termonology question

[p.babs]

Hey there,

I would have done a search on this, but (as the title says) I don't know what this is called!

Anyhoo, I'm wondering what the term is, for when you are recording say a guitar cab, and you are using multiple mics, what is it called when one of those mics are placed further away from the cab?

Also, what kind of mic is it more common to use in this application? I'm guessing a condensor.

I know that you can cause phaseing issues with your recordings when doing this, any other typical issues? (or if anyone has answered my first question I can simply do a search).

I'm interested in this technique as I've been told that it can add to a recording, especially when it comes to bass drums, and it wouldn't hurt to make a guitar recording stronger!

thanks for any answers that may have come out from this.

*and yes I've just realized that I misspelled terminology

 

[Steenamaroo]

I don't know if there's a specific name for it, but you see a lot of guys putting a dynamic up close and a ribbon or condenser further back.

Depending how far back you set the mic, i guess you'd just call it a room mic, or maybe ambient mic?

Go on to gearslutz and look for the massive thread about guitar amp mic placement.

It's just reems and reems of pictures of different peoples recording setups. Great resource to look at for inspiration.


Phase issues arise from having more than one mic on a source, but at different distances from the source.
There are ways to handle it, and heavily debated rules, but the only real rule is to try stuff, move stuff, try stuff again.
Rely on your ears for the final judgement, not the visual waveforms.

 

[theD1CKENS]

I've heard it mentioned about the '3:1 rule' tho I've heard anything over 3:1 is fine, barring random room reflections...or something like that

 

[RAMI]

Hey there,

II'm wondering what the term is, for when you are recording say a guitar cab, and you are using multiple mics, what is it called when one of those mics are placed further away from the cab?

It's called micing your cab with 2 mics.

I've heard it mentioned about the '3:1 rule' tho I've heard anything over 3:1 is fine, barring random room reflections...or something like that

Yeah, the 3:1 rule doesn't apply here. The 3:1 rule only applies when micing more than one source, like individual mics on the toms., for example.

 

[Armistice]

The 3 to 1 "rule" is a phase control rule...

 

[kip4]

distant micing

 

[mixsit]

May as well smack this one every chance we get.

The 3 to 1 "rule" is a phase control rule...

Small point, but misleading said that way. It's a volume control.
If we want to keep it real simple -but accurate..
It doesn't control phase. It's purpose is attenuation of out of time bleed, which is by nature is out of phase.

 

[mixsit]

I've heard it mentioned about the '3:1 rule' tho I've heard anything over 3:1 is fine, barring random room reflections...or something like that

Two for one here.. might as well.
3:1 is sort of a min relative distance to reduce unwanted bleed and sort of assumes similar loudness of the sources and sensitivity and gain of the two mics. More distance, more attenuation.
Close mics get lots of direct line of sight signal. As the far mic gets far enough out the direct sound phase effects (if you were to bring that mic's volume back up in a mix), gets overwhelmed by the random room reflections.

 

[Spare Dougal]

I don't know of an actual term for it beyond, room, ambient or distant mic. I agree with the best way of using this is to experiment, use your ears and don't be fixated with waveforms. Adding two mics together, you're always going to get some sort of phase cancellation/addition, it's just a matter of choosing how much/little and at which frequencies.

 

[Steenamaroo]

I thought 3 to 1 was Henry's ratio of of microphones purchases to days in the week.

 

[Armistice]

May as well smack this one every chance we get.

Small point, but misleading said that way. It's a volume control.
If we want to keep it real simple -but accurate..
It doesn't control phase. It's purpose is attenuation of out of time bleed, which is by nature is out of phase.

I was going to say "depends upon your mics, source and gain structure" but i see you've addressed that in your next post. Correct, but my point was that it wasn't what the OP was referring to... more an attempt to kill that line of conversation than to be too factual...