ok, thanks for all those advices! I think i'll first try the XY pair, and hear....

McNoodles from Josh wrote:ok, thanks for all those advices! I think i'll first try the XY pair, and hear....

also do not neglect to try ORTF.

I'm so rookie right now. What's the difference between AB and XY positioning? I use 2 Oktava mk 0112s for my overheads and Audix mikes for my drums (D1 snare, D2 toms, D6 kick). Is it necessary to still mike the drums for recording if the overheads capture everything?

slave2indierock wrote:I'm so rookie right now. What's the difference between AB and XY positioning? I use 2 Oktava mk 0112s for my overheads and Audix mikes for my drums (D1 snare, D2 toms, D6 kick). Is it necessary to still mike the drums for recording if the overheads capture everything?

http://www.macmusic.org/articles/view.p ... AznOhMaS=1

slave2indierock wrote:I'm so rookie right now. What's the difference between AB and XY positioning? I use 2 Oktava mk 0112s for my overheads and Audix mikes for my drums (D1 snare, D2 toms, D6 kick). Is it necessary to still mike the drums for recording if the overheads capture everything?

If you're happy with the sound of the overheads, by all means, use that alone. But most people (especially fans of pop/rock/country) will generally find this sound to be weak, far away and washed out. The "modern" listener needs precision and clarity, not ambience and realism.
It's a fair argument though, given the multitude of playback environments. One development I foresee in recorded audio is DVD releases where you can select from different mixes depending on how you'll listen to the music. Currently, we have shitty systems like Pro Logic and stuff to fake these changes... but imagine a single disc containing different mixes for the car, the iPod, the "entertainment center"... etc...
Anyway, if you can afford to, put up as many different mics as you can.. you might start with the overheads but find that you need to add some of the spot mics on, say, the snare, to increase it's presence.
As far as the overheads, you might want to try recording with several of these setups at once (A/B... X/Y... ORTF... Decca Tree...).. then during mixdown you can choose which setup works better... you probably won't want to combine the different overheads as it might start getting you into trouble with phase issues.... or... it could be a really cool effect ... who knows? but generally, the less mics the better.

slave2indierock wrote:I'm so rookie right now. What's the difference between AB and XY positioning? I use 2 Oktava mk 0112s for my overheads and Audix mikes for my drums (D1 snare, D2 toms, D6 kick). Is it necessary to still mike the drums for recording if the overheads capture everything?

And by the way, there is no "correct" way to record anything. Only common ways. Whatever sounds good to you is right.

It's like saying, "Did I write this song using the right chords?"

sndo wrote: One development I foresee in recorded audio is DVD releases where you can select from different mixes depending on how you'll listen to the music. Currently, we have shitty systems like Pro Logic and stuff to fake these changes... but imagine a single disc containing different mixes for the car, the iPod, the "entertainment center"... etc...

that certainly is a lofty idealized development, which i happen to like a little bit too much..

if you see a small record label come up in the next few years with some of these, don't sue, k?

thanks for the info, but I still don't know the difference between A/B and X/Y positioning for the overhead mikes. Can anybody explain this please?

Nevermind. That link above worked for me. I couldn't get it to work the first time but tried again and saw the explanation on macworld about stereo recording. Thanks again.

simply...
XY : The caps of the mic are together with an angle of about 90°; The back of the microphones are distant from about 17cm...
AB, the microphones are quite parallel... but distant from 30cm to a couple of meters...

For the drums... AB is like one above the crash on the right, the other above the ride on the left..
XY is the couple above the head of the drummer (to stay simple)

McNoodles from Josh wrote:simply...
XY : The caps of the mic are together with an angle of about 90°; The back of the microphones are distant from about 17cm...
AB, the microphones are quite parallel... but distant from 30cm to a couple of meters...

For the drums... AB is like one above the crash on the right, the other above the ride on the left..
XY is the couple above the head of the drummer (to stay simple)

Even better answer.