Topic: Recording guitar and vocals with 2 mics with minimal leakage !

[nicoro]

Starting to record Cd but have the need to record vocals and guitar while same person is playing the rhythym guitar.  Problem is would like to keep leakage between mic to a minimun to be able to adjust separately.  Have heard that using 2 condensers in figure 8 pattern can accomplish this best but don´t know how to go about it??  All help appreciated

Rafaro

[fguidry]

The trick is to picture the mic with two balloons coming out of the front and back of the figure 8 pattern.

You aim the area between the balloons at the sound you don't want to hear.

While maintaining that orientation, you aim the front of the fig 8 as best you can at what you _do_ want to hear.

The area between the balloons is the "null" or area of least sensitivity, and in a good figure 8 mic this is very low sensitivity indeed, the null is much deeper than for other patterns.

I did a little blog post on this topic a couple of years ago: http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/2009/04/09/vocal-guitar-separation-with-figure-8-mics/

I'm using this technique right now with a twist, we're a duo with guitar, uke, and two vocals. We record side by side, so I aim the null of his uke mic at his voice and at my position, the null of my vocal mic at my guitar and at him, and so on. It's really amazing how much separation you can achieve with this technique.

Fran

[lukpac]

With cardioids the trick is to focus on the sounds you *don't* want. That is, instead of pointing the vocal mic at the singer straight on from the front, move it lower and angle it up. The singer will still be on-axis, but the guitar will be significantly more off-axis, resulting in much greater rejection.

[F.O.Bean]

I would use hypercardioids/supercardioids if it were me! I have done this before with success! How big is the room? The bigger the better

[bombdiggity]

Check the discussion at the tail of this thread too (esp. the video):

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=165894.0

though if limited to two mics the Figure 8 may be the best option. 

[Gutbucket]

I like the two figure-8's technique for recording myself playing guitar, and the proximity effect is a nice benefit.  I typicaly use a stereo LD mic oriented horizontally with both caps switched to fig-8 mode.   If you know the Blumlein technique, its that with the mic turned sideways.  Sometimes I'll add a seperate SDC cardioid or supercard pointing at the neck joint of the guitar as well for 3 recorded channels (one voice, two guitar), which works really well but the 8's alone are fine.  If the single stereo LD mic had the option of switchable supercard patterns, that would make it bit easier to position the mic in close and point both capsules appropriately, since then the nulls would be more like 120-degrees around from the front axis of the capsules instead of at 90-degrees, but my stereo LD doesn't have a switchable supercard pattern.  With two seperate figure-8s you have more stands and wires, but more flexibilty in placing the mics.