Help me rent a collection

T

tallman

New member
I live in Toronto, and am fortunate enough to have some good rental stores where I can get most mics. Despite renting, I only want to rent two high end mics for this job, and they will be used for vocal and guitar.

1: I need a good guitar mic. I will be miking a large cabinet with 2 12" speakers, and the player uses a very heavily overdriven sound 90% of the time -- it's high end distorty sounding, and not quite as chunky as a mesa or something along those lines (fender amp).

2: I need 2 quality mics for drum overheads, but due to slight background noise in the recording I'm strongly considering using dynamic mics with good rejection.

3. I need a kick, snare (possibly top & bottoms), hats, and 3-5 good tom mics.

4: I will be picking a vocal mic for this singer after some auditions.

I'm open to any and all suggestions, but please suggest something for each category. I will be renting mics, but I have to use fairly inexpensive mics because the bands rental budget is low.

Got gear?
 
You have painted yourself into a little bit of a corner here, IMHO. Cheap dynamics will not work as overheads. Dynamics that *will* work are not cheap, i.e. Sennheiser MD441's. I think you have to deal with your noise. Mics for the job? Overheads- Oktava MC012, AKG C451, Shure SM81.
snare- Shure SM57, Sennheiser MD421. Toms-Sennheiser MD421, AKG C2000B, AKG C414 B-ULS. Kick- AKG d112, Audix D-6, Electrovoice RE20.
The cab-Shure SM57, Sennheiser MD421, Shure SM7B. Good luck-Richie
 
Thanks! The noise problem is not severe. I haven't checked background noise levels, but I think that when I do they will be very low -- however, the room is certainly not sound proofed.

I'd consider spending a bit more on the overheads. I have never considered using the Oktava simply because I have no experience with them. Can you characterize their sound for me?

After hearing the snare I will be recording, I've become less concerned with the snare sound.. I'm going to go for a 57 and blend in drumagog triggers for most of the recording.

I've used the RE20, but not on kick. I'd actually never considered it. I might try it out as an experiment. You seem to have a real thing for the MD421 -- I'd be interested in getting more opinions on this mic as a general purpose tom/cab mic.
 
The Oktavas are a little dark, a little colored, and are simply world class overheads for rock drums, in spite of their low cost. I would choose more transparent overheads foe smooth jazz or country, but in the kind of mix necessitated by the guitar sound you have described, they will rock! It's like the sound of an old Neumann U47 on a crooner. It may not be that accurate, but who cares? Sometimes you'd rather the hot babe wears makeup. A pleasing illusion can be a lot better than the truth. You want the truth? Put up Earthworks or Schoeps. You want honest hard rock drum overheads? The Oktavas simply work.
Regarding the Sennheiser MD421, there are a lot of dynamics you could use for snare/toms/cabs, particularly by Beyerdynamic, but you aren't likely to see them available as rentals. The standard is SM57, but I believe the MD421 is, in general, a better all-purpose dynamic for percussion and cabs, and I would stick it anywhere most people would use an SM57. Actually, the SM7 is superior to either one, IMHO, but it's too damn big to be a really good drum mic. It is also too pricey to get smacked. Two cheap dynamics that are really good for percussion and cabs are Sennheiser e835 and AKG D770. Either will yield results compareable in quality to an SM57, but with a different flavor. -Richie
 
Wow. I'm going to see what I can do about renting a pair of Oktavas, but from your description I may want to add them to my permanent collection. Your posts are very much appreciated.

I'd also be interested in hearing other opinions. I've got enough info to do this project, but I have some room for experimentation, so please, by all means, bring it on folks :)
 
Yo Tallman, just a caveat emptor about the Oktavas. They were formerly imported by Guitar Center in huge numbers, and had gotten down to the $99 a pair point, then Oktava stopped shipping, and there are multiple versions of why. Quality control was always an issue, and a certain percentage of them were shipped DOA. Of the remainder, many of them, especially earlier ones, had defective or substandard components and bad solder joints. Toward the end, QC improved quite a bit. For drum overheads, the output doesn't need to be particularly well matched, but finding a really matched pair was always a nearly inpossible crap shoot.
Taylor Johnson at The Sound Room, www.oktava.com, is a passionate dude indeed, who does meticulous quality control and gnat's ass matching of these mics, and also sells matched pairs of omni and hypercardioid capsules for them, as well as the LOMO heads, which turn the MC012 into a large diaphragm main vocal mic.. However, he also charges a good deal of money for his value added, but if you don't like gambling, and you want a really matched pair with no defects, he'll sell them to you for a hell of a lot more than that $99/pair. As GC is not currently importing them, if you are looking for bargains, get on ebay and roll the dice. Enough of them were sold that they will be around for years, even if no more are imported.
One other opinion- the flattering color those mics produce that makes them so good as rock overheads is good on some acoustic guitars, but not so good on others. For remote stereo recording of say, a chamber orchestra, there are more transparent mics I would choose. However, that color can be flattering, believe it or not, on some vocalists. I've done some pretty good vocal recordings with the MC012, which I would not try with a Neumann KM184, for instance. That would not be pretty.
Lastly, the MC012 is very prone to popping. When used as a vocal mic, I use 2 pop filters, about 3" apart, and on any instrument that moves air (sax, some acoustics, cabs, etc.,) I use a pop filter. Good luck.-Richie
 
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