For assessment two, I recorded Lee playing acoustic guitar using the following techniques;
Decca Tree (spaced): 3 x AKG 414 set to omni:
Mid-Side (coincident): 2 x Royer Ribbon Mics (Figure 8 pattern) mid facing source, side at 90deg to mid.
A/B – Spaced pair, using AKG 414 microphones in cardioid pattern;
X/Y – coincident pair of AKG 414’s in cardioid at 90 degrees to eachother;
Blumlein: Coincident pair of figure 8 ribbon mics, 90deg from eachother, facing either side of the performer;
I used my reference tracks to get an idea of what would be needed to mimic a concert hall, but in hindsight it would have been better to have used guitar tracks. Still, I was able to listen to the frequency response and tail for reference.
In mixing the tracks I realised that some had phase issues, making eq-ing for a clean natural sound difficult, even though the phase-scope showed proper allignment. I found this to be the case moreso with the spaced pairs. My observations of the concert hall setting were that some of the extreme high frequencies are lower, reducing presence, so that’s how I balanced my mixes.
I also noticed a lot of harsh resonating/ringing frequencies in the signal itself, I think perhaps a common thing with acoustic guitars.
We had severe difficulties with noise on our studio day, which was compounded by not taking up all of the available dynamic range when recording. If I were to visit this project again, I would pay more attention to the distance of the performer to get more consistent presence accross the tracks.
Recording Techniques 