There's nothing inherently wrong with moving the vocalist around the stage, but I wouldn't do it unless there was a specific reason - it seems a bit "staged" to me. On the other hand, if I have two vocalists switching leads, I will often put them in different places in the sound field. I just won't move them around.

Just out of curiosity - what do people do when mixing for video. Do you pan to follow a vocalist?

vttom, post: 366876 wrote: I've enjoyed reading through [[url=http://[/URL]="http://recording.or…"]this recently resurrected thread[/]="http://recording.or…"]this recently resurrected thread[/] and, towards the end, the issue of the vocalist moving around came up.

Let's say the performer moves a lot when they sing. Would it make sense to mic & track them in stereo so that some of the movement is captured and reflected in the stereo imaging of the recording? Or do we always want leads vocal to be dead-center/mono all the time?

while creatively that sounds interesting, unfortunately whenever a singer moves away from the optimum position to capture their voice it will change the sound of the audio. a little movement is okay and backing off is sometimes a good idea for loud passages. you would be better off to use panning in the mixing stage to accomplish what you mentioned.

i am a singer first (and recording hack a distant 2nd) and i always get better perfomances when i move. Because of this i have found that using a good dynamic mic (i use the sm7b from Shure) and holding it in my hand while I sing give me the best vocal track. it is a trade off that i have learned to live with with, over using a great condensor and standing still(er)

Stage recording is one thing... studio recording is another issue... On studio you may use 2,3 and 4 mics to capture the vocalist direct voice, movement and ambiance.... it's up to you... when mixing if you have different sources you have many possibilities to work with!