I wonder if anyone has any suggestions to solve this little dilemma. Recording live takes of myself playing and singing simultaneously, I'm getting bleed on the acoustic mic which sounds phasey when combined with the vocal mic. I don't mind a bit of bleed but the phasing isn't very nice.
The acoustic mic is an
SE electronics GM10 small diaphragm condenser, which clamps on to the guitar body. I'm pretty happy with it, it allows me to move a bit without affecting the sound, and the mic is always in the sweet spot. For vocals I'm using a Shure Beta 57a which sounds fine. I could use a condenser for the vocals but I'd get more bleed.
I could sit further back from the vocal mic to reduce the time differential but then the mic would be much quieter, and I like a decent signal and a bit of proximity effect to taste. The phasing isn't disastrous, but annoying.
Any thoughts?
Comments
I would suggest trying to be more static while you record, or record isolated vocal, guitar parts, in the past I have used an overdubbed isolated vocal to mask the 'Live' vocal that was recorded with a band, it worked well enough for me, but it would be interesting to hear what your particular problem is, you could offset the tracks if there was a constant phase problem-but if it changes over time-it could be tricky to fix.
I could indeed do separate takes, but I really like the idea of making a collection of properly live bare-bones recordings - no overdubs, no separation.
Next try having the vocal mic under the chin facing up and the guitar mic below it facing down and move them around till it works. That way the null points are away from the other sound source. (Listen with headphones)
I'd had good results also from a vertically stood (figure 8) ribbon on guitar near the 12 fret pointing at the soundhole and a LDC near the mouth and angled slightly up.
In fact I recorded a song this week and there was no such problem and no idea why. But I'll take it!