I was thinking to put a 3rd mic on a soloist with our brass band, but am stumped by one problem - how would I avoid having it sound like there were two soloists? The soloist of course is picked up in the basic stereo recording, and I'm wondering how to use an additional mic to boost him a bit.

But I can't quite figure out how to avoid getting spread between the stereo image of the soloist picked up by the stereo pair and the (probably clip on) mic on the soloist's instrument.

Does the soloist mic have to be panned to more or less line up with the image from the stereo pair?

I think I also have to deal with the difference between arrival time at the stero mics and the soloist mic, but I think I can figure this out.

Any thoughts?

Jim.

Feel free to add the third mic just record it on its own track so you can time shift it to match phase with the stereo pair. it will not sound like 2 soloist. depending on the distance between the soloist and the stereo pair, that will dictate how "hollow" it will sound. time shift the audio from the soloist mic and pan it to the appropriate portion of the stereo sound stage. they should blend in seamlessly when you have it properly phase aligned. this third mic shouldn't collapse your stereo image, but to keep things balanced you should pan it to the same place or experiment. there are no rules in art!

Gerry, thanks much. This is exactly what I wanted to know