"The right mic for the right job"

  • Thread starter Thread starter ambi
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ambi

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Makes sense. I bought the Shure sm-58 for recording hip hop vocals in my home, it seems to work fairly well, but i don't have a real recording setup yet, just going through an ART tube mp, into a crappy SBlive value. Im going to get a mackie mixing board, and a delta 44 soon, so hopefully that will pick i up:) Anyways, I heard that the 58 was an industry standard, blah blah blah, commonly used for hip hop vocals, etc... But lately people are just saying around here that they're good for live vocals? For my makeshift homestudio, what would be the best mic for hip hop vocals? And for guitar, would the 57 really be better than the 58? I mean, i heard they're the same damn mic with a different head thingy, so wouldn't they record the same? Anyways, excuse my cluelessness, im coming here for answers, anything i said is most likely incorrect. So could anyone recomend a good vocal recording mic for the home studio environment, or tell me if my 58 is ok for it? and for recording instruments, like, violin, guitar, piano, etc... what would be best? a 57?
Ok thanks in advance.
 
check out the 57 vs 58 thread below. It will answer your question for the most part. I posted a few quotes as to the differences between the two mics and their applications.
 
decide for yourself based on the results what is going to work well for you / what your current standards are.

as you get better at this your going to demand more out of your equipment and sound.

a lot of people here are jaded and think that only condensor mics can produce a useable track in the studio :)

SM58 is a great live mic...but, a lot of great vocal tracks have been done with it as well. If you are doing any rap type stuff...an SM58 can bring out a nice sense of aggression.

But, condensors are great as well. If you are doing a lot of r&b type stuff, it will be a good thing to have a large diaphrahm condensor around. I would look at a Studio Projects C1 or C3, an Audio Technica 3035, Marshall V67 or a Rode NT1000 - for a great beginner studio mic.

Only one of those I can personally reccomend is the C3 (about 350 bucks)...but, do some research...they are all great. Lots of good options out there.

In terms of guitar...nah, i'd take the ball off the 58 and record the guitar with it. You are right about the being the same mic. If you get a condensor, that will sound great on your guitar as well.

Good luck,
-Wes
 
Is close-miking the best option for classical piano? A number of people told me that it's better to mike a classical piano couple of meters away, to capture the overall sound of the instrument and to minimize damper noise. (By contrast, these folks do advocate close miking for other piano applications.) See, e.g., this website:

"Also, a pair of mics at a distance relays instrument timbres more accurately than closeup mics. Close-miked instruments in a classical setting sound too bright, edgy, or detailed compared to how they sound in the audience area."

http://www.tape.com/Bartlett_Articles/stereo_microphone_techniques.html

What do you all think?
 
Ambi,

The 58 shoud be just fine for the type of vocals you're doing. Just stick a pop filter in front of it. 57's and 58's are very PPPPPPPP - Plosive mics.

Dynamic mics are warmer, more aggressive at times, and they often fit better in a heavy mix. A condenser is sweeter sounding, more polished . . . a lttle more "hi-fi" sounding. That's all. Sometimes that's a good thing, but a lot of times it isn't.

For electric guitar, your 58 is also fine.

On things like piano, violin, accoustic guitar, etc. you really should pick a good condenser you like. If you have the cash, get two and use them as a stereo pair. Look up "stereo micing" on this board's search function, read Harvey's thread: "How does diaphragm size . . ." and ask questions around here about it (particularily stereo micing). Good news is you can get very usable, even good condensers very inexpensively these days. I consider the Oktava mc012 to be quite good, and it will set you back about $300 for a pair . . . while a Marshall mxl 603 pair comes in even less at about $150.

Your 58 won't cut it on piano or other instruments like that on it's own. Of course, I could be wrong. :)
 
Grotius said:
Is close-miking the best option for classical piano? A number of people told me that it's better to mike a classical piano couple of meters away, to capture the overall sound of the instrument and to minimize damper noise. (By contrast, these folks do advocate close miking for other piano applications.) See, e.g., this website:

"Also, a pair of mics at a distance relays instrument timbres more accurately than closeup mics. Close-miked instruments in a classical setting sound too bright, edgy, or detailed compared to how they sound in the audience area."

http://www.tape.com/Bartlett_Articles/stereo_microphone_techniques.html

What do you all think?
Click to expand...

How did this get on this thread???

But, briefly, close mic'ing is NOT the standard for classical piano for all the reasons you outlined above. But if you are recording a piano in a crappy sounding room, you may have to compromise and get the mics in closer than you otherwise might, to minimize room sound. Also, distant mic'ing usually requires fairly high quality mics (self-noise becomes more of an issue, and high frequency loss can be a problem). It's a little easier to get away with mediocre mics if you are close mic'ing.
 
Interesting stuff, Littledog.

How about if you use omnis? Would you get kind of the best of both worlds if you close-mic one with a couple of behringers, or better yet, one of you sswwweeet Earthworks (I read on the other thread you had a pair)?
 
Good question, chess. By definition, classical piano has a huge dynamic range, often including dead quiet moments. Omnis are used quite often (although not always) in concert hall recordings, often in a Decca Tree configuration. (Depending on the hall, sometimes small diaphragm cardioids work better.) But they have to be very high quality mics to work in this application.

Why? Because the mini diaphragm omnis by nature of their design are susceptible to having a lot of self noise. Even the lower priced Earthworks have this problem. The QTC's addressed it fairly well, but they are pricey. In music with the kind of dynamic range of classical piano, that self-noise may become unacceptably intrusive.
 
Decca Tree. I'm going to have to look that one up. But wouldn't close-micing eliminate some of the noise problem?

Very good stuff, dog.
 
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