“[The vortex] is a microphone technique I happened upon when I was doing Sad Wings of Destiny,” Tsangarides told Ultimate Guitar in 2011. “I used it on the solo for ‘Victim Of Changes,’ K.K Downing’s solo, which was actually the first thing I got to record as an engineer. I have been using this technique ever since.
It utilizes the room acoustics and the amplifier. Basically one side of the stereo image is the close mic of the amp and the other side of the stereo image is the room mic. Depending on where you put that, it achieves the tone you want. There is no rule as to where you put that mic. You put it wherever it sounds the best. You’ll find that depending on where it is, and what key the song is in and a few other variables, you’ll find that when one play’s the lead guitar solo for example – and you have the balance right — you’ll notice this random panning going on between notes. This is because they are canceling themselves out with the phasing and because of the same frequency. And so it gives this really fantastic life to the solos. And it makes it that much more exciting.”
