L+R, play with how hard you pan, and i guess its not a bad idea to try to put a few milliseconds of delay on one side...

my 2 cents
Click to expand...
don't bother with this, it does nothing.

Put a different reverb on the guitar than on the vocal. This will separate them. Don't make it a drastic difference, I would use a similar reverb with the decay time shorter on the vocal than on the guitar.
 
also, if you hear the vocals and the guitar fighting over a certain frequency area....find that frequency and give it a little negative dB on one of the tracks (probably better if you did it to the guitar instead of the vocals). This way they won't fight as much in that area.
 
thanks benny chico....thats what i was thinking yesterday...but i didnt have the time to find the frequency
 
Say you have a single guitar track in mono. If you pan it in the middle, it comes out of the left and the right. No if you copy the track and pan you left and one right, are not just creating the same thing as if you just had the one track pan in the center?
 
dmbpettit said:
Say you have a single guitar track in mono. If you pan it in the middle, it comes out of the left and the right. No if you copy the track and pan you left and one right, are not just creating the same thing as if you just had the one track pan in the center?
Click to expand...

yes, and 3dB louder. try it and you'll see.
 
dmbpettit said:
Say you have a single guitar track in mono. If you pan it in the middle, it comes out of the left and the right. No if you copy the track and pan you left and one right, are not just creating the same thing as if you just had the one track pan in the center?
Click to expand...
since there is no center speaker in stereo, center panning puts the same thing equally in both speakers. If you clone a track, and pan them so the same signal is in both speakers equally, you have just spent 5 minutes creating what you had in the first place...Mono!
In order to have stereo, you need something different in both speakers.
 
would an example of having something different in the left and right be just eq each differently or add reverb to one side?
 
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