I hoipe I'm not misunderstood
I see exactly what you are all saying, particularly such comments as made by Alan H. To clear this up a bit, I am doing, at this point, mostly demos of my compositions which are pop tuns though with a deicdedly jazz and blues flavor, instrumentals in the CD101.9 style and orehstral emulations in the style of an average soundtrack. What is most important is this. I am not a singer, however, I do sing the songs when I record thme strictly for demo purposes. I will probably at some point hire a singer to do final vocals (lead vocals if not backrounds as well though my voice is not quite so bad on backround). Also, and this may be significant, I cut my teeth so to speak in the late seventies and early eighties in regualar, analogue, 2" tape, 24 track, professional studios first as a keyboard player, then I dabbled in production and composition. Though I experienced some minor sucess, I did decide to leave the field for a somewhat sabbatical and, as it turns out, the sabbatical lasted fifteen years. So, here is my point. In re-joining the community, I first read some information, asked around and then jumped in. For my first microphone, I bought a Rode NT1, oh yes, and a dbx channle strip model 376. I have been pleased with the sound. IT DOES NOT SOUND AS CRISP AND CLEAR AND DETAILED AND DEEP as some of my favorite recordings old or new, however, for what I am doing, I have, as I said, been pleased with the sound. Then, I came across posts on this site describing the Rode NT1 as the "flavor-of-the-day" the latest "hook-lin-and-sinker" essentially a giimick if you will.
So the point is, this microphone has done fine for me and it has allowed be to do two very important thins. The first is to get my composition ideas down and sonically "legible" if you will. The second is it has allowed me the oppotunity to learn how to use such a microphone with the channle strip, compression, reverb, delay and what ever else I have experimented with. I know for a fact that my skill has improved by leaps and bounds. Though I did some producing before leaving the business, I think that learning how to engineer has been the single most important thing I have done to improve my production capabilities after learning music. I know I can play keys and arrange and write music. How "good" it is or whether it appeals to others is another story, but, what I never knew before was how to record, how to use the studio, how, ultimately, to really produce a recording.
Now the real point. After spending time with the Rode NT1, ejoying it, learning with it, expermenting with it, I have improved all around. I may very well be back to a point where I will have the opportunity to do some profeesional recording and production. Now, intially, I did not think that the home equipment I was purchasing would be used for this purpose. I assumed, that things were like they were in the old days and that once the demo is done and you are ready to make a master recording, it is time to rent a professional facility. But, in the intervening months I have learned that this is not necessarily so anymore and, I have improved m y enginerring skills enough to see that there are some things that could be tracked at home for mastering purposes (I don't mean to master it myself, I mean of the quality that could ultimately be mastered)> According to the wisdom on this site, there is no reason to purchase an interim mic. I shouold not, therefore, purchase a mic that is qaulity wise and pricewise in between the NT1 and
the Neuman u87 (Is that the right one, the standard classic or whatever metaphoric reference you use).
If I do so, I will ultimately be buying again to obtain the Neuman eventhough my uses and skill, at this point do not demand such a microphone RIGHT NOW. Ultimately, they will so why, as they say, pussyfoot around. When I am ready to purchase, wait, save a bit more, and purchase the best.
My question then was, even if that were so and I did that, will that not now cause a domino effect that I cannot keep up with. I will then need a better preamp to capture the sounds of the great mic and a better mixer, then a better recording meduim, higher sampling rate recording, better sound isolation etc. and so forth. At some point, I can record a great vocal track that can very well be a hit song without such an expensive microphone. After all, the cost of the equipment never, ever, ever makes the preformance. One has not realtion to the other so that if the preformance is there and I have a goo dmic with a decent signal chain that I have used properly, I do not actually need the best and will not have to ultimately purchase that Neumand or whatever. I use Neuman as an example though I am aware there are other high end microphones out there.
In the end, I think that the goal of having the best equipment is besides the point, actually the goal is musical sound and that depends on the preformance, the engineering and lastly, the equipment. At least to my way of thinking.
Jack H.
