recording an acoustic duet

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pornuccio

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My friend and I have some folk/classical acoustic duets which we would like to record. Any ideas on the best way to go about it? Specifically;
- the best type of room to record in?
- is it best to record our songs live or should we use multitrack?
- mike arrangement?

I have an athlon 700 and a maxistudio isis card, and two sm57 mikes at my disposal. I might be able to get some more mikes.
 
Synergy

If it were me,since the pieces were intended as duets,I would go live to two tracks and just keep doing takes 'till you feel you've done the best you can.Two or more people playing at the same time is different than two or more seperate tracks recorded one after another,when it's right there is a vibe to it that's near impossible to get with individual tracking.I would try to do it in afairly lerge room with moderately live sonic characteristics (Not a gymnasium nor a living room with carpet and drapes!) 2 small diaphragm condensers in either X-Y or ORTF configuration.Putting the mics close gives a direct sound with more detail,further away gets a bigger more ambient sound.Try a few different distances.Cheers!
 
Thanks for the advice, but I'm new here. What are X-Y and ORTF configurations? Also, was that two mikes per guitar, or two all up?
 
pornuccio - hi.

XY configuration: two cardioid mics, capsules touching (one above the other), angled apart symmetrically at, say, 90 degrees. You point the imaginary axis through the middle of the mics at the sound source. Nice stereo imaging, used for loads of classical recording, among other things.

ORTF: the mics are touching again, but this time the grilles are spaced apart a few inches (the mics describe an X shape), and they're angled apart at 110 degrees. Also used for loads of classical recording.

So, two mics for everything. And I'd second virtual.ray's suggestion to go live to two tracks. Keep the synergy, and just keep doing it till you get it right.

A couple guys doing classical guitar won Acoustic Guitar's Homegrown CD Award a couple months ago, and they used a bedroom with an unusual shape and a carpet on the floor as a recording space. I don't think any of that's particularly necessary, least of all the bedroom. :) They put one great mic on each guitar (unlike XY and ORTF), about 3 or 4 feet away. In the mix, they panned each source about 70/30. I went to their website, and listened to some free samples, and the sound's good. (Odeum Guitar Duo, if you're interested - "Concert Hall Classics".

Whether you use a standard ORTF or XY configuration, or a set-up like Odeum did, you'll get some spill or bleed on each mic from the other guitar, and the effect is very nice.

Something I'd try, if I had the mics and another guitarist to work with, is stereo mics on each guitar, much closer up.

In other words, experiment with rooms and rugs and mics and positions and distances, and you'll probably find all the luck you need.
 
Thanks so much for your help. That was some great advice
 
shall do, but first I need to acquire four condenser mics(!) Looks like I'll have to call in a few favours. Hopefully I'll be done within a month. Thanks for your time, once again.
 
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