Both of those clips sound way better to me.
The first video SM57 audio is only on the right side. I can switch my output to mono to get both ears in my headphones, but the video itself is definitely right channel only. One mic, no phase issues, but obviously I prefer to hear it in both ears by setting my output to mono (most people probably wouldn't take the time to do this, so just upload the video with the sound summed to mono for the general public).
In the second video, I assume both mics are much closer together and positioned closer to the speaker itself, so they also sound much better together - more on that below:
I'm no mic expert but I know that any time you have two mics, there is always some slight variation of phase if they are recording the same sound, which results in attenuation of some frequencies - call comb filtering. Comb filtering in general has a stronger effect on bass frequencies so thats why I'm leaning towards that being the problem with the first video for some listeners. Sometimes it's not that obvious depending on the mix, or how the mics are aimed, etc and all sorts of positioning and stuff. Like I said, an art form all on its own and one that I'm still learning myself. The "easy way" for us players is to just put whatever mics you are recording as close as physically possible. That's why the original video sounds funky sometimes, if the SM57 is 2 inches from the speaker cone, and the AT2020 is 6 feet from it, that's going to result in a much more sizable sound delay (and therefore more noticeable phase issue) than if you had both mics only 2 inches apart up against the speaker.
Not sure if you use any kind of DAW software, but I have Logic Pro myself and I can kind of simulate the funky phase thing. If I take a recording from an SM57, then duplicate that track exactly, and delay/offset the second track by say, 40 milliseconds, you can hear some... oddities. That's kind of the same phasing issue as having two mics several feet apart, since sound has a certain speed it travels, it'll hit the second mic a few milliseconds after the first one, causing the phase issue. Just useful to be able to "hear it for yourself."
A phase switch on a mic is a related, but different thing, it's switching the wiring for the output. If you imagine a simple audio sine wave, it would be the same as just flipping the ups and downs the opposite direction. This can work for certain applications for sure, it's just different than the comb filtering thing I was talking about. But if it sounds good, definitely put it to use. It's worth mentioning that most DAW's can also just reverse the phase of an audio track too, you don't need the physical phase switch - it is the same function of flipping the waveform around - but it is helpful sometimes to listen live while flipping the switch. Here's a pic describing what I mean:
View attachment 255503
Obviously it's more complicated than a sine wave since a guitar signal is a huge mess of waveforms but that's the idea.
I try to think of mic and phase issues as more of a "how can I limit / sound best" because you're never going to completely eliminate it. There's no such thing as a 100% perfect, zero phase issue, multi-mic setup. I am actually working on a little side project right now that involves multiple mics and have been researching this same stuff so it kind of works out because I have the info fresh in my mind. Hope it was useful.
---
Side note, I like the riff you recorded. Sounds pretty gnarly to me. Keep it up!
