EQ Magazine - December 2008 - (Page 32)

GUITAR TRAX very smooth to begin with, for an edgier sound I’ll put a Shure SM57 right up on the grille—just shove it right up there and let it take all the power. A ribbon won’t distort if you do that, but the air pumping on it could cause problems, so that’s why I move it back a few inches more compared to other mic types. Does mic placement change depending on the guitarist? With electric guitar it won’t change that much. Nine times out of ten before I move the mic around I’ll change the amp tone—volume, treble, mids, reverb, gain—then maybe ask to hear the middle pickup, or try other changes at the guitar itself. I’ll adjust those elements first, because the nice thing about the ribbon is that it’s so close to what you’re actually hearing that when you dial up the guitar, then listen to what’s coming through the monitors, you’ll have a more realistic idea of the sound. You can hear the treble that you changed coming out of the studio monitors. With a dynamic or a condenser mic, I find myself moving the mic more than with a ribbon. But when recording an acoustic instrument with a ribbon mic, the first thing I do is move the mic. That’s because the ribbon can provide so many different tones depending on how it’s pointed, due to the null points. What’s your approach to miking nylon string guitar? I’ll aim the mic at where the neck joins the guitar’s body; depending on how much low end I need, I’ll swing the mic toward or away from the sound hole. That is where the Royer 121s or 122s really stand out. When the ribbon is facing dead-on straight, it’s catching some of the sound hole and that bottom end. But if you don’t like that, you can literally rotate the mic ever so slightly, and turn the null points or ears toward the sound hole to really cut that low end boost. There’s also interaction between the mic and the sound. If the guitarist is playing a fast strum rhythm, the low end boom can really build up—so I cut [EQ] from 200Hz on down. But with a slower song where the chords develop, I might want that lower end to create more of a mood. Any rules of thumb I have are really about the low end. Where do you place the Royer in relation to the nylon string guitar? About 10 to 12 inches away to start. If Joey is playing aggressively that works great, but if he’s a little quieter I move the mic closer. If there’s too much pick noise I might ask him to try a different pick. Or I’ll rotate the mic, and point those null points—those “ears” of the mic—at his strumming hand, which really cuts down all that noise. 32 EQ DECEMBER 2008 www.eqmag.com http://www.klein-hummel.com http://www.klein-hummel.com http://www.klein-hummel.com http://www.eqmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EQ Magazine - December 2008

EQ Magazine - December 2008 Contents Talk Box Sounding Board Punch In My Morning Jacket Guitar Trax Bass Management Key Issues Drum Heads Vocal Cords Mix Bus Cheat Sheet Cakewalk Sonar 8 Propellerhead Reason 4 Indie 500: Lunchbox Pres and Compressors 500 Series Preamps 500 Series Compressors Gadgets and Goodies Sounds Room with a Vu

EQ Magazine - December 2008

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