I decided early on to record everything in stereo as much as possible. That is to say, with two microphones even if it’s a single solo instrument. In particular, I’ve been experimenting with a mic configuration I recently read about in Sound on Sound.
https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/gerzon-array
The author calls it the “Gerzon Array” after Michael Gerzon but apparently the original idea was from Tony Faulkner. There are a number of interesting technical rabbit-holes I’ve just sidestepped there but the main idea is you have the two microphones at 120 degrees and 5cm apart:
I’ve been recording orchestras for a number of years and have tried various combinations – OTRF, NOS and DIN near-coincident configurations and also spaced omni AB pairs – but for Incantations I’ve been trying this Gerzon Array.
Knowing in advance that I was going to have instruments panned left and right in the mix, I’ve been recording each instrument by standing (or sitting) to the left or right of center of the array and letting the microphones do the panning. It sounds quite natural and spacious to me so I’m going to keep doing it and see where it goes.
Michael Gerzon was a fascinating character, he practically invented Ambisonics on his own, the ideas he came up with in the 70s and 80s were way ahead of their time and only now with things like Dolby Atmos, Spatial Audio, Ambisonic sound encoding in VR gaming and so on are we seeing it hit the mainstream. I went on a real deep dive into his writings over lockdown.
https://michaelgerzonphotos.org.uk/microphones-michael-gerzon.html
in particular but also his essays about quadraphonics, Dolby, ambisonics and all of that.
And I’ve not even mentioned Alan Blumlein 😀
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Blumlein
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blumlein_pair