One speaker type multiple mics or..

[Kapo_Polenton]

Just out of curiosity, do most of you home recording hobbiests tend to mic' one speaker or speaker type with multiple mics or do you like blending different mics on diff speakers and panning the difference in tone to each side?

I am trying to decide if I just do one mic L and the other R both different mics and different speakers. Sounds good but in places where one is playing and the other is not, you do notice the tone difference. I wonder if the way to go is just mixing mics similarly to each side so it still sounds like the same guitarist. Regardless this is all separate take on L/R so things sound nice and wide. I guess it comes down to whether or not you want to sound like one person or two different guitar players with different setups.

What do you guys like?

 

[The Traveller]

Man, it's really just personal preference. All I can say is just try out the different ways and see what you like best. But one thing I will say is watch out for phase issues with 2 mics.

As for myself I just mic one speaker with one mic. Keeps things nice and simple. I usually use an SM7B on a V30. To me (remember it's just my opinion) the SM7 doesn't add much color to the recorded signal like an SM57 does. So what I hear out of the speaker is pretty much what I hear recorded.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Yeah , so far with two diff mics on two different speakers, I have the capsules equidistance more or less from their respective cones so the sound is nice and full. No phasing issues at all.. when I solo either side though, there is definitely quite a large difference in sound. One is a ribbon the other a 57. They would probably be best blended for that reason. Ahh decisions.

 

[The Traveller]

The ribbon is going to give you a flat response. The SM57 is going to give you the mids and a bump in the high end. So I would look at it kinda like an EQ. If in the mix the guitars need more cut bring in the 57 a bit. I've never messed with a ribbon mic before. I really want to try one. Should be a great combo. Looking forward to hearing what you have going.

 

[tschrama]

If you have a ribbon and a SM57, a test and tried recipe is to put the SM57 at the edche of the duskcap at 1-2 inch distance, and mix in the Ribbon at the same distance, dead-centre at the duskcap. Mix them for the desired sound, both panned centre. Double track for heavey and deep rythms (so that's 4 channels), triple or even quad-track for great wall of guitars (that would be 6 or 8 channels).

To keep it more simple, single tracked: a single close-mic'd track, panned centre, plus a room mic pointed away from the speaker (figure 8 or cardiod with the dead-spot to the speaker at 2-3 meters)from the same track, panned L and R(phase reversed), sounds allmost as good as triple tracked. This is nice and fast

Double-tracked, track(1) panned centre, track(2) panned L and R(phase reversed), sound better than just L(1) and R(2). well to that anyway.

I would never single track with two mic, and then split the mics L and R.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Well, I was dicking around last night for an hour with mic placement and mixes and I pretty much settled on what tschrama suggested.. ribbon is dead on and maybe just slightly off center to make room for the sm57 which is straight on but sitting at the edge of speaker where cone meets the cap. Both equidistance to cut down on phase issues and the 57 for bite which can be brought up or down and the ribbon for fullness. I mix them together and both to the same side and then I will play another pass of the two combined and throw it to the other side. A thick detailed sound is what I ended up with. At a certain point you have to stop f_cking around with things so I am just gonna go with it as I am already behind in recording anything by about 4 months due to a big renovation and a marriage coming up. The other thing I had totally forgot about, is remembering that the flat response of monitoring speakers is not what the finished product ends up sounding like when i bump it to a scratch track and listen back on my headphones on my lap top. I now see why so many people go listen to their mixes in their car. Studio monitors I find are very unforgiving with every nuance. You can get way too critical.

 

[Dingleberries]

There’s no right answer other than what sounds best to your ears. I know this isn't the answer your looking for and are just asking for some general direction, but IME, there is no substitute for good old fashioned trial and error. IMO, when it comes to home recording, you gotta sniff some turds before you get to the diamonds.
Best of luck on your endeavor,
Isabella