performing, but since the sweet spot is located in both the horizontal
and vertical axes, it is fairly wide andforgiving.
If you are recording a singer-songwriter who sings and play another
instruments at the same time, you can make use of the exceptional
rejection offered by the 90 degree “null” planes of the bidirectional
pickup pattern to reject the other instrument in the vocal microphone.
Acoustic Guitar
When recording a solo guitar a good starting point is to position the
N22 four to six inches (10-15 cm) away from the guitar roughtly pointing
at the 12th fret or where the neck meets the body. The closer you move
towards the sound hole, the more bass you will get.
Again, if you are recording a singer-songwriter who sings and play
another instruments at the same time, you can make use of the
exceptional rejection offered by the 90 degree “null” planes of the
bidirectional pickup pattern to reject the vocal in the guitar microhpone.
Electric Guitar
The N22 can handle very high sound pressure levels and has improved
wind protection, so it can absolutely handle loud electric guitars right
on the grill of the amp. Identify where the center of the speaker cone
is located and place the N22 a few inches (5-10 cm) away from the
speaker pointing right at its center for a very direct, “in-your-face”
sound. This is the spot where you will get the most high-frequency
content. If it sounds too harsh, try moving the microphone to the side
parallel to the speaker. You can also try positioning the N22 at an
angle. You will find that small differences in positioning can make huge
differences in the sound, so experiment until you find the spot you like.
When using multiple microphones on a guitar cabinet at once and
mixing them to create a particular sound, it is important to pay attention
to the phase relationship between the different signals. Try to position
the different microphone as close to each other as possible, to avoid
phase problems caused by sound arriving at the microphones at slightly
different path lengths. Make sure to listen to the combined signal
summed to mono to catch potential comb filtering that could be caused
by out-of-phase signals.
For a more natural sound that captures the sound of the amp in your
room, try backing the microphone up a couple of feet.
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