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[Chris Grimshaw]

So I was browsing on another forum about recording stuff, and something turned up that I thought was too good not to share. A team has got together with some musicians and done some really good work - recording acoustic instruments with a load of similar mics in varying positions. It gives some really good insights as to the effective polar patterns of the instruments in play. While the mics are fairly distant from the source (likely too distant for live work), I still think it's worth a look around.

Just scroll down a little and pick an instrument.

http://soundmedia.jp/nuaudk/

Chris

[Tim Halligan]

That is very cool.

Thanks.

Cheers,
Tim

[Michael Lascuola]

Thanks!

[drew gandy]

Just scroll down a little and pick an instrument.

http://soundmedia.jp/nuaudk/

Chris

I'm astounded by how much "closer" the PZM set sounds on the first violin recording.  I almost wonder if they forgot to turn one of the reverbs on for that mic pair.     It sounds like a different room altogether.

The PZM pair in the other recordings don't sound so dramatically different.  Obviously the directionality of the instrument plays a part. 

I would love to hear this setup with a 4x12 Marshall stack.  And it might be very illuminating for a "goes to 11" guitarist to hear the difference.  Then they'll understand why we ask them to point the amp across the stage or even put it inside of a roadcase... 

[Chris Grimshaw]

I would love to hear this setup with a 4x12 Marshall stack.  And it might be very illuminating for a "goes to 11" guitarist to hear the difference.  Then they'll understand why we ask them to point the amp across the stage or even put it inside of a roadcase...

Good idea!
Now you've got me thinking about how to do a version that's geared more towards live sound.
I've got a few cabs here - multiple 1x12"s, multiple 1x15"s, a pair of 2x10"s.

Should it be close-micing or distant?
Bit of both?

Could be a really cool project if I can find the right venue.

Chris

[Chris Hindle]

Should it be close-micing or distant?
Bit of both?

Could be a really cool project if I can find the right venue.

Chris

Close, to show him(her) why you don't point the cab at your knees, and distant, to show why you don't point the cab at your soundman(woman)
Chris.

[Chris Grimshaw]

Fair enough.
There's a few village halls around here that are available for rental, unless anyone fancies doing the hard work instead..?

I don't have the mic collection that those guys did, but I do have a pair of nice small-diaphragm condensers, so here's what I'm thinking:

- Play guitar into USB interface on laptop (set input impedance accordingly)
- Play recorded guitar into amp. Could probably do clean vs distorted without much difficulty.
- Record amp from varying mic positions.

It'd be a long day, even with a short snippet of music, but it'd be a cool resource to have.


Anyone else interested in this? What sort of thing would be useful?

Chris

[Dave Garoutte]

Can you do it outdoors?
A big field becomes a quasi anechoic stage.
If you aren't looking for an absolute rendition, you could use a bunch of identical vocal mics to get a relative picture of the polar response.

[Luke Geis]

Make it even easier. Simply place a bunch or your mics around the stage much like you would for a band and then record it. Then you can show just how much crap gets into each mic. Then you can do it for the drums and bass too. Then to cap it off, have a singer sing into one mic and show the bleed for that into the other mics. My bet is it will make itself very clear why vocalists can't hear themselves when the monitors are cranked to 11.

When I get bands that ask how they should practice in a rehearsal space I tell them to set up an XY coincident pair of mics in the center of the space and record their rehearsal. They will be able to tell real quick what the balance is when they listen back. The mic doesn't lie.......

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