two mic acoustic recording

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davecg321

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planning to record my classical with a mic 12" from the 12th fret and also with another mic 12" from the bridge. I read recently that the distance between the two mics has to be 3X the distance from the sound source and mic. in this case that would be 36" , if i did this though the mics would be nowhere near the guitar!!

any advice happily welcome ;)
 
Dave,

Well the 3-1 method is really common to avoid phasing issues when micing drums, it's not necessarily going to apply here. Idealy, if your micing the same sound source with two mics, one mic should be 3 times farther away from the sound source to reduce the possibility of phase issues. In this case, you are micing two different parts of the guitar, that, while are technically the same sound source, will be giving you two very different sonic characteristics. When you record this way, be sure to record into two different mono channels in your DAW instead of one stereo. This will allow you to eq each mic seperately and also flip the polarity on one channel if it needs it. Finally, if you really want to use the 3-1 method, just move the 12th fret mic in to say 4" and leave the bridge (which by the way should angle slightly towards the soundhole IMHO) mic at 12" and your still ok.
 
singer202 said:
Dave,

Well the 3-1 method is really common to avoid phasing issues when micing drums, it's not necessarily going to apply here. Idealy, if your micing the same sound source with two mics, one mic should be 3 times farther away from the sound source to reduce the possibility of phase issues. In this case, you are micing two different parts of the guitar, that, while are technically the same sound source, will be giving you two very different sonic characteristics. When you record this way, be sure to record into two different mono channels in your DAW instead of one stereo. This will allow you to eq each mic seperately and also flip the polarity on one channel if it needs it. Finally, if you really want to use the 3-1 method, just move the 12th fret mic in to say 4" and leave the bridge (which by the way should angle slightly towards the soundhole IMHO) mic at 12" and your still ok.
Click to expand...
I'm going to jump in here, in that this is somewhere between wrong’ or just maybe miss worded :D
The primary reason (or application) for 3:1 is to use distance to attenuate the phase effects of unwanted bleed between mics. It’s never a ‘fix or help in a ‘close + far micing of a ‘single source’ where the two are intended to be mixed and used together.
Now with a ‘stereo pair, an AC guitar can be argued to be a multi-source with time arrival differences’. But you can also make the case that if both mics are close to equal distance (from the guitar that is), you have for the most part eliminated the main source of ‘phase issues ..arrival times... and whatever effects of not doing ‘3:1 can be like so many other examples of multi-micing -The remaining phase effects being part of the desired tone.

and just to add.. Polarity in this case doesn't 'correct much of anything, but is a means to basically completely re-shuffle whatever phase tone' effects you do have.
 
Last edited:
mixsit said:
I'm going to jump in here, in that this is somewhere between wrong’ or just maybe miss worded :D
The primary reason (or application) for 3:1 is to use distance to attenuate the phase effects of unwanted bleed between mics. It’s never a ‘fix or help in a ‘close + far micing of a ‘single source’ where the two are intended to be mixed and used together.
Now with a ‘stereo pair, an AC guitar can be argued to be a multi-source with time arrival differences’. But you can also make the case that if both mics are close to equal distance (from the guitar that is), you have for the most part eliminated the main source of ‘phase issues ..arrival times... and whatever effects of not doing ‘3:1 can be like so many other examples of multi-micing -The remaining phase effects being part of the desired tone.

and just to add.. Polarity in this case doesn't 'correct much of anything, but is a means to basically completely re-shuffle whatever phase tone' effects you do have.
Click to expand...

Thanks mixit for clearing that up. A re-read and I really diddnt explain that as well as I'd hoped.
 
singer202 said:
Thanks mixit for clearing that up. A re-read and I really diddnt explain that as well as I'd hoped.
Click to expand...
Much appreciated- and I know how easy it is to slip. (just between you me and the wall BTW- that was on about 'rev3 before I even wanted to push send' :rolleyes::D
 
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