tkingen
Djembes Rock
Warhead said:Stop making sense.
War
War,
Of course the message was right on the money. But to hell with the punk condescending tone.
Btw, have you seen the book?
War,
Of course the message was right on the money. But to hell with the punk condescending tone.
Btw, have you seen the book?
tkingen
Djembes Rock
TravisinFlorida said:
Hey Travis,
I've been called a dildo before. And in the context that it was used it was quite a compliment!
undergroundtoon
New member
chessrock said:
Good old chessrock tells it like it is. I have not seen you around the forum in a while. Where have you been? Hopefuly business has been good and your too busy recording.
O
ofajen
Daddy-O Daddy-O Baby
tkingen said:
Unlike some of the others, I don't think this is entirely a waste of a question. Basically, I'm lazy. I have too much else going on and too little time in the studio to want to spend a lot of time auditioning mikes. Also, I want to make mixing simple, too. If it's an instrument, I reach for a small capsule omni mike and get the track recorded as it sounds. Clean tracks like that play well together in the mix. I even use those mikes on voice sometimes, but on voice, I have several other mikes I'll try, and pick the mike based on the character of sound I'm recording and what I know about the mike: examples, the SM57 has a thick mid-rangy sound, while my AKG D12s have more of a scooped, hi-fi sound with more highs and lows.
Do bear in mind, you need a really quiet room to use omni mikes or you will hear ambient noises in your tracks!
Now of course, that's just me, and, as I said, I'm lazy!
Otto
C
chessrock
Banned
tkingen said:
Me? ? Condescending tone? ? NEVER !
Alright, I'll throw you a bone. When considering the mic'ing of a given source, first ask yourself ... are you trying to pick up the totality of the instrument? Or are you trying to pick up a narrow part of the instrument / source?
Take drums as an example ... are you trying to mic the whole kit or just the tom-tom? Do you want to pick up what the entire guitar sounds like ... or do you want to focus / emphasize what it sounds like at the 12th fret? Maybe you feel that what is happening, specifically, at the 12th fret will help the guitar track fit better in the context of your mix, or that it will help you achieve a particular sound that you're striving for? On the other hand, perhaps there are subtle nuances happening all over the body of the guitar that can only be captured from a wider vantage point.
The reason this is important is because certain mics will snap in to focus more at certain distances. An SM57, for example, is really more of a close-up mic (Have you ever noticed how it's always jammed up against something?) It's not generally the best distant mic; most dynamics aren't, with some exceptions, obviously. The farther back you move a particular mic, the more important off-axis response becomes. Something with a wider pattern will obviously be more at home picking a slightly bigger picture of the source; sort of like a wider-angle lense. Smaller diaphragms will tend to sound more natural in that role, as they will usually report off-axis information much more accurately than their larger-diaphragm counterparts (and this is another over-generalized statement).
The next thing I like to take in to consideration is accuracy and transient response. Think about it like this: If my ear were to be placed right up against this source being struck or played at extreme volumes, is it going to be a painful/ unpleasant experience? If the answer to that question is "Yes," then you might consider using a softer, slower, less accurate mic. Like a dynamic or a ribbon, maybe a more vintage style tube mic, etc. For example; a screaming death metal singer might be unpleasant at full volume with the singer's mouth right up against your ear. A harsh, cheap cymbal crash might have the same unpleasant effect.
On the other hand, if your answer to that question is "NO" as in the case of a softly strummed harp, a smooth jazz bass, or a classical guitar ... then in these cases you might choose a more accurate microphone; like a transformerless condenser with a thinner or smaller, more responsive diaphragm. Another question along the same lines: How important is the sound of the fingers picking the strings, versus the sound of the notes those strings are playing? How important is the impact of the stick hitting the drum skin versus the tone / boddy of the drum it's hitting? Very very generally speaking, the more important the notes, tone and body of the instrument are in relation to the "detail" things like the impact of the picking/strumming/slappping, the less important the speed and accuracy of the mic becomes. And vice-versa.
(Example: a dynamic will pick up more of a snare's tone, while a condenser might pick up more of the "thwack" of the stick hitting the skin. A dynamic will pick up / emphasize more of the notes and tone of a singer's voice, while a condenser will tend pick up more of their mouth noises, lip smacking, swallowing, etc.)
Lastly, you're always going to want to consider the frequency response curve of the mic, and how that might interact with the source. In a very overly-simplified explanation .. when mic'ing a very bright and strident source, you might consider using a darker mic ... or with a dull / dark sounding source, you might want to use a brighter mic. But more generally speaking ... ask yourself what, if anything, do you want to emphasize about the source, and what do you want to de-emphasize? And what mics in my collection will be likely to emphasize that which I want more of, and de-emphasize that which I want less of?
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L
littledog
New member
General guidelines are fine, but ultimately it becomes the experience of the engineer which will suggest or inspire a particular mic choice.
You can ask a pitcher what pitch he would use to strike out a particular batter, or a quarterback what play to call to score a touchdown - but in real life applications, their answers will be different with every actual situation. And sometimes they don't even know why they picked a particular course - it was the inspiration of the moment guided by the instincts developed through experience.
So, in the beginning, it's actually good to try all kinds of oddball combinations of gear, and take note of what works and what doesn't. Eventually you get to the point where your first or second choice is almost always right.
You can ask a pitcher what pitch he would use to strike out a particular batter, or a quarterback what play to call to score a touchdown - but in real life applications, their answers will be different with every actual situation. And sometimes they don't even know why they picked a particular course - it was the inspiration of the moment guided by the instincts developed through experience.
So, in the beginning, it's actually good to try all kinds of oddball combinations of gear, and take note of what works and what doesn't. Eventually you get to the point where your first or second choice is almost always right.
tkingen
Djembes Rock
chessrock said:Me? ? Condescending tone? ? NEVER !
Alright, I'll throw you a bone. When considering the mic'ing of a given source, first ask yourself ... are you trying to pick up the totality of the instrument? Or are you trying to pick up a narrow part of the instrument / source?
Take drums as an example ... are you trying to mic the whole kit or just the tom-tom? Do you want to pick up what the entire guitar sounds like ... or do you want to focus / emphasize what it sounds like at the 12th fret? Maybe you feel that what is happening, specifically, at the 12th fret will help the guitar track fit better in the context of your mix, or that it will help you achieve a particular sound that you're striving for? On the other hand, perhaps there are subtle nuances happening all over the body of the guitar that can only be captured from a wider vantage point.
The reason this is important is because certain mics will snap in to focus more at certain distances. An SM57, for example, is really more of a close-up mic (Have you ever noticed how it's always jammed up against something?) It's not generally the best distant mic; most dynamics aren't, with some exceptions, obviously. The farther back you move a particular mic, the more important off-axis response becomes. Something with a wider pattern will obviously be more at home picking a slightly bigger picture of the source; sort of like a wider-angle lense. Smaller diaphragms will tend to sound more natural in that role, as they will usually report off-axis information much more accurately than their larger-diaphragm counterparts (and this is another over-generalized statement).
The next thing I like to take in to consideration is accuracy and transient response. Think about it like this: If my ear were to be placed right up against this source being struck or played at extreme volumes, is it going to be a painful/ unpleasant experience? If the answer to that question is "Yes," then you might consider using a softer, slower, less accurate mic. Like a dynamic or a ribbon, maybe a more vintage style tube mic, etc. For example; a screaming death metal singer might be unpleasant at full volume with the singer's mouth right up against your ear. A harsh, cheap cymbal crash might have the same unpleasant effect.
On the other hand, if your answer to that question is "NO" as in the case of a softly strummed harp, a smooth jazz bass, or a classical guitar ... then in these cases you might choose a more accurate microphone; like a transformerless condenser with a thinner or smaller, more responsive diaphragm. Another question along the same lines: How important is the sound of the fingers picking the strings, versus the sound of the notes those strings are playing? How important is the impact of the stick hitting the drum skin versus the tone / boddy of the drum it's hitting? Very very generally speaking, the more important the notes, tone and body of the instrument are (relatively speaking), the less important the speed and accuracy of the mic becomes.
Lastly, you're always going to want to consider the frequency response curve of the mic, and how that might interact with the source. In a very overly-simplified explanation .. when mic'ing a very bright and strident source, you might consider using a darker mic ... or with a dull / dark sounding source, you might want to use a brighter mic. But more generally speaking ... ask yourself what, if anything, do you want to emphasize about the source, and what do you want to de-emphasize? And what mics in my collection will be likely to emphasize that which I want more of, and de-emphasize that which I want less of?
.
Chess, you rock. Thanks a million.
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