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My goal for today is get the rhtyhm recorded for a songbI'm writing with my brother. I will record it twice using two different acoustics. I will be panning one acoustic hard left and one hard right. I will be using two SDC aimed generally at the 12th fret and the sound hole. My question is, does anyone record in stereo just and then pan that track to one side or the other? It seems to me to defeat the point of recording in stereo.

I'm just brainstorming, and I'm curious what the rest of the world does.

Jeremy

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Link555 Thu, 12/30/2010 - 11:04

Sound hole is interesting choice. I have problems getting a good sound with the mic pointed directly at the sound hole. I am not sure I fully understand your question. I often record acoustic guitar with at least 2 mics I typically pan the tracks apart. For instance if I want the acoustic guitar on the Left I might pan one mic to Left 60% and one mic to Left 20%. X/Y works M/S(requires decoding) works or Coincident pair....There are many options. You can stretch the guitar image wide or make sit in a narrow spot, stereo micing gives you that option.

I also use to mics to capture the guitar different tonnes from the guitar and then blend the carefully positioned signals into a mono source to give a enhanced guitar. An example would be to go for 300Hz body that resonants behind the bridge and 3khz shine from the 12 fret mixed together. Or the one mic in the players ear position above the guitar(over the shoulder) and one where the neck meets the body.....
Watch the phase.....
But have fun!

Davedog Sat, 01/01/2011 - 15:45

Sometimes when using two mics on an acoustic guitar, I will pan the mics left/right and then add a short verb in stereo and pan the opposite way as the mics so you get a ghosted, verbed version of the original in each side. The amount of pan on each will vary depending on the guitar parts function in the song.

JohnTodd Sun, 01/02/2011 - 09:25

I've had success with two mics by close micing with a condenser, then putting an SM57 on the other side of the room pointed at a reflective wall area. This gives me a spacious sound and I can pan the SM57 "ambiance" mic anywhere I want. I've been known to put the SM57 diagonally across the room to maximize distance.

Crank the gain on the ambiance mic! It will be very soft.

Of course, your room must sound decent, be quiet and isolated, and be fairly "live" to get good effect. Your mileage may vary.

soapfloats Sun, 01/02/2011 - 21:55

When doing something like this, I like to follow Dave's method, but stretch the image so it straddles center:
Or Gui1 @ 60%L and 20%R, with the opposite for Gui2.
In this case, there will usually be one mic that sounds better and more present - it is the one panned harder to one side (60%L for Gui1).
I also try and make the "main" mic track a little louder than the other.
In a sense, this is sort of like Dave's ghost reverb, minus the reverb.

I find it lets you make use of the stereo nature, but give each guitar its own space.
I generally don't like acoustics panned hard left and right - picture two players sitting next to each other. Your left ear will hear the one on the left stronger, but your right ear will also hear them. Reverse for the player on the right.
I like to recreate a soundstage when panning...