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Post by MartinS on Nov 15, 2016 13:10:24 GMT
Ok, it's time to get serious. I've been messing about for a few months recording guitar with dynamic vocal mics, first one then two. I use an Allen and Heath Zed10, and a laptop with Audacity, so the mics were the weak point I thought (apart from my playing...) After muchos deliberation I've bought second hand (Scottish, you know) a matched pair of NT5's, so I'm expecting some improvements in the sound. I considered plenty of others, and had narrowed it down to 2 or 3 types that would suit my purposes and price range (knowing that they would all be pretty capable). I'll probably end up with the Rode stereo bar as well for XY and spaced pair recording. Then all I'll need is an Audacity plug-in to filter out the sound of two curious kittens! m.
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Andy P
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Post by Andy P on Nov 15, 2016 13:56:17 GMT
I use a single NT5 so I'll be interested to learn how you get on.
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Post by andrewjw on Nov 15, 2016 18:25:29 GMT
I have a matched pair [look like the same sex to me ] of NT5's which I use together on a bar for X Y instrument recording...very pleased with them.
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Post by lavaman on Nov 15, 2016 22:29:27 GMT
I have a pair of NT5s (NOT matched) and they sound great. These days I tend to prefer an NT5 near the bridge and a large diameter condenser (NT2A) at the neck / body joint. In my humble opinion, Rode mics offer great performance for the money.
Buying second hand on ebay is a good habit.
Iain
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Post by Phil Taylor on Nov 16, 2016 9:45:17 GMT
I have a pair Rode M5 which at £150ish new seem ok.
Phil
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Andy P
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Post by Andy P on Nov 16, 2016 20:03:48 GMT
I have a matched pair [look like the same sex to me ] of NT5's which I use together on a bar for X Y instrument recording...very pleased with them. Could you tell me what X Y instrument recording means please? I know it should be obvious....
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Post by MartinS on Nov 16, 2016 22:02:33 GMT
Not obvious at all...
It's having two mics right on top of each other, but pointing apart at a 90 degree angle. Idea being to get a bit of stereo width to the recording, but removing the potential problems caused by phase issues (because the sound hits the two mics at the same time.
With small condenser mics this is easier because of the small size.
That's the theory anyway!
m.
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Post by andrewjw on Nov 16, 2016 22:09:18 GMT
I have a matched pair [look like the same sex to me ] of NT5's which I use together on a bar for X Y instrument recording...very pleased with them. Could you tell me what X Y instrument recording means please? I know it should be obvious.... / www.prosoundweb.com/article/stereo_microphone_techniques/....makes the recording sound like it is coming from ...erm ...one mic.. ... with a bit more "space" , "air" , "width" ...call it what you will.. ...and gives you two tracks to not add eq / fx etc to That is my take but I stand ready to be corrected!
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Post by Andy P on Nov 17, 2016 13:03:08 GMT
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Post by vikingblues on Nov 21, 2016 20:20:25 GMT
A pair of microphones is a good idea for acoustic guitar recordings in my books - especially small diaphragm ones. My experience to date is that it can give a very noticeable improvement in the recorded acoustic guitar sound.
Though I'm a bit out of step with not using the x-y technique, despite being aware of it's popularity and frequent recommendation.
I think that one mic pointed at the body / neck join and the other pointed at the bridge give more of a recreation of the wide range of sounds that come from different parts of the guitar, particularly if the latter mic is an omni pattern. But that's probably just me being out of step with the world as usual.
Hope your experiment goes well with those Rode NT5s. They get a lot of praise and I recall them being on my final shortlist when I decided, becuase of the omni capsule option, to go for Avantone CK-1's at a similar price.
Mark
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Post by MartinS on Nov 22, 2016 15:54:25 GMT
Mark,
I had thought that intuitively one mic at the body and one at the neck, spaced pair wise would be logical.
This argument about having phase problems unless you go with XY sounded to me like a bit of hocus, when we're only talking a few cm difference. Are our ears really that sensitive? But then, I checked that at 15kHz the wavelength is about 2cm, so there could be something in it.
Still waiting for my mounting bar...
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Post by vikingblues on Nov 22, 2016 20:07:42 GMT
I agree with your thoughts Martin. My feeling on this is that if you use a mounting bar and it's pretty well parallel with the guitar body it should be OK. If you record the two microphones to two separate tracks on your recording gear then it's always possible to shift one track slightly if there's a discrepancy in the waveforms lining up - I have done that when using two separate mics each on their own stand. This photo is of a recent recording on the DAW with the two mics on the mounting bar. I tried using a screen print but it was too small - my fault perhaps. Blown up to just show 6 seconds on screen - you'll see it's pretty well lined up. Cardioid towards neck join, Omni towards bridge. The waveform patterns show how the two signals are not identical! Mark Mike Senior of Sound on Sound in his book 'Recording Secrets for the Small Studio' says about crossed pair coincident miking that "it still only picks up the instrument from one location" and makes the point that wooden bodied instruments in particular have "complex body resonances" which is better picked up by close miking from different angles. It's a bit of an intimidating read at over 400 pages but it has been a good reference book. Even if a lot of it leaves me baffled!
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