Record all my tracks with the same mic?

[yetipur]

Is it good to record ALL my tracks with the same mic? Or should I use a combination of mics as well as use a DI box? What about ONLY using a DI box for all tracks and not miking anything? I read that the Beatles ONLY miked everything.......even Paul McCartney's bass. But then again they just happened to live in a time where they had the best recording equipment ever made(all tube consoles, tube compressors, and tube tracking machines) and the best mikes ever made(Neumann U47, and U67)

Thnx

[RAMI]

Originally Posted by yetipur

But then again they just happened to live in a time where they had the best recording equipment ever made(all tube consoles, tube compressors, and tube tracking machines) and the best mikes ever made(Neumann U47, and U67)

You mean nobody uses good equipment any more????

[soundchaser59]

All trax with the same mic?

I notice you didn't say which mic that would be.....

If it's a SM57, then no, please dont.

If it's a Royer or Coles ribbon then it's worth a try.....

[antichef]

If the mic is a good choice for each of the sources you're recording, then why not?

I was able to use the same phillips screwdriver for every screwing task the other day when I installed a ceiling fan, but earlier, when I was installing a ceiling fan in the next room, I needed a flathead screwdriver for some of the screws -- silly analogy, but you know...

[Jaticus]

Iv never installed a ceiling fan, BUT I SEE YOUR POINT!!!!!!!!!

[qiktune]

Originally Posted by yetipur

Is it good to record ALL my tracks with the same mic? Or should I use a combination of mics as well as use a DI box? What about ONLY using a DI box for all tracks and not miking anything? I read that the Beatles ONLY miked everything.......even Paul McCartney's bass. But then again they just happened to live in a time where they had the best recording equipment ever made(all tube consoles, tube compressors, and tube tracking machines) and the best mikes ever made(Neumann U47, and U67)

Thnx

23 years old and you're aware of The Beatles' recording techniques... +1 to you!!!

If it's your studio and your time why don't you try a couple of different techniques? Let's not forget that sometimes Maccas amp was mic'd from a few feet away ( do you have that kind of space? ). Also, there was a ton of spill from other instruments on a lot of their tracks - if I were going for those sounds I would mic up my bass cab and then monitor in the same room to allow some bleed. Yeh, sounds dumb but you just never know.......

[tc4b]

The problem I would anticipate is if that mic has a frequency bump anywhere, that freq is going to be muddy as shit in the final mix, and eqing it out may not help. If you're going to do this, you might need to eq on the way into the box or really experiment with placement. Or, only record sources that are very different in their frequencies to begin with (say, a tuba and a glockenspiel).

[cavedog101]

Originally Posted by yetipur

Is it good to record ALL my tracks with the same mic? Or should I use a combination of mics as well as use a DI box? What about ONLY using a DI box for all tracks and not miking anything? I read that the Beatles ONLY miked everything.......even Paul McCartney's bass. But then again they just happened to live in a time where they had the best recording equipment ever made(all tube consoles, tube compressors, and tube tracking machines) and the best mikes ever made(Neumann U47, and U67)

Thnx

This mostly right.....All the Beatles recordings until Abbey Road were done on the REDD consoles whish were 'tube' but then EMI installed the TG12345 Mk1 in 69 and Abbey Road, and several of the solo albums were recorded on that. As far as using DI's they did some but not a lot. What a lot of people dont realize is the large amount of outboard goodies that were developed by the staff in the EMI Technical Engineering Department....most because of the Beatles and their experimentation into sounds. Theres no amount of kudos that can cover their groundbreaking in this case.

If you have a great mic to record with, use it for everything. If you have a number of okay mics, use em all. Variety helps in this case.

[RAMI]

Originally Posted by cavedog101

What a lot of people dont realize is the large amount of outboard goodies that were developed by the staff in the EMI Technical Engineering Department....most because of the Beatles and their experimentation into sounds. Theres no amount of kudos that can cover their groundbreaking in this case.

Didn't they have this "Magic Alex" or "Crazy Alex" dude that invented a bunch of weird gadgets or something????

[PhilGood]

Originally Posted by soundchaser59

All trax with the same mic?

I notice you didn't say which mic that would be.....

If it's a SM57, then no, please dont.

If it's a Royer or Coles ribbon then it's worth a try.....

Someone posted a recording here a couple years ago that was recorded entirely with SM-57s. It sounded really damn good if I recall, so don't say it can't or shouldn't be done.

[PhilGood]

I did a search and came up with this one:

http://www.surecords.com/index.php?s...etail.php?id=4

All done with a 57.

[RAMI]

I know the drums for "Sarah Smile" by Hall and Oates are all 57's.

[tc4b]

Originally Posted by RAMI

I know the drums for "Sarah Smile" by Hall and Oates are all 57's.

I'm confused... is this an argument for or against?

[RAMI]

Originally Posted by tc4b

I'm confused... is this an argument for or against?

For or against what?????

What the hell are you talking about???? I'm stating a fact. It was done with 57's on the drums. How you see an argument in there, I can't understand.

At least you did admit you're confused.

[solaris1982]

I'm pretty sure he's saying that he doesn't enjoy the example PhilGood posted.

I didn't think it was so bad, myself. Definitely shows that using the same mic for all things on an album is do-able.

[Weasel9992]

Someone who knows what he/she is doing could definitely do an entire recording with a bunch of SM57's and some great preamps. No doubt about it. The skill would come in as you're trying to work around the areas where the 57 isn't at its best (drum OH's for example). On the other hand, a Royer R121 will do just about anything and sound amazing...drums, bass, vocals, guitars, everything. Fewer shortcomings, less work in mixing.

The bottom line is, sure you could do it all with one mic. Which mic it is will determine how hard the job is.

Frank

[tc4b]

Originally Posted by RAMI

For or against what?????

What the hell are you talking about???? I'm stating a fact. It was done with 57's on the drums. How you see an argument in there, I can't understand.

At least you did admit you're confused.

For or against recording everything with a 57. Like, Is "Hall and Oates did it" a reason to DO that thing, or a reason to AVOID doing it? It's a joke.

[yetipur]

WOW!! Thanks for all the great feedback. By the the way, my mikes are:

Lawson L47
M-Audio Luna
MXL 990
SM-57
SM-58

and my pres..... Avalon VT737sp
Presonus Eureka


Thanks to all!!!

[dualflip]

Originally Posted by yetipur

But then again they just happened to live in a time where they had the best recording equipment ever made(all tube consoles, tube compressors, and tube tracking machines) and the best mikes ever made(Neumann U47, and U67)

Thnx

Who said tubes are better than solid-state?... im not saying solid-state sounds better, it depends on which tube gear, or solid state gear, the quality of the components, the design, and what are you using it for (example: recording a heavy electric guitar vs recording an acoustic one....). Im just tired of all of this "tube automatically sounds better, because its warm crap", WTF???, WARM???, i hate that word, i mean the use that is given for these days..., Neve = transistors + transformers all solid state, cold??? i dont think so....

[darrin_h2000]

Im pretty sure the beatles used Ribbon mikes and the Ampex Preamps mostly.

[antichef]

Originally Posted by yetipur

Lawson L47
M-Audio Luna
MXL 990
SM-57
SM-58

and my pres..... Avalon VT737sp
Presonus Eureka

How does the L47 compare with the 990? -- but seriously, you're not so bad off on the equipment side (read: over my paygrade, except for the 990). I'd vigorously experiment with what you've got, and assuming the rest of your signal chain is comparable (and your sources sound good, and your room is good, etc., etc.), I bet you can get very good results (except with the 990 ).

[Harvey Gerst]

Several years ago, I bought one of the first Neumann TLM-103's to hit the USA (one of the first 500 sold). On the rec.audio.pro newsgroup, other engineers were asking a lot of questions about the mic, so I decided to do a song using only the TLM-103 for all the main stuff. Bass and steel were recorded direct, and the drums had the usual mics. The two acoustic guitars, fiddle, accordion (at the end of the song), and vocals were all done with the TLM-103:

Borderline Nights

[JM350]

Originally Posted by darrin_h2000

Im pretty sure the beatles used Ribbon mikes and the Ampex Preamps mostly.

Are you joking, misinformed, or intentionally throwing out bad information?

Ampex was an American company, the Beatles used BTR (British Tape Recorder) machines on the early stuff and Studers on the later albums.

Preamps were mostly the Redd 47.

Ampex never made micpreamps exactly although the tape machine electronics did have a micpreamp built into them and they did make a couple of 4X2 mixers known as the MX35 and MX10 which had micpre's in them. I have never heard of any of these having been used on any Beatles recordings.

Neumann tube mics (U47, U48, and U67) were used on many or even most Beatles tracks, they did use a Coles 4038 ribbon for drum overhead on the early songs but their recordings are not famous for the use of ribbons. The AKG D19e (a dynamic mic) used as a drum overhead is actually more well known and sometimes referred to as a Beatles mic at least by people trying to sell one.

[hairylarry]

Hi,

I am assuming that you like the Beatles recordings since you are referring to their recording techniques. Unfortunately mimicing their recording techniques will not make you sound like the Beatles. Nor will it make your recordings sound as good as the Beatles recordings. There was a lot of real expertise that went into making those records far beyond picking a mic for Paul's bass cab.

The one thing you should take from the Beatles, George Martin, and the rest of the crew that made those records is their willingness to experiment. By being willing to experiment and by listening carefully to the results of those experiments you can approach your sound and develop your expertise. You will not do this by aping what somebody did fifty years ago even if it was at some of the most important sessions of all time.

I just interviewed Joe Lee who worked with Scotty Moore at Fernwood and learned his recording chops from the master. He told me they used to record almost all of Scotty's guitar direct. He said the amps at the time all had hum and only by going direct was Scotty able to get that clean clean sound.

Why is this pertinent to your question? Because I happen to think that Scotty's guitar work on Elvis' early records was pretty damn good and recorded pretty damn good. And so did George Harrison.

Thanks,

Hairy Larry