Quote:

. . . but I'm skeptical how much effect that can really have. We're talking inches apart.




Sounds like a case of confusing a "Binaural" recording in which mics are placed in the room to capture and thus reproduce the actual sound someone in the room might hear as opposed to a "Stereo" recording in which the engineer typically uses the Stereo Field to artificially produce a sound that is "bigger than life".

In the case of the acoustic guitar mic'ing scenario, the fact that more of the low frequencies are generated somewhere around the area of the sound hole, while the higher frequencies tend to happen somewhere near the neck/body joint is the reason for the two mic scenario - the combination yields the full sound of the instrument if mixed appropriately. This is a fuller sound than could be had if the same instrument were mic'd from a distance in a great sounding room beause the engineer can choose to make the sound "fuller" or "richer" or any of the other words that people use to describe sounds that never quite describe the situation well.

Mic'ing in this fashion can yield "only" the guitar sound, also "prints" better as a result of reduced signal-to-noise ratio. In this scenario, the Panning is typically not done in the extreme, rather the two mics would likely be placed rather close together in the stereo field, using Equal Energy Panning to then place the full rich sound of the guitar into the stereo field along with any other instruments or voices.

Two mics on acoustic guitar is rather the norm rather than the exception in today's studios.



--Mac

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