stereo acusti guitar?

[Freddy]

http://z.about.com/d/homerecording/1/5/M/1/-/-/XY.jpg

http://www.davejamrog.com/images/xy.jpg

Also, a good write-up on various setups here .. http://www.xowave.com/doc/recording/mic-pair.shtml

 

[TheHunter]

@Freddy, thanks for the photos

@chessrock, please post your photos of XY. I'm interested to see the Y.

 

[tdukex]

It means that you put two mics together, and form the shape of an X with them.

Then you take three more mics, and you form the shape of a "Y" with them, by using one mic as the base, and then extending two more from the top of it, each at about a 22-degree angle to form sort of a v-shape.

Each mic is recorded to it's own track. When mixing, you want to take the base of the Y mic and pan that center. Then you want to take the left portion of the V and pan that about 25% with the other side at 30%. Then, you hard pan the X mics 100 left and 100 right.

It's a lot more popular than the QR technique for somewhat obvious reasons.

.

This is complete BS, and it really irritates me when people post this kind of misinformation in a serioius recording forum.

True XY recording refers to the number of mics/tracks being positioned/panned (two-dimensionally plotted on the X and Y axis) in the sound field--like in your old algebra class graphs. For example, you should use as many mics as possible on a single recording. Position the mics all around the player (high-low, left-right, near-far) so that your XY axis plotting can be fuller. Then, you pan all of the tracks straight down the middle, and the result will be a huge sounding stereo recording because the original multi-mic placement takes care of the stereo imaging for you--no need to pan. Also, this method eliminates all phase issues because of the sheer number of tracks--they just euphonically meld together as if the sound is coming from heaven.

There is also an advanced XYZ method, but that is only for surround sound and requires many more mics--and a hemispherical room for reasons I can't explain here.

 

[Richard Monroe]

Yo elicantu! Chessrock is busting your balls. Stereo recording is a way to use 2 (or sometimes 3, as in a Decca tree) mics, to create a model of what you would have heard if you had been in the room where the sound was recorded. It is *not* an electronic decision. You cannot create a stereo recording by doubling tracks, or panning the same track left and right, by recording one signal to a "stereo" track, or anything else. Sometimes 2 omnidirectional mics are placed on each side of a dummy head. This is called binaural recording. Stereo is only a model, so often, as in spaced stereo recording, the mics may be 10 feet apart. Hopefully, your ears aren't.

The most common techniques are coincedent or near-coincedent (that's your X-Y). ORTF, spaced stereo recording, Jecklin disc, mid-side (or M-S for short), and Decca tree. I don't doubt there are others that I have never heard of.
I'll repeat a link from above that gives you a pretty good picture of coincedent and ORTF-
http://www.xowave.com/doc/recording/mic-pair.shtml

Usually, stereo recording is done with 2 mics that are "matched", being as identical as possible, with similar output across the entire audio spectrum. In addition, the 2 mics are generally run through 2 preamp channels that are as identical as possible. The mere fact that 2 mics are being used to 2 tracks does *not* make it a stereo recording. The attempt to create a model of what you would have heard if you had been there is what makes it stereo.

The coincedent method is a great place to start because it is real hard to screw it up. Because the 2 mic capsules are as close as they can be to each other without touching, all sound reaches the 2 capsules at about the same time, preventing the problem of the sound reaching the 2 capsules at 2 points that are out of phase, which can create an ugly pain in the ass called "phase distortion".

Can you record an acoustic guitar in stereo? You betcha. Is it the best way to do it? Not necessarily. Stereo recording is just one way to record something, not the only way, or the best way. It is, however, one of my favorite ways. So get 2 matched mics, a 2 channel preamp, and a stereo mic bar, and get started. Good luck.-Richie

 

[elicantu]

thanks for the wisdom richard and tdukex
i just bought 4 identical instrument mics and i have two indentical preamps on the digi so im gonna mess around with that and see what i can pull off

 

[tdukex]

thanks for the wisdom richard and tdukex
i just bought 4 identical instrument mics and i have two indentical preamps on the digi so im gonna mess around with that and see what i can pull off

Of course, I was only kidding with my earlier post. Here's some real help:

http://www.prosoundweb.com/studyhall/shure/mics/stereo/techniques.php

http://www.josephson.com/mictech.html

http://www.tape.com/cgi-bin/SoftCar...techniques.html?L+cassette+nqna2923+995498793

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1997_articles/feb97/stereomiking.html

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1997_articles/mar97/stereomictechs2.html

http://www.shure.com/stellent/group...ts/web_resource/us_pro_micsmusicstudio_ea.pdf

 

[ofajen]

I would also heartily recommend "The New Stereo Soundbook", Third Edition, by Ron Streicher and F. Alton Everest.

Cheers,

Otto