WEEK 6 - AA1 - Guitar Recording Techniques

I did this exercise in Studio 2 (not the dead room). I altered the cabling from the wallbay thus:

If you follow the bottom row of XLR connectors you'll find two empty slots where I've unplugged the red and yellow cables from the loom (channels 1 & 2) and plugged the microphone cables directly in.

I experimented with stereo guitar recording using three cardioid pattern condenser microphones: a Rode NT 4 stereo microphone, with two diaphragms permanently fixed in X/Y position, and two Neumann KM-84i microphones panned left and right. Notice the side vents of the KM-84i's are partially covered in some photographs. I couldn't find the correct mic clips (if they exist) and probably paid a price, but it was better than the mics falling out ...

KMi14thAbove.mp3

Not easy to tell, but the KM-84i's are roughly the same distance and angle from the sound hole. Low end drifting to right side. 'Above' mic could have been a little more in front and lower.

NT4NeckHole.mp3

The NT4 has one capsule toward the sound hole from around the 14th fret, the other toward the fingerboard. Probably the most satisfying result.

NT4HoleTwice.mp3

Both capsules on the sound hole. Result: Boomy. No stereo: almost vertical capsules?

KMiXY.mp3

The 'not quite X/Y' approach. Needs to be closer to 90 degrees. You can clearly hear a chorus effect as even a small distance discrepancy between the two diaphragms puts them out of phase, but not quite enough angle for stereo.

KMineckhole.mp3

One mic just behind the sound hole and the other picking up fretboard noise. Amazing. I think my right hand blocked out most of the sound hole! It stays in the one position when I play. Left side is fretboard microphone, right side a few low end booms. I expected the opposite result: not much fretboard, heaps from body mic (sure that's the way I had it patched).


All photographs by Darren Slynn. 4/4/2007. Taken in EMU Studio 2, University of Adelaide.