question???

[thomas1831]

If i record an acoustic with the x/y technique and then pan one mic L and the Other R about 50% will i have phase issues? I used 2 MXL 603's X/Y..

Thanks

 

[thajeremy]

first off...I would pan them hard left and right. Then I would say no to phase issues...but just do it and listen....Im not really sure that there could be phase issue if you are only playing back one track on each side. From what I understand about it, phase problems come into play when one track wants to push the speaker cone out and another track played on the same speaker wants to pull the speaker in. When this happens, you dont hear things quite right. Maybe some of the pro's here can make it clearer for you and me both....

 

[Track Rat]

If you were going to have a phase issue, it would be with the mics panned to mono. But the very reason most folks do X-Y setups is to avoid phase issues as the capsules are so close together that those nasty little problems are greatly minimized.

 

[Massive Master]

And for Gawd's sake, if you haven't already, try putting the XY *VERTICALLY* in front of the instrument.

So many people think in two dimensions...

Sorry if you're already trying this, but every time I bring it up somewhere, I swear I can actually see all these blank stares coming from people...

 

[jonnyc]

um vertically John? Do you mean that if I were playing an acoustic the mics would be xy facing the floor or ceiling? Sorry but I'm one of those blank stare people and have never heard this.

 

[peritus]

If i record an acoustic with the x/y technique and then pan one mic L and the Other R about 50% will i have phase issues? I used 2 MXL 603's X/Y..

Thanks

Link that might help...

 

[Massive Master]

um vertically John? Do you mean that if I were playing an acoustic the mics would be xy facing the floor or ceiling? Sorry but I'm one of those blank stare people and have never heard this.

Exactly. Up and down - on an instrument that goes from low to high *vertically* (get it now?).

Not necessarily floor/ceiling (although I'm not really assuming you meant that literally, but want to nip it in the bud if anyone did).

You can't be too far off - The capsules still need to be in a decent proximity to the instrument - A foot and a half, two feet -

And it doesn't have to be totally vertical either - Visualize the instrument's angle vs. the mic angles and try to imagine what each capsule would be picking up if they were spaced... Sometimes a 45 degree angle will do it. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

But it freaks me out that every time I see photos of people's setups when they're recording acoustic guitars, there they are - Flat, horizontal. Not that it's wrong - But it seems a little closed-minded to say the least.

Bumping a XY pair 60 or 70 degrees off the angle of the strings and kept pretty close might just give you "that sound" that you've been looking for since forever when panned hard.

 

[jonnyc]

Thanks, as simple as that is, it really opened my eyes to different micing techniques. You're awesome John, thanks for the tip, off to try it.