Thought I saw a post here on acoustic guitar micing and stereo width that I now can't for the life of me find.

[DrewPeterson7]

...and maybe I dreamed it? Who knows, but it was an observation I remember seeing quickly in passing that stock with me.

Someone (Rob maybe?) mentioned not loving "wide" acoustic micing strategies because an acoustic guitar isn't really a "wide" instrument, so trying to create a single take recording with a very wide stereo spread was kind of like trying to create something that didn't exist in nature, and if you wanted that kind of spread, double track it.

And, maybe I made this up or maybe it was something I really did see around here, but it was something I was just skimming that really stuck with me. I think this is probably a large part of why over the last decade I *have* switched from various stereo strategies to simply recording two tracks with one mic a piece and panning hard L/R. Most "wide" stereo approaches I've tried left me feeling like something was missing the wider the stereo spread got, and while I hadn't really thought much about it I could see using some room mics to create space around a more central guitar and adding stereo spread via distance and depth, even something fairly moderate like one neck joint mic and another mic over the body from ear position felt like there was something missing in the middle when panned hard L/R. Basically, if it's just one guitar, I want "mass" more than width, and the reason for that is as a guy who often sits and plays an acoustic I'm not used to experiencing it on a huge stereo stage.

Idunno. For an interaction I may have totally made up and was a very quicky-skimmed in passing thing if it really happened, it generated some real philosophical musings over why I like what I do like about recording an acoustic guitar.

 

[rob aylestone]

this one I think

 

[DrewPeterson7]

this one I think

YES! I'm NOT going crazy.

It was a really helpful observation, as it put into words something I think I'd kind of realized on a gut level but hadn't really articulated, even to myself. So, thanks!

Even compared to a piano, where you as the performer DO hear a wide stereo spread as you play... a guitar is pretty much a mono instrument from a single point. You can hear the space around the guitar and can add stereo spread that way without really messing with the "mass" of a guitar, and you can have a couple mono guitars playing left and right and that just sounds like multiple instruments in different parts of the stereo spectrum and that's fine.

But, a pronounced stereo guitar, to quote a certain Bilbo Baggins, sounds like of stretched thin, like too little butter spread on too much toast.

 

[RFR]

Bilbo knows what he’s talking about. And when he’s wrong……. Gandalf helps him out.

 

[Old Music Guy]

While I haven't tried it, in my mind, I would record it this way:
A condenser mic positioned right about the 12th fret, and a foot to a foot and a half away. Record it dry.
If you have electronics, plug into a DI and record it dry.
Once in the DAW, duplicate each track. That would be 4 tracks.
"Group" both tracks to make 1 track for mixing. That will be 5 tracks.
Mixing:
Move the condenser track slightly off center to the left. Add just a touch of DI all the way left.
Move the DI slightly off center to the right. Add a touch of the condenser all the way to the right.
Use the "Group" track into the center, and add some plate reverb and factor in some delay. This should be subtle, but noticeable.

Think of it like this: Left side: The condenser and DI will net two different and distinct sounds. Spread them out. EQ PRN.
Same with the Right channel. Spread them out.
Then in the center mix as though it's coming back at you from the rear. If you want to get funky, reverse the phase on the center channel (That's a very VERY old trick for adding a center channel)

Consider your audience: Front row, balcony and cheap seats should all hear the guitar the same way, at the same time.

 

[rob aylestone]

Me personally, I think we make too much use of the word ‘stereo’ and all the proper stereo techniques. With a guitar, we get different sounds from its various parts. Depending on the player, it can be a drum, with body thumps and even deliberate swishes with the left hand. Then we get the transient stuff, like pick of nail noise, and untwanged notes played with the left fingers only, sort of the releases, hard fretted finger movements and pull offs. Thre can be a lot going on, and one mic wont capture all of that, so you take two, and blend them like a recipe. In the mix, they can even get different EQ and processing. The end result is the sound you want. If you pan them apart, that too is an effect, not ‘stereo’. Hard panning these can be quite disturbing, but for a certain purpose, a great effect.