Some Advice Preese?

K

khoff

New member
Hey there. I just joined! =D
Let me start of by telling you my current setup. I am running of a macbook 2.13ghz going through a Presonus Firepod for the interface. I have 2 KRK Rokit 5's monitors and a plain old logitech computer speaker system (for reference and comparison to my monitors). For microphones I have a Superlux CM-H8A and an AKG Perception 120.

Okay so with that out of the way, my questions:

1) I'm looking to expand my gear for better quality in recordings. So what would the benefits of me getting some sort of mic compressor be?

2) In regard to microphones, I want to buy some decent but inexpensive drum mic's. What would you guys suggest?

3) Also what would a Ribbon mic be good for?

Sorry for all the questions, I figured I would put it all in one post.
Thanks!
 
1) I'm looking to expand my gear for better quality in recordings. So what would the benefits of me getting some sort of mic compressor be? You can find out by learning to use the compressor plugins in your DAW software. The best investment you can make is Big Macs and Red Bulls, which you consume while you're learning how to get the most out of the gear you've got. The most expensive compressor in the world isn't going to do you any good if you don't know how to use it properly! Learn how to use the compressors in your DAW. Then, if you still find them lacking, you'll know what to look for when you buy external gear.

2) In regard to microphones, I want to buy some decent but inexpensive drum mic's. What would you guys suggest? Most of the inexpensive drum mic kits are really best used in live performance situations. You might be able to get an okay recording out of them, but there are better options. Google the "Recorderman" and "Glyn Johns" drum micing methods. I think you'll find that you can get a better drum sound from a few better-quality mics than you can with a lot of cheap mics.

3) Also what would a Ribbon mic be good for? Wrapping Christmas presents? Impressing your friends? Actually, there are some specific circumstance where a ribbon mic might be better; I'll leave it to the experts to point them out. Also, a ribbon mic can be used to add a specific "coloration" to the sound. But for now, you're better off sticking to dynamics and condensers and learning how to use them.

If you don't have a good-sounding room to record and mix in, spend your money on treating your room...
 
I can honestly say bdenton mirrors my exact feelings....... well put.
I ...in NO way mean this to sound insincere, I truly mean it...but most folks go out and buy a whole pile of gear and never really lean how to use it....they just feel they are supposed to have it.

I started out before there was digital available to the masses, on a 2 track reel, eventually worked up to 4 track,8 track, then digital.
you learned to listen to mic placement and had to work on performance incongruities and room treatments to get a good recording.
My suggestion is resist buying until it is purposeful...unless you simply just can afford a ton of gear that sits 90 percent of the time.

A compressior can be useful in tracking to overcome the performers inability to control their dynamics, but it can also be overused and make things sound dead or bloated.
I regularly track full bands with 16 to 24 tracks going all at once and often never use a compressor. I just take advantage of the fidelity and headroom of 24 bit audio and simply record at a lower level and preserve the dynamics control until I can deal with it purposefully.

Mic choises are like clothes..it depends on your tastes and the type of music you are recording.
It is acoustic music? Bluegrass? Jazz? Acapella? Techno? Heavy Metal?

Unless you really have a need (because of genre or room isues) to put a mic on every drum (which can be the source of incredible issues) I would suggest NOT getting one of those live mic set ups and stick with a few better mics for drums. a good kick mic, a SM 57 or equivelant for the snare and a few good condensors for overheads. That way the mic choices do double duty on guitar cabs and acoustic guitars and the like.

Ribbon mics can sound great on a few voices...very few...pretty good in front of a super bright guitar cab or as a room mic...but I'd put off the ribbon mic if you don't have the basics covered. Unless you are a violinist or a horn player, where the mic would see a lot of use....it will do a lot of sitting.

It might help to hear from you as to what your real expectations are and what kind of music and room environment you are in.
 
The best drum-tracker I know of around here gets killer ass drum tones with the CAD pro set, that's about as cheap as they come. They aren't bad at all, I think in a good room, they'll get you to 90%. Sure, getting a set of great mics like a d112, a couple sm57's, a pair of high end condenser OH's, etc. would get you a little better results, but at 10x the cost.
 
I agree with alot of what bdenton said. Cheaper drum mic kits "seem" like a good idea as a studio solution, but I have had more of a headache with them than success. I have (not sure specifically what series of hand as I'm not home) a cheaper (roughtly 2500-300) set of CAD drum mics. as bdenton mentioned, they are MUCH more suited for live performance. They are fine for small venues or local band shows or even church, but when it comes to recording, I do not like them much at all. The tone is muddy, its hard to get good crisp cymbol and snare sounds just to name a few complaints. I find myself, if anything, using those to record a drummer and then using drum replacement software to duplicate specific drums with midi samples.

As for ribbons, most of the nicer ribbons I have used we used on guitar cabs and some acoustic stuff. They can take high SPL's but are ussually suited for specific areas. I have not worked with any of the cheaper ones. Just used some Royers a while back. I would, as suprstar mentioned, stick to condensers and maybe a few dynamics. Can't go wrong with a SM57 for a cheaper but reliable mic. I have liked alot of what Shure has come out with. I use a KSM32 for vocals, I like the KSM137's paired for acoustic. Also the Sennheiser e609 or e906 are good cheaper mics for cabs.
 
Thanks guys that helps a lot.

Tmix, I agree with you completely. That was my "kind of" pre-determined opinion on getting a compressor before I actually looked into one. I have a pretty good understanding of my digital compressors, plus I've a got a pretty few nice ones already haha. But I figured it would be best in most cases to leave the signal as natural as possible until I get into the mixing process.
So I've actually thrown on a slight compression to vocalists before while they were tracking. It helped with them hearing themselves. Doing that is the pretty much the same thing as buying an external compressor?

For drum mic's I was told Audix i5's, d6's and Shure Beta 52's were good and not too expensive. Personally I would never use CAD. We ran some CAD mic's through a mixer and recorded my friend playing drums and then ran the mixer through my friends line and it just sounded horrible. I'm sure the low quality mixer helped with that too. But I thought SM57's were best for guitar mic'ing so maybe ill look into that if its good for both!

As for genres I record, that consists of many. I create some dance/house/electronica, hip hop beats and anything else really. I used to record a lot of metal and hardcore so I'm most experienced in that. I've done some pop punk projects. I like to record random folk and indie songs and do vocals for hip hop too. I do just about anything, thats why I want mic's that will be suited for anything.

But yeah overall Im pretty good with condenser mic's, I primarily use them. In fact Ive used my Superlux to record electric guitar out of a cab and it came out great. I haven't used many dynamics for anything really. I borrowed a dynamic for recording bass with but I can't recall what kind of mic it was. And as for the ribbon mic, I was told its good for indie and folk, as it has more of a natural sound. Im not too sure how correct that is; I guess that is the "coloration" which is actually something I would want. What kind of "voice" would work best with a ribbon mic?
 
I have a few ribbon mics, mostly below $300 range ones (Cascade , Stellar), but I have borrowed and used the AEA and Royers ($1200 each) on a few projects, and they were OK but they were not really all that impressive to me. They seem to be wonderful for specific uses...I just don't have that use I guess.

Ribbons by nature have 3 qualities to consider:
They have a neutralizing effect on bright screetchy buzzy raucous stuff.
They are figure eight and pickup the room they are used in.
They take a ton of gain to use.

If you have a source needing some taming like a buzz saw guitar amp, or a male or female singer that can peel paint off the wall with their voice...this is the ticket. Violins and bright mandolins sound good as well because it tames them a little when close miced.

If your room sounds really bad you need to have some sound absobers to put behind the room facing side of the mic to keep it from recording a bad sounding room, on the other hand if your room sounds good...you are golden!

If your source is loud (like an amp) you are good...if you have a whimpering mush mouthed whiperer for a singer you'd better have a ton of gain before noise range on your preamp.

One thing wonderful about ribbons, is for some reason I can't technically explain...their recorded tracks respond incredibly to even severe EQ measures without getting really honky. You can add top end for brightness without becoming a lazer beam like a Condenser will.

Well....that is my nontechnical primer on Ribbon Mics!
 
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