When using M-S micing techniques to capture an ensemble of guitar, fiddle, and banjo, I seat myself center and end up sitting higher than the mics (because my fiddle’s resonating body sits higher than that of the guitar and banjo). One justification for this arrangement is that guitar and banjo are already sitting off-axis (left and right), and we’re trying to give everyone vibrant presence in the recording, so by sitting above, the fiddle is also off-axis. This reasoning seemed to play out during a Modal Tease sound check, where I lowered my chair, so that my fiddle was on par with Jim’s and Doug’s instruments, and we thought that the fiddle became too shrill, so I returned to my original seating height.

I’m getting ready to record myself twin fiddling with me, and I wondered what the best location would be for recording my fiddle in my office. For twin fiddle recording, I want to be sitting to one or the other side of the M-S mics, so that the “stereo” decoding can enable the two separately recorded parts to lie in different regions of the stereo image. However, I don’t necessarily need to sit to the left during one recording and to the right on the other if it turns out that one side of my office makes my fiddle sound better: if this is the case, I can record both parts from the same off-center location and flip the phases of one of the M-S decoders. I threw in center-recording for good measure, as it sheds some light on what the fiddle would sound like when recording with banjo and guitar as well.

Fiddle Sitting On Axis with Mics

Fiddle Sitting Above Mics

Impressions

When I am sitting above the mics, the fiddle sounds a bit muted, the frequency spectrum a bit less rich, than when I am sitting on-axis. I prefer the sound of the room when I’m sitting th the left, and this might have to do with the fact that I’m right next to a reflecting surface (a metal file cabinet). Curious what Mario thinks.