There are two ways to approach the recording of music.
Recording individual instruments to individual tracks in order to edit later (multitracked recordings). CDs made from multitracked recordings use close-miking resulting in unnatural-sounding magnification of detail, tonal imbalances such as overly bright tones and sibilance, and causes a subtle sonic coloration to the recording altering the information the musician intended to be heard. This is the way most popular music is produced today.
Recording with a simple stereo pair of microphones captures the performance from the live audience perspective. These recordings sound more natural because we usually don't listen to instruments with our ears right up next to them. Stereo-miking heightens the realism and captures the natural characteristics of an instrument better than close-miking. Stereo-miking conveys localization (left-right placement in the stereo field) with a superior depth of field (the sense of distance from the instruments) and a fuller, more accurate sense of the recording space's acoustic properties (including reverberation, diffusion, and other elements). LRA employs this superior approach.
Call Long Run Audio to record your musical or spoken word performance!
http://www.longrunaudio.com/philosophy.html || updated June 2006 || dale -at- longrunaudio.com
Long Run Audio -- Dale A. Francis, Engineer, 4188 Long Run Road, Athens, Ohio 740.274.1389