XY - Recording

[Idgeit]

Hey all,

Ive been looking around and noiced people are saying XY. when it comes to recording, can anyone tell me what exactly this is?. Is it the mic placement?


Thanks

- Idgeit

 

[Track Rat]

Yeah, it referes to mic placement. XY is two cardiod mics angled about 90 degrees apart with their capsules very close together. With this technique, you get a good stereo image that is phase coherent since different sounds arrive at both mics at about the same time.

 

[Idgeit]

Ohhh thanks ,

Were would XY micing be used?

- Idgeit

 

[reshp1]

Anytime you want to capture something in stereo. Such as drum overheads, acoustic guitar, choir, etc. There's quite a few other stereo micing configurations too. The nice thing about XY is that the capsules are coincident, which eliminates phase problems in mono. The downside is that the stereo image isn't nearly as wide as, say, a spaced pair of omni's.

 

[Track Rat]

I like it on drum overheads. Personally, I don't want a kit to sound 15 feet wide. It doesn't sound natural to me.

 

[HangDawg]

I like it on drum overheads. Personally, I don't want a kit to sound 15 feet wide. It doesn't sound natural to me.

That's actually why I started using a mono overhead. Well, for the heavier music anyway. More ambient mellow stuff stills gets the spaced pair.