KSM32 and DMP3 recording woes. Help?

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c7sus said:
I'm kinda curious how you had the KSM32 setup. Like you realize it's a side-address mic, right??? Were you pointing the top of the mic at the guitar by any chance??? That might explain the thin sound of that clip.

The 57 clip sounds just a touch louder than the KSM clip too.
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Studio magic :D
 
Erockrazor said:
Your link spoiled the secret. Sorry man. Glad you're closer to the sound you're looking for though!
Click to expand...
D'oh! The original test I did I just numbered the samples so no one would know which was which. I forgot I named that one, though (done after the fact). Ah well, I'm pretty happy so far. That tone was my first shot with the 57's blended. I haven't even had a chance to mess with their placement too much yet, so I'm looking forward to getting some time to do that.
c7sus said:
I'm kinda curious how you had the KSM32 setup. Like you realize it's a side-address mic, right??? Were you pointing the top of the mic at the guitar by any chance??? That might explain the thin sound of that clip.

The 57 clip sounds just a touch louder than the KSM clip too.
Click to expand...
I'm no studio wizard so the extra volume of the 57 clip is probably just due to me putting a touch more gain on there. I had to crank the gain on my DMP3 to get the 57's up in the range I needed, while the KSM32 didn't need nearly as much. The 32 was a lot more "peaky", though, so the overall gain had to be down a tiny bit more to prevent clipping on the louder strums.

As far as placement for the 32 goes, if you reread my first post you'll see I tried pretty much everything. I tried out front of the sound hole and out front at various points up the fret board, both at varying distances from a couple inches to about two feet. I tried different angles for each and tried a few different spots up by my ear pointing down to try to capture that tone I hear when I play. And I tried each of these positions with the built-in high pass filter at each of its two levels and off, as well. I've spent hours upon hours with placement of this microphone to make sure I know exactly what each placement and angle and distance will give me, which I always do when I get a new toy.

Overall, the KSM32 just isn't doin it for me tone-wise on an acoustic. I was much happier with the blended 57's on my first shot without even messing with mic placement options yet, which I'm sure will yield even more positive results. Tomorrow night my singer is coming down so we can test the 32 on his vocals. If it goes well, I'll keep it and use it as a vocal mic; if it doesn't, I'll send it back and continue to look at more options. It's all one big learning experience and the only way I'm gonna get to where I wanna go is by trial and error.
 
Okay. But you didn't answer my question.

Did you have the top of the KSM-32 pointed at the guitar or the active side-- the front with the logo on it--- of the capsule pointed at the guitar?

I ask because after hearing both clips it sounds like the KSM is picking up the guitar off-axis.

When the vocalist shows up are you gonna have him sing into the top of the mic or the side of the mic?
 
The active part of the capsule was pointed at the guitar, although in this clip the mic was up above the guitar closer to my ear facing down towards the soundhole, not out in front of it facing the flat surface of the top.
 
Maybe the KSM you bought is a dud. It happens. It should sound every bit as robust as the 57 if placed correctly, and be a couple orders of magnitude more sensitive than the 57.
 
It just sounded mellow to me. Which a lot of LDCs will sound like. Dynamics can give a bit more of a hollow sound that might favor guitar / strings more than other voices.

Shure KSM 32
rc_img_ksm32_large.gif


Shure SM 57
rc_img_sm57_large.gif
 
I'm doing a back to back recording of the 57 vs the 32 right now for you guys to check out. Should be up shortly.
 
I'm confused, the first clip you posted was "FLAT" KSM- DPM-Delta so where did the stereo effect come from? if it was only 1 mic it would't sound like that. You said you had the mike near your ear facing the sound hole? I'm trying to work that out?
It certainly doesn't sound woofy - it sounds like an acoustic that could do with an eq - one of the presets should do it.
The sm58 sounded just like a 58
Like you said earlier you get a good quality signal down - well thats where the work starts....
 
bruiser1964 said:
I'm confused, the first clip you posted was "FLAT" KSM- DPM-Delta so where did the stereo effect come from? if it was only 1 mic it would't sound like that. You said you had the mike near your ear facing the sound hole? I'm trying to work that out?
It certainly doesn't sound woofy - it sounds like an acoustic that could do with an eq - one of the presets should do it.
The sm58 sounded just like a 58
Like you said earlier you get a good quality signal down - well thats where the work starts....
Click to expand...

Yes, the sample is double tracked and panned hard left and right. The takes are dry (no eq, etc). I just recorded two takes and panned them. And I don't have a 58, just a 57 (did you mean 57?). The other recording with the dry and EQ samples is a Samson C03U USB microphone.

I'm uploading my SM57 vs KSM32 tracks at the moment so you'll have those to check out shortly. Did three different placements for each, single track centered with a few different chord types (open, power, barre, arpeggiated) for comparison.
 
These clips were all done with my Taylor 210. All are flat/dry. I recorded a few different chord types for each one to compare.

SM57 above angled down - SM57 above angled down by PewterScreaminMach on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

KSM32 above angled down - KSM32 above angled down by PewterScreaminMach on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free


SM57 out front sound hole - SM57 out front soundhole by PewterScreaminMach on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

KSM32 out front sound hole - KSM32 out front soundhole by PewterScreaminMach on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free


SM57 out front 12th fret - SM57 out front 12th fret by PewterScreaminMach on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

KSM32 out front 12th fret - KSM32 out front 12th fret by PewterScreaminMach on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free
 
Bump - board's being spammed, so just bumping this thread back above the spam until teh mods kill it...
 
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