Sampling Acoustic Instrument Questions

[tconrardy]

Hi all

I'm thinking of doing some acoustic sampling and have some Q's

1) If you record an instrument in stereo and then just use the left channel, is the resulting sample much worse (and if so, in what ways) than just recording in mono to start with. ?


2) Do you gain much by sampling single instruments in stereo ?(assuming its a pretty dead room). Do most sample libraries of single instruments such as
flutes, violins,... come as stereo or mono files.

Basically, I am trying to decide if I should record with a stereo mic, or just mono.

Thanks for any responses!

[Scot Solida]

It depends on the instrument. A piano might be sampled in stereo, but unless I want a lot of "room" sound, I would be likely sample, say, an oboe in mono. A little room never hurts (handclaps in a dead room...eek), but the users are probably going to want to add their own sense of space.

It's all down to the particular instrument and how you want it to be heard.

Do remember that some software reacts very poorly to 24 bit mono samples (Reason's NN-XT, for instance).

[Scot Solida]

Oh, and I am less likely to use a stereo mic for stereo samples. I even sometimes mix my mics and pres up a bit to emphasize the separate channels.

[lfm]

I would consider using more mikes than that. Maybe one or two really close in middle or stereo, and two more ambient on a little distance.

Then you can choose a lot more different mixes of these for different purposes.

You might make it less probable that you need to redo the whole recording process.

Let's say you get 4 tracks from different mikes(2xstereo).

You record all in cromatic scale after one another.

When listening later you can decide and make a couple of mixdowns of the whole recording.

Endresult is a stereo wave, and you just chop it up as you need and place in a sampler.

Something like that.

[joetabby]

Greetings:

And if you're using multiple mics whether stereo or M/S -- make SURE everything retains proper phase. Few things are more aggravating than a good recording that collapses in mono.

The easiest test is to do frequent mono button tests. Better, though, is to aslo check things with something like Inspector or Waves PAZ. Often minor problems can be fixed with an M/S plug such as S1 or any plug that allows you to change particularly the S channel. I believe Sonar's (Sonitus) Phase plugin will also do it.

Regards,

Joe Tabby

[tconrardy]

Thanks for the great replies so far..learning a lot.

[joetabby]

It depends on the instrument. A piano might be sampled in stereo, but unless I want a lot of "room" sound, I would be likely sample, say, an oboe in mono. A little room never hurts (handclaps in a dead room...eek), but the users are probably going to want to add their own sense of space.

It's all down to the particular instrument and how you want it to be heard.

Do remember that some software reacts very poorly to 24 bit mono samples (Reason's NN-XT, for instance).

Amen!

A good mono sample is harder to come by than one might think. A mono sample is just so, well, so... naked and out there. It's so much easier to make quasi-stereo sample (or "enhanced" two-channel sample) because they sound good exposed and right outta the box... but then they stink in the mix.

You're right about pianos. From listening to what users say they like or dislike about the various piano libraries, it's apparent there's a lot of confusion about how to use them or what to look for. Which I guess isn't all that surprising since I can't recall ever seeing a good explanation of the process.

It comes down to one distinction: the sampleset you use to play versus the sampleset you use to mix. The former can be as big and wide as you want it to be – since its only purpose is to resonate for you, the performer, such that you get the best performance. The second sampleset, however has quite a different purpose – it’s only purpose is to take that stellar performance and place it effectively in the space of the mix, in the context of 1) the composition and 2) the other instruments. This doesn’t literally have to be two different sets of samples, as long as you have proper channel control and can widen/collapse the stereo field and spacially position the ambience. But frequently it’s easier with two different samplesets, since the criteria is so differerent.

What happens when you don’t manage this difference? You create a muddy mix in which the piano player has 10-mile arms, but is playing with other instrumentalists that may be anywhere from 2 inches to 20 feet away. The recipe for mud.

(BTW Scot: nice work on your CM and the electronicgarden samples!)

Regards,

Joe Tabby

[Spe3D]

It comes down to one distinction: the sampleset you use to play versus the sampleset you use to mix. The former can be as big and wide as you want it to be – since its only purpose is to resonate for you, the performer, such that you get the best performance. The second sampleset, however has quite a different purpose – it’s only purpose is to take that stellar performance and place it effectively in the space of the mix, in the context of 1) the composition and 2) the other instruments. This doesn’t literally have to be two different sets of samples, as long as you have proper channel control and can widen/collapse the stereo field and spacially position the ambience. But frequently it’s easier with two different samplesets, since the criteria is so differerent.

This is a good paragraph, plus the options for mono is massive when it comes to sound design, as most synths only accept mono (or convert to mono if they say it takes stereo) so you may as well stick to mono for the best possible quality and versatility, less headaches when recording. the choice of mics is going to be the biggest problem depending on the instruments you wish to record, followed by the pre amps.

Best regards,

Spe3d

:O)