New mic reality check.

[sonusman]

The studio just traded 10 studio hours for a new mic:

Milab DC-63, a SD condensor with 4 polar patterns, 3 different bass roll off's, and 2 pads.

I decided to give it a try yesterday on a male vocal, and a mandolin.

The vocal chain was:

DC-63 - Focusrite Red 8 - dbx 160x

Mandolin chain was exactly the same with the same gain setting on the Focusrite (as I recall, about -63 dB or so), but with a slight adjustment in the threshold on the dbx.

This was summed in Sonar. Everything is at unity gain except the guitars, which were all trimmed -3dB.

I used a little L2 to get a bit louder. Many errant kick drum hits keeping the master fader down to -8dB, so I needed to make that up a bit.

So really, this is truely a "faders up" mix. I even forgot to pan the damn overheads on the drums! LOL No eq/compression/limiting/verb on the tracks.

I am actually very impressed with the Milab mic!!! Very smooth overall. No hyped upper mids, and a very tight bottom.

What you all think?

Ed

 

[SLuiCe]

Hey Ed-
Was there any EQ done to the vocals? They seem to be cutting through all the guitars quite well for a raw mix like this. I'm looking for a new mic myself. I'm getting so sick of EQing or multibanding out the hyped up 2-6K I get from the SP C3 I use. I like the general clarity I get, and it gets better with a little angling, but I'd rather go for something more natural. I'm not hearing that crap in this track. Sounds nice and round.

Also, how were the guitars miked?


Cheers,
Tom

 

[The Ghost of FM]

sonusman

Wicked tune! I love this! It really rocks!

The vocals tone sounds really smooth but the levels of the main vox are a bit low and the higher, backing vocals are too loud.

I love the inter-play between them though. I really reminds me of some early Zappa stuff in those backing vocals.

The clear guitar in the left channel could also come down a db or two in the mix but, great tone on all the guitars in this one.

The bass guitar could use a bit of mid bass trim at the head of the track but after that, it fits in nice.

The snare and hat could also stand to come up a bit too to drive the song even harder then it is right now which is rocking very nicely.

The length of the tune is perfect. It's short enough that I want to hear it over and over again!

I'm now hungry!

 

[M.Brane]

Very smooth sounding mic.

A square capsule, eh? Interesting. Wonder what it would do for heavy guitars?

 

[sonusman]

Sluice, no eq on the vocals. Literally, this is a faders to unity mix. I panned the guitars and that was all and turned all the guitars down 3dB.

I would say that the C1 will never compare to this mic. Other good choices (since this particular mic is not in production anymore) would be the AT 4050, a Neumann TL 103, and possibly a AKG 414 (if your voice doesn't already have a hard midrange).

The guitar tracks. Hmmmmmmmm...The right guitar was tracked with the drums and bass, and was a 57 to a ART.

The left guitars and leads. Man, I cannot tell you what I used! LOL I think the 57 via a Drawmer, but I remember also doing a few tracks with a Sennheiser 421 too. The lead track could very well be the AT 4050 via the Drawmer.

Ghost of FM - Errrrrrrrrrrr...well, this IS a faders up mix. I haven't done anything to anything. These are the levels and tones that went to "tape". I suppose I could have done a better job of getting levels and mic placement right, but this was tracked in a hurry. 6 songs, drums, bass, and guitars, in 2 days. Wasn't much time to be messing around with stuff you know?

M.Brane, I actually got a suggestion from another DC-63 user to try it just for that! Maybe later this month I will get a chance.

Ed

 

[JasonBird]

what a great song, would love to hear more like it. Please post another more polished mix!
Jason

 

[A1A2]

Sonusman,

I really enjoy when you post dry mixes, they really allow us to hear how important the tracking process is. Aside from butt-kissing, I don't like the drum sound (compare to your other dry mixes). They sound tight and punchy, but lacking highs meanwhile. I'm sure you will put some magic to them when you do the real mixing, but for now, it sounds a little muffled and distant (maybe the missing highs make me perceive them as room-sounding?) The guitars sound real nice tho.

thanks for sharing with us again

Al

 

[boydrj]

Love the opening! LMAO

Since you are light years ahead of me in this stuff, I don't really feel like I should even be commenting on mix stuff ... but, this particular mix sounds a bit bass heavy, almost kind of dominated by the lows. It sounds like it just needs a bit of balancing to bring out some of the highs.

Anyway, killer song, great vocals and I dig the lyrics! I love the way you track your drums. You get such a killer sound.