Chewie
New member
I've been reading about micing drums and guitars (acostic). I've heard a bit about "stereo pairs". Is there really a significant different between these and two mics of the same model but no mention of 'stereo pair"?
Armistice
Son of Yoda
All mics of the same model will naturally have variations in response across the frequency range. Stereo pairs have been matched together to guarantee that they're closer to each other in response than unmatched mics of the same model.
This is not to say that two unmatched mics will not be close enough - whether you need a matched pair depends upon what you're doing - one of the risks of an unmatched pair used in stereo on a sound source is that certain frequencies will be less sensitive in one mic than the other, and the sound will shift in the stereo field at that frequency.
Someone else who knows much more about this than I do will probably come along soon and put this more eloquently, however.
Cheers
This is not to say that two unmatched mics will not be close enough - whether you need a matched pair depends upon what you're doing - one of the risks of an unmatched pair used in stereo on a sound source is that certain frequencies will be less sensitive in one mic than the other, and the sound will shift in the stereo field at that frequency.
Someone else who knows much more about this than I do will probably come along soon and put this more eloquently, however.
Cheers
B
borntoplease
New member
yes it matters. will untrained ears be able to tell the difference? that probably depends. if youre buying cheap mics, probably. its allways best to buy matched pairs if youre going to be recording the same source with two mics.... esp SDCs, doing stereo recording.
H
hoth
New member
borntoplease said:
Just out of curiosity, what problems do you foresee using a condenser and a dynamic on an acoustic guitar. Will the sound just be so different that it will sound awful? Thanks.
X
XLR
______
Sure you can record the guitar with two different kinds of mics. One of the most common close mic'ing techniques can be very effective that way. Each mic is positioned to hear a different part of the guitar's sound up close (within a couple of feet) - like at the bridge and neck/body joint. Then they can be mixed in a variety of interesting ways. But it's not stereo, just two mic's.
A stereo pair, as I understand it, is used to record the sound in a way that reproduces the instrument's sound in the room, not just its close up sound like the above technique does. Left and right direct sound from the source, as well as room ambiance come across in somewhat of a realistic way on playback. Mic's that match pretty well will do that without changing aspects of the L/R relationship. It's especially important on a very wide sound source like an orchestra or a band spread across a stage. A good description of stereo recording is at the DPA mic site, http://www.dpamicrophones.com/page.php?PID=131
Just my 2c.
Tim
H
hoth
New member
Timothy Lawler said:
Thanks for the advice and the link. Really gives me a lot to think about. I think I need to get a good matched pair of mics. Most important though is I need to learn proper recording techniques!
S
sdelsolray
Active member
A pair of good quaity SD condensers is timeless. Basically, decent SD condensers are about 1/2 the price of equally decent large diaphragm mics. In other words, you can get a pair of SDs for the same price (more or less) than a single similar quality LD.
Chewie
New member
Well thanks for the imput guys. Has anyone had any specific experience? I'm looking at the MXL 993 Condenser Mics Stereo Pair. It's going for 169 on Musicians Friend.