Day 2

Nobody was at the studio today. Although I could not annoy anybody with my questions, it felt nice to have the entire building to yourself. Like a boss.

I tried a stereo position for the first time. Miking technique #1. .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVZjRxCobV0

Again, 2 AKG 451. For a preamp, I used Chandler Limited TG2. I used Focusrite Red 3 Dual Channel Compressor. Apparently, although the compressor is turned on, unless the “in” switched is on, the compressor doesn’t do anything. Kinda weird.

 

Anyway, I was recording for a while, when I heard very loud pops happening. Turned out, the mic, which I was using, was touching the piano strings. I didn’t set it up correctly. Oh well, just practically destroyed something valuable.

Stereo image did indeed feel nice, but I ran into problems.

First, I wasn’t quite sure how to check for phase issues. I recorded with both phase reverse (chandler) on and off. In one case, the phase meter on the board was showing positive values. In other case, the values were negative. Which one is right?

Second, while the meter in ProTools was showing a normal level of loudness, monitor vu meter on the board was red lining. The sound indeed felt distorted. So, I decreased the preamp volume. The sound seemed better, but also wasn’t loud enough. Or was it? Anyway, 30 min later, I still didn’t understand what was going on. Should I look at the board VU meter when adjusting levels?

Finally, I didn’t know how to go about mixing two mics together. I am used to thinking of panning as left and right. But what is left and what is right when one is using this kind of a technique?