Amateur Phase Question

kraml

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DP008EX
I'm going to put two mics on my acoustic guitar, using the DP008EX. I've come across a discussion or two about phase cancellation in the reading that I have done. Do I need to worry about phase cancellation? At this point I plan to put a dynamic mic close to the instrument, and a condensor boundary mic a little further out on a desktop area. (That's what I have in my kit.) The room is quite small with many hard surfaces and little to absorb sound. It's much more "lively" than my carpeted living room--annoyingly so, I'm afraid. I'll be playing clasical/fingerstyle on both classical and steel stringed instruments. Yes, I am an amateur. I've recorded electric guitar direct in to my computer in the past (20 years ago, using BIAB) but never acoustic with mics. I am new to the DP008EX. k
 
The short answer is "trust your ears." There are always interactions when there is more than 1 microphone being used in a room. In order to manage the sources, I would put each mic on a track of it's own. That way you can balance them later and even change the polarity if necessary. In the end, it's all about how it sounds.
 
Thanks mjk. Is it possible to change the polarity later using the DP008EX? I had searched for the term "polarity" in the manual without success. k
 
I don't own one of those machines. They might refer to it as phase in the manual.
 
I have a feeling this unit does not have the capability to change phase. I cannot find either polarity or phase in the manual (so far as either has to do with my question here).
 
as mjk said, put each mic on it's own track. Then what you need to listen for is a diminished volume when both tracks are playing, in other words one track is partly cancelling out the other. Do some test recordings and listen for this phase cancellation. Move the mics around and record and listen. Some DIs and pre amps have polarity reverse switches, maybe buy one of them?
 
Thanks, BazzBass. If it comes to it, I may just swap pins 2 and 3 on the adapter for one mic. I think that would do the trick. But, as you have both said, I'll give things a good listen first. k
 
My recommendation is that unless you are absolutely sure of what you are doing, stick the the industry standard pinout on all connectors. I wouldn't worry about polarity issues until they become issues.
 
First off, I'd try to stay away from phasing issues by mic placement - use your ears.
But, if you must, the best thing is to either create your own adapter cable with a female and male XLR plug with the two pins swapped, or get one commercially available adapter plug, like this one:
CLP146.png

https://www.bax-shop.nl/xlr-xlr/procab-clp146-classic-xlr-male-xlr-female-koppelstuk
 
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for recording acoustic guitar, a tried and true 2 mic method is to point one mic near the soundhole, listening as you move it to find your preferred tone, and the other mic pointing at or near the neck join or the 12th fret area to pick up some of the picking tones. Mix the two to create your preferred tone
 

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