Stereo mic recording and double-track mic recording demonstration

Started by rockstar_not, January 16, 2012, 10:04:28 PM

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This discussion ensued over in a different thread and I promised I would make some quick demonstration recordings and exports of what stereo mic'ing sounds like vs. double tracked exports using the same stereo recordings but using the various individual L and R channels from the different takes.

Room:  My living room - with all of the activities going on in the house, dishwasher running in the kitchen, kids going up and down stairs, etc.

Who's playing what:  My Larrivee L-03, me playing a simple chord progression.

Recording setup:  Tascam US800 interface, Electro-Voice PL80a microphone placed at 12th fret, about 4-5 inches away from fretboard, aimed down toward soundhole, Samson Q2U microphone about even with sound hole, aimed at upper waist location.





Click images to see a larger view of the photos.

Two takes involved.

Take 1, stereo recording with EV hard panned left, Samson hard panned right.
Take 2 same thing.

Listened to take 1 while recording take 2

4 files exported from my DAW software.  Stereo recordings 1 and 2 from the 2 takes.

Then the magic of double tracking comes with the other two files which are the individual unique mics, with take 1 in left, take 2 in right.


Stereo recording take 1 - Scott Lake

Stereo recording take 2 - Scott Lake

Double Track export using EV mic from both previous takes -Scott Lake

Double track export using Samson mic from both takes - Scott Lake

Hopefully that demonstrates the difference between stereo recording and double-tracking.  Note how the double tracking seems to emphasize the fat-fingered playing!

-Scott
2000 L-03-E
2012 Epiphone Nighthawk Custom Reissue
1985 Peavey Milestone
2004 SX SPJ-62 Bass
2008 Valencia Solid Cedar Top Classical
2015 Taylor 414ce - won in drawing
2016 Ibanez SR655BBF
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Thanks, I'll check it out.
10-1614 more than a number, it's body and soul.

Thanks! Very nice!

"Double track export using Samson mic from both takes - Scott Lake" Am confused as to what this means. Can you give a quick thumbnail on your recording set up? How you eq? Software? Reverb? Compression?

Your recordings sound so much cleaner and have more presence than mine, any suggestions would be welcomed.
Larrivee OO-05 • Larrivee OOV-03 SS • Larrivee OO-44  • Taylor 322ce • Strat • Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/jpmist

Quote from: jpmist on January 17, 2012, 04:07:22 PM
Thanks! Very nice!

"Double track export using Samson mic from both takes - Scott Lake" Am confused as to what this means. Can you give a quick thumbnail on your recording set up? How you eq? Software? Reverb? Compression?

Your recordings sound so much cleaner and have more presence than mine, any suggestions would be welcomed.

Absolutely no effects used - none.

I made only 2 recordings.  Each of those was a stereo recording in that I used the two mics described, placed where described.  I'll try loading the pix later on tonight.

Recording 1:

Left channel = EV microphone, placed about 4-5 inches from the fretboard, at the 12th fret, with the capsule aimed towards the sound hole.
Right channel = Samson Q2U microphone, placed right about at the waist location between the upper and lower bout, about 6-8" away from the body of the guitar, capsule aimed at the waist.

Recording 2 is identical, except a different performance of the same exact passage of my 'Agua Fria' song.

So, now I have 4 tracks from 2 different stereo recordings.

I can mix and match those any way I like in the DAW software.

I chose to demonstrate the doubled take using the same microphone, but from the two different takes.  The left channel is from take 1 for that mic, the right channel is from take 2 for that mic.

Since I used two different mics in both of the takes, I had this luxury.  The final example I should probably post is the EV mic panned hard left from take 1, coupled with the Samson mic panned hard right from take 2.

Does that make sense now?

Again, I used zero effects or EQ.  I did raise the gain on the EV mic recordings about 5 dB to match peaks that I saw on the VU meter for the Samson mic.  Without the gain change, the stereo recordings were a little heavy on the Samson, or seemed panned kind of to the right.  The 5 dB gain change seemed to take care of that.

Neither of those mics is expensive nor supposed to be used for acoustic guitars.  You can pick up the Samson mic for nearly free - well $39 to be exact if you shop around.  It comes with a cool little table-top stand, and a semi-usable set of over the ear headphones.

Hopefully that makes sense now.  I'll try to post pix after I get home from sign language class.  Pix posted in opening post now.
2000 L-03-E
2012 Epiphone Nighthawk Custom Reissue
1985 Peavey Milestone
2004 SX SPJ-62 Bass
2008 Valencia Solid Cedar Top Classical
2015 Taylor 414ce - won in drawing
2016 Ibanez SR655BBF
???? Mitchell MDJ-10 3/4 scale dread
???? Squier Danocaster

My Sound Cloud

Thank you, Scott - very informative thread! Thank you also very much for all the advice you have given me so far  :cheers
Cheers,
Ben

'10 D-02MH

www.benhermanski.com

Quote from: BenHermanski on January 19, 2012, 02:27:30 AM
Thank you, Scott - very informative thread! Thank you also very much for all the advice you have given me so far  :cheers

Yes, ditto that, thanks!
Larrivee OO-05 • Larrivee OOV-03 SS • Larrivee OO-44  • Taylor 322ce • Strat • Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/jpmist

Quote from: jpmist on January 19, 2012, 08:17:46 AM
Yes, ditto that, thanks!

:+1:

Don't want to derail this thread but what on earth were you making with the plastic bottle tops?  Looked interesting.
Roger


"Live simply so that others may simply live"

Quote from: Mr_LV19E on January 19, 2012, 10:18:58 AM
:+1:

Don't want to derail this thread but what on earth were you making with the plastic bottle tops?  Looked interesting.

I was making Geocache micro containers.  Do you know anything about geocaching?  If not, it's a very nerdy world-wide treasure hunt with hundreds of thousands of participants.  Go here to read on it and watch a 2 minute video on what it's about:  http://www.geocaching.com/default.aspx

I have a bunch of those containers now, only planted one of them.

Now, back to the double-tracking discussion   :tongue:
2000 L-03-E
2012 Epiphone Nighthawk Custom Reissue
1985 Peavey Milestone
2004 SX SPJ-62 Bass
2008 Valencia Solid Cedar Top Classical
2015 Taylor 414ce - won in drawing
2016 Ibanez SR655BBF
???? Mitchell MDJ-10 3/4 scale dread
???? Squier Danocaster

My Sound Cloud

Quote from: rockstar_not on January 19, 2012, 03:29:55 PM
I was making Geocache micro containers.  Do you know anything about geocaching?  If not, it's a very nerdy world-wide treasure hunt with hundreds of thousands of participants.  Go here to read on it and watch a 2 minute video on what it's about:  http://www.geocaching.com/default.aspx

I have a bunch of those containers now, only planted one of them.

Now, back to the double-tracking discussion   :tongue:

Cool, yes I have heard of it. Saw a program on TV about it a year or so ago, sounded like fun exercise. Thanks for clearing that up, kinda looked like something for transporting white powder.  :ohmy:



Now, back to the double-tracking discussion   :tongue:
Roger


"Live simply so that others may simply live"

if you want to learn more about portable digital recorders, check out this video from AcousticGuitar.com:

Youtube Video Portable Digital Recorders

Cheers,
Ben

'10 D-02MH

www.benhermanski.com

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