turn on the low freq cut and just leave it there - by attenuating the low frequencies, you will decrease extraneous room noise and rumble. don't use the 10dB pad unless you are toasting the inputs on your mic pre/mixer - this should not be a problem with most current equipment, and the less gain you have to give the mic with your preamp stage, the cleaner the signal will be. the hypercard setting on this mic is relatively ineffective, but can be used to add a small amount of room ambience to the track - i would use this for solo tracks if you have a pretty good room, but otherwise, just leave the mic in cardioid mode. for vocals, use a pop filter and work the mic at 6-8". this mic will benefit greatly from a nice tube preamp, as it, like most other large capsule condensers, displays a significant upper mid-freq lift that sometimes comes across as harshness if you are tracking digitally.
