I’m backfilling some older information here…

So I started listening to some of the multitrack recordings I made during inworld performances. The intent was to mix them down to yield a couple of demos. in the process, I wanted to add some reverb to the tracks, in order to add some natural ambiance.

Upon working with these one of these tracks, I wanted to add quite a bit of reverb on the guitar, and not quite so much on the voice.  In doing so, I discovered that, in my guitar track, there was almost as much voice as guitar. Accordingly, by sending the guitar track to the reverb, I was also getting substantial reverb on the voice. Not good.

Fortunately, there is very little guitar leakage into my voice mic.

You may recall a while back, when I described how I chose my mics specifically to minimize this leakage problem. I guess I should have tested the setup to make sure.

The guitar mic I had been using was an AT4031. This is a small diaphragm condenser from Audio-Technica that was discontinued shortly after its introduction. It was supplanted by the AT4041. These are both cardioid pickup pattern mics, meaning they tend to pick up sound from the front, not so much from the sides, and very little from the rear. However, I guess the mic’s side rejection is not enough to overcome the volume of my voice.

Digging back through the mics at hand, I came up with my StudioProjects C4 mics. Last time I sent these back for repair (long story for another day), SP sent back a pair of additional prototype Hypercardioid capsules. These are also nice small diaphragm condenser mics, much like the AT4031. However, with the hypercardioid capsule attached, the leakage from my voice into the guitar mic is attenuated considerably.

I also tried a large diaphragm condenser, set to figure-8 pattern. The leakage in this case was almost non-existent. However, with the mic placed well for a good timbre on the guitar, I keep banging the mic with my picking hand.

I guess it is time to hunt down an end-address mic with a figure-8 pattern. If anyone makes such a thing.