Spaced Pair and Near-Coincident Pair

For today's post, I'd like to follow up on the last post I did concerning coincident pair miking techniques by discussing both spaced pair and near coincident pair miking techniques. These are two widely used stereo miking techniques that can offer wide stereo images.

I'll start off with spaced pair. This technique utilizes two identical microphones of any polar pattern. While you can use any polar patter, people generally fall back on omnidirectional which has more extended low-frequency response than a directional microphone.

The greater the space between the mics, the wider the stereo spread. Place the microphones too far apart, however, and you can get an over-exaggerated stereo image, and placing the microphones too close together gives you an inadequate stereo image.

This technique is used often in orchestral recordings in order to capture the entire ensemble. Generally, the microphones would be 10-12 feet apart, leaving your stereo image exaggerated. You can reduce this effect by placing a third microphone in the middle.

This technique often does not combine down to mono very well, resulting in phase issues which may be noticeable in your mix. The technique is great at capturing the ambiance of the space you are recording in.

The ORTF (Office de Radiodifusion Television Francaise) is the most common near-coincident microphone technique. It utilizes two cardioid microphones placed with the butts of the microphones close together rather than the grilles of the X/Y technique discussed earlier.

The capsules are angled 110 degrees apart and spaced 7 inches apart horizontally.  This gives a greater sense of space due to the time difference that sound reaches the capsules mimicking the way your ears pick up sound. This method gives you an accurate and wide stereo image with a good sense of depth.

Which of these two techniques do you use most often? What applications do you use them for? I know I didn't discuss every stereo miking technique available to you in the studio, so let me know what some of your favorites are down in the comment section!

Coincident Pair

When recording drum kits, pianos, string sections, or small ensembles the use of stereo miking techniques can make your job much easier. You don't have to focus in on each individual instrument or singer and can instead use a minimal microphone setup to capture the ensemble as a whole. By using these techniques you can retain the stereo image from left to right, you get a sense of depth in the recording, and get a good sense of the acoustic space it was recorded in.

There are four general techniques used in stereo recording, the one I will focus on today is coincident pair. This technique involves the use of two directional microphones placed with their grilles nearly touching and their diaphragms angled apart. The types of coincident pair techniques I will discuss are X/Y and M-S.

X/Y is one of the most common stereo miking techniques used. It utilizes two identical, or a stereo pair, of directional microphones. While you may think that the setup should look like an 'X', it actually resembles a 'V', with the capsules coming together as close as possible at a 90 degree angle.

M-S stands for mid-side and utilizes two microphones, one directional microphone pointed towards the source and another figure-8 microphone placed to pick up the sides. The microphones are placed with the capsules nearly touching just like the X/Y technique.

M-S is great for getting a good stereo image when you want the focal point to be in the center of the ensemble. This technique doesn't work as well the bigger the ensemble gets, however, because it tends to focus more on the center section due to the directional microphone being used.

This technique has no phase issues in stereo and is mono compatible, so your sense of a stereo image remains. A good use for this technique is to use it as a room microphone setup. It can often times sound more natural than a spaced pair.

To set up M-S on your mixer requires a few additional steps:

• First, create two new tracks in your session (one stereo and one mono) and label them as Side and Mid respectively. 
• Next patch from the Side Channel to a Mult and from the Mult to two channel inputs, or patch from the Insert Out of the Side Channel to the Insert In of the next channel. This will split the signal coming from the figure 8 microphone onto two separate channels. 
• Next you will flip the phase of one of the channels dedicated to the Side Microphone and run a tone generator through the channels.
• Bring one fader up and slowly bring the second up until you find the "null" point where the sound cancels 100%.
• Pan both tracks hard left and hard right. 
• Bring up the level of the Mid Microphone and you are ready to go.

Which of these setups do you prefer when choosing which stereo miking technique to use? Do you use the M-S technique as a room miking technique often? Let me know in the comments below.

Recording Vocals Part IV

Now that we have talked about some different techniques to record the vocal, from microphone selection to coaching the talent, I'd like to discuss some possible mixing techniques to bring out a vocal that may be buried in a mix.

Everyone has run into the problem before, I'm sure. You're going along with your mix and getting great sounding drums and guitars when you realize your vocal just isn't sitting in the mix where you want it. You can hear them, they just aren't the focal point that you want them to be.

There are a couple of things you can do to address this. One of them is to address the mix. It is sometimes hard, or even impossible, to bring up the level of a track that is not as present as you would like. In these situations remember that you can adjust the levels around the track you want affected. If the vocals aren't loud enough and you can't raise the level anymore than it is already, lower the surrounding instruments.

Now that you have a general mix that sounds good, you may need more work done on the vocals to help them stand out just a bit more. Next I would automate the vocal track and/or instrument tracks to raise or lower throughout the song to make sure that the focal point is where it needs to be. If there is a vocal break, for instance, you want the focal point to shift to one of the instrument tracks that takes over the melody.

Once I've effectively set levels and automate, an EQ on the vocal track often helps to give the track that extra push in presence. I start off with a High Pass Filter (HPF) that cuts out the low frequencies that are often not present in your vocal track and just introduce room noise to your recording. I then look for frequencies that are doing more harm than good. There is usually a small range of frequencies that give off a very nasally tone that is not desirable in your mix. I usually use a narrow bandwidth to address these problem frequencies. By cutting in these areas you can bring focus to your vocal track.


To then bring the track out in your mix, find the range that the vocal sits in and give it a slight boost. This range varies greatly from person to person, so use your ears and sweep the frequencies to find the right place to boost This will give the track more presence in your mix. Our ears are designed to pick up the frequency range of the voice and so any boost in this range allows the vocal to cut through the mix better.




The last thing I do is put a High Shelf EQ on the upper range of frequencies above the sibilance. This gives the track an airy quality that gives it brightness and a shimmering tone that I find pleasing.



I have included down below a sample recording showcasing these techniques to bring out the vocal in this track. By making these cuts and boosts and bringing down the levels of certain instrument tracks I was able to effectively bring out the vocal.


What are some techniques you use for EQing your vocal tracks? Do you like to primarily cut when you EQ or boost? Share some of your techniques and experiences in the comments below.