Mic needs considered

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Snagglefinger

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I have a general question I'd like to throw out to all of you. I'm in the process of buying an 8 track digital recorder to use as a musical sketch pad and to gain experience in the process of recording.

My question is: What sort of mics would be useful for me? I'll be mostly recording electric and maybe some acoustic guitar, voice and bass (which will probably go direct), but I expect that I'll eventually expand to full blown band recordings. I have a Beta 58 and expect to buy least 1 SM-57 as an inexpensive but useful utility mic. But what else should I be looking for? Would it be worth purchasing a condenser cordioid like an AT 4033 or an AKG 3000c ? Or something like a CAD E-200 with more patterns? Or would I be better off buying a couple mics for a couple hundred bucks each, mixing dynamics and condensers with different patterns? Or a matched set of stereo mics? Decisions, decisions. In addition I also suspect that I may need a basic pre-amp as well.

I can see how this quickly leads one to ruin -- or at least to spending a bunch of dough! I don't want to spend a fortune right now, maybe $700 - $800 U.S. at most in the near future. My gut instinct is to buy stuff that will remain useful in some capacity down the road, but is a $400.00 mic or preamp going to give me any real additional benefit now when recording on a low end hard disc system?

Sorry for the long post and thanks for any advice.
 
And I'd recommend you to NOT go with the computer route, because computers are a pain in the ass. :) It seems to be a matter of taste, really.

Anyway: Your basic mic-setup is a nice condenser in the "couple of hundred bucks" range, together with an Art MP preamp (get that new version with a VU-meter) or a Prosonous blue-tube. That will get you through most stuff with a good sound, except micing drumkits.
 
Oh my....again it is regebro.....

"That will get you through most stuff with a good sound, except micing drumkits."

I can guarantee you that micing a drum kit with one okay, middle priced large diaphram condensor mic could possibly sound much better then many of the drums sounds I have heard in posted mp3's where the drums were mic'ed with a lot of different mics, and in some cases, very nice mics!

Otherwise, regebro has some decent advise.....(end of comment)

Snagglefinger, a good mic and preamp will help improve the quality of sound on ANY system you record on. In fact, good mics, monitors, and preamps could possibly be the three most important purchese you make in your home studio.

I recommend that you purchase an AT 4033 and have at least a couple few 57's around for applications where it is the best mic, like snare drums and micing amps for guitar.

An ART preamp or two will help a whole lot too, and won't break the band at all.

Good luck.

Ed
 
Well, of course. If you have a drum kit that sounds great acoustically, and a room with the right acoustics, of course one good mic can capture that good sound. But drums in mono is boring. Also, no matter how good your room and mics are, if you don't know how to use it, it will sound like crap. So, yes, one mic put to good use can sound better than four put to bad use. But that is kinda obvious, ain't it?
And honestly, how many people with only an 8-track porta and one mic has a good sounding room to record drums in? Exactly: Not many.

Also, I once got quite decent sounding drums (in mono) with three crappy mics in a room that sounded like shit. There is no way I'd done that in that room with only one mic, no matter how fucking great that mic was, becuse wherever I had placed that mic with a good balance of kick and snare, all I'd gotten was the room, because it reverbed like the inside of a plate reverb in that basement. Almost any amateur recording of drums will require separate kick and snare mics to sound good. Thats life.
 
My 2 cents...

Along with "if it sounds good, it IS good...", the other motto we should all remember is "good mono is ALWAYS better than bad stereo..."

Bruce
 
hi,

C7sus could not have said it better.

I do want to add or drive home something though. Get the best mic and preamp that you can afford. It really really makes your job easier when you start recording.

new wisdom for me today: good mono is better than bad stereo. thanks bv.
 
quick pre-scription

I also have considered both platforms and chose a d-16 V2, I don't own a computer. JUst got the recorder and I have a credit of $1000 at my shop. Ive got my eye on a AT 4033, so I need a preamp, I auditioned a blue tube and rnc over the weekend on guitars only, still haven't tossed down for the 4033, results were mixed, blue tube gets noisy quick and rnc while effective is very subtle. I hope to hear a joe meek vc3q soon. So I have 16tr don't have any immediate plans to record a full drum set,but would like the challenge I'll let the drummer come up with the mixing board, I guess that means a drum machine anyway sorry to ramble, Got a $1000 need a half decent mic I have 57 & 58, need a pre&compress and the balance should be towards drum machine or cdrw, guess I'll need some more cabbage, what do you think.
 
my advice to you is that before you lay your money down on rolands hardware yhou download pro tools free.
http://www.digidesign.com
also download steinbergs cubase demo
http://www.steinberg.net

Why get a vs-whatever when you can get an 8 track for free. the bonus-its pro tools.i use pro tools with the digi 001 and i think its just great.Cubase will give you more features though.so while your recording,possibly tonight on pro tools free you can save up for a good interface suchg as the delta 1010, or the motu 2408.the digi m001 is also great(unless your a midi freak).

why buy an 8 track when you can download the best for free?think of the mics you could buy with that money!
 
Thanks for all of the advice. Whew, there's a lot of it too!

I'm going to stick to buying a stand-alone recorder for now; my computer is an older notebook that isn't easily adapted for recording purposes. I do like the idea of a recorder that is easily mobile with the feel of a mixing board. I may also record in different places on a semi-regular basis. If I get a lot of mileage out of a stand-alone and get to a point where I'm beyond simply putting ideas together and demoing them, then I'll hunker down and put together a studio meant for releasing some sort of product.

As for mics, I think pretty much found approval to go with my original plan; one or two additional sm-57's and a nice mid-priced condenser mike.

I need to pay more attention to a pre-amp than I had originally, between here and there I'm hearing not to skimp on that. I'll audition some see what seems appropriate. I've been told the Blue Tube can do double duty as a live pre-amp at a gig if I outgrow it in the studio, I'll keep that extra functionality in mind with others in the low end price range as well.

Oh yeah, monitors...hmmm...maybe next spring/summer. I'll see about a decent set of phones in the meantime.

But of course, I'm still open for suggestions!
 
NO! NO! NO!

You CAN'T ONLY use headphones for monitoring - you'd be wise to re-think that... headphones can be used as a second reference, but mixes done using headphones ALMOST NEVER translate well to speaker listening...... search this forum for the keyword "headphones" and "monitor"

Bruce Valeriani
Blue Bear Sound
 
Thanks Bruce. It will be a while before I set anything in stone. I'll take your hint and run a search; that should be helpful.
 
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