Bassman Brad
New member
O.K. gang, first let me review my situation. I've got about a dozen or so microphones that I've accumulated from decades of playing music, almost all of which are dynamic, cardioid mics. This includes plenty of 57's and 58's (mostly the Beta Series versions of these mics), along with the occasional odd mic that I've picked up here and there, such as the Beyer 201 and Sennheiser 421. I've only got three types of condenser mics right now, a Shure Beta87, an AT2020 and a matched pair of MXL 603s. The last two I've only gotten recently, and have just started to play around with those. The 87 I've had for a long time, but haven't used very much, since I haven't played in any bands that needed that particular mic. I need a few more condensers to get me set up to do some basic home recording. I'm wanting to record some of my original songs, and I write songs in a variety of styles. The ballads would probably fit in the "country crossover" category, and the up-tempo stuff mostly sounds like either 1970's era "classic rock" or "Southern rock." I've even got some things that would probably be classified as "progressive rock."
What I've about come up with for now is this:
An ADK A-51S - version V (or maybe an A-51 Hamburg)
A Shure KSM 27 or 32 (or maybe a pair)
A pair of Shure SM81's. (I'd like these to do double duty for stereo location recording of my jazz band.)
If it makes a difference, I'll be recording to computer hard disk via a Presonus Firepod. I plan to get the Steinberg Virtual Instruments collection, to provide me with drum parts and a "virtual rhythm guitar player." I've got keyboards and acoustic guitars (still need to pick up an electric guitar to lay down the simpler lead parts - will have to bring in a friend to play the more complex guitar parts). I've got LOTS of ways to record my bass signal. I've got some outboard gear, too, (compressors, equalizers, and a brand new multieffects unit - the Lexicon MPX-550). I've got quality playback equipment downstairs (my hi fi system), but no quality monitoring system is available at my computer, just yet. So my monitoring situation will be pretty poor, until I can make some other arrangements. Might have to do my most critical monitoring by headphones for the time being.
This mic selection should give me a pretty good start, shouldn't it? Would you suggest any changes for the initial round of mic purchases?
Thank you in advance for your input,
Brad
What I've about come up with for now is this:
An ADK A-51S - version V (or maybe an A-51 Hamburg)
A Shure KSM 27 or 32 (or maybe a pair)
A pair of Shure SM81's. (I'd like these to do double duty for stereo location recording of my jazz band.)
If it makes a difference, I'll be recording to computer hard disk via a Presonus Firepod. I plan to get the Steinberg Virtual Instruments collection, to provide me with drum parts and a "virtual rhythm guitar player." I've got keyboards and acoustic guitars (still need to pick up an electric guitar to lay down the simpler lead parts - will have to bring in a friend to play the more complex guitar parts). I've got LOTS of ways to record my bass signal. I've got some outboard gear, too, (compressors, equalizers, and a brand new multieffects unit - the Lexicon MPX-550). I've got quality playback equipment downstairs (my hi fi system), but no quality monitoring system is available at my computer, just yet. So my monitoring situation will be pretty poor, until I can make some other arrangements. Might have to do my most critical monitoring by headphones for the time being.
This mic selection should give me a pretty good start, shouldn't it? Would you suggest any changes for the initial round of mic purchases?
Thank you in advance for your input,
Brad