philf, I usually find that if the main mikes weren't in a position where they captured a pretty good acoustical balance in the first place, there's no amount of knob twiddling that can make it right afterward. If they're off by just a small amount, that usually can be touched up pretty well. But if the microphones were really in "not so good" places, then the whole premise of two-microphone stereo recording kinda breaks down.
An ordinary mismatch between two properly working microphones of the same type isn't usually a big issue, but if that's really your main problem, you can compensate by adjusting the channel balance and if necessary, a touch of EQ. If you can't, then that wasn't your problem in the first place.
On the third hand, so to speak--if that kind of compensation is really necessary for good results, I'd look to trade up to something with better production consistency! But spaced microphone pairs are less dependent on a precise match than coincident or near-coincident microphone pairs are anyway. For spaced pairs, the same sound isn't reaching both microphones at the same time, so the stereo effect depends to a great extent on which microphone the sound reaches first and by how much. With coincident or near-coincident pairs, the arrival time is the same at both microphones but the exact intensity that's picked up by each of the two microphones is the main (or only) variable that creates a difference between the channels. So the exact frequency response, sensitivity and polar response of the two microphones matters far more in close or coincident setups.
--best regards
Topic: Cards or Omnis? (Read 5267 times)