The more mics, the better?

[aaron the red baron]

Hello,

I know that big studios with a large mic cabinet can choose to mic every instrument with a different mic. It would nice to have the ability to A/B and trial and error for each sound source.

So for a home studio, would it be best do stock up on mics over nice mic pres and such (given the choice of one or the other)? It seems that microphones have the greatest influence over a recorded track's sound, and while having nice pre's and compressors is good too, you can vary the sounds of your music the most with mics.

Agree or disagree?

Aaron

 

[flier]

Well it's kinda a Catch-22 ... a mic can only be as good as the pre, and a pre can only be as good as the mic.

On the other hand, if you get just a couple of good pre's and quite a few good mics you will get the fullest range of sounds, because a good pre will sound good with any good mic, but no matter how many good mics you have they will sound crappy if you have crappy pre's.

So if you're talking mainly about quantity, yes I agree it's better to stock up on mics. Pre's sound different from each other but not to the degree that mics do. I'm not going too nuts with either one. I have six mics and I plan on getting 3 more. I am getting 5 pre's (including 2 each of the same type) and that's all I will probably ever get, unless I win the lottery. If I can't get all the sounds I want with all that, I'm a dork.

--Lee

 

[El Barto]

But then again, you only need as much as you'll use...You don't have to get 50 different mics just to have them. Get what you need. Do the right thing and get a number of SM57s and maybe a few 58s...EVERYONE has 57s. Find a few good condensors (vocals, drum overheads, room mics) and good pres and you should be set. Plus, the medium you're recording onto counts. Plus, the MATERIAL you're recording also counts. Garbage in, garbage out is the old saying.

 

[Ears]

Mics first I think definitely. It is what you are picking up that is the most important. Once it's recorded you can do whatever with. I use the Mindprint Envoice and it has a "dial in tube" setting that you can vary, with parametric eq low filters, and compression, with the amount of tube being variable. I can use it on most sources and not come off with a one sound recording. http://www.mindprint.com I also own a cheap ART MP as a back up that can be used for guitar etc, when I don't need as many highs or full spectrum. About 1K for both units U.S.