Multiple mics

[dach]

I'm usually pretty lazy but I do take the effort to mic a lot of stuff in "stereo" whenever possible but lately on some things I've been using multiple spot mics in the same position.... which suits my lazy style perfect. I've done this many times on snare, kik, bass, elec guitar but not usually with acoustic instruments - which I've been a lot of doing lately....

I've been mix-matching a condensor and a dynamic with their capsules as close as possible to minimize any phase issues/comb filtering. You can blend these tracks together with a bit of eq for a really nice and different sound...

You can also pan them out a bit and if you boost a freq on one, cut the same freq on the other (watch for any issues in mono though) - which can give the effect of sort of psuedo-stereo effect without using delays.... play with it... it's not as simple as that but it can be cool.... it takes some work but it can work great depending on how the part is used to fill up space in the mix....

you can also reverse/change the volume relationship of the two in a mix for a more exciting verse/chorus transition, etc.

Since I usually use condensors on most acoustic stuff, I've also been compressing and eqing the crap out of the dynamic like I do on a room mic sometimes and push it up to fatten things up a bit in places

or you can just pick what ever track works best in the mix and throw the other one away.... hope this helps

[richiebee]

When I did my first recording of our Kawai 9' grand I think I put something like 12 mics on it. I always intended to do a multimedia thing to show how different mics sound and that allowed you to fade between sets, but I never got round to it. I think I still have the track files somewhere.

One of my friends is very big on multiple mics... during the same session, he wanted to put a U87 behind the piano lid. He used the sound in his mix... I didn't use it in mine. I prefer to keep things simple. But whatever works for you.


R.

[brandondrury]

I find that I bounce in between in extremes. Sometimes with rock drums I'll mic everything including each cymbal. Sometimes I'lll use one mic on the entire drum kit.

I've seen so many big time rock recording pictures and it seams that these guys are using 30 mics a lot of the time. I have no idea how. Then I'll hear someones 3 mics rig and it'll sound amazing.

I've seen pictures of a engineers who use 3 mics per cabinet and use 4 guitar amps/cabinets to get the sound they are looking for. Then again, the first Van Halen album used a single 57 to capture it's tone and it's still considered the best rock guitar tone by many.

This is always a debate with me and there is a plus and a minus to every situation. The more mics, the more options and the more perspectives you can use at mixing time, but you have to deal with phasing which can ruin the entire project.

Brandon

[DogpitStudios]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

The more mics, the more options and the more perspectives you can use at mixing time

I think you hit the reason why right there.