Recording - June 2010 - 28

Despite the plug-ins, virtual instruments, and modeling doodads vying for our attention, acoustic recording is alive and kicking, and better than ever! Reasonably-priced high-quality mics and analog front-end gear (preamp, eqs, compressors) mean even the smallest project studios can come up with great-sounding tracks. Since it all starts at the microphone, this article will serve as an introduction to the basic miking techniques used in a typical pop/rock/jazz recording. Since there’s more than one right way to record just about anything, these suggestions should provide novice recordists with a decent jumping-off point. I won’t try to cover every mic type and placement option, but we’ll cover some basic choices for miking up vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, bass, piano, and horns/winds. I’ll focus strictly on mic technique—for information about mics themselves, please refer to Paul Stamler’s article “Mics, Mechanisms, and Myths,” on page 14. Wait—no drums? Not this time, no. That topic is so huge that it nearly doubled the size of this primer, so it will appear on its own next month, when our issue’s main topic is drums and percussion. Sorry, but you’ll have to wait a few weeks! There are so many mic models out there that I won’t even try to offer detailed suggestions... that would be a whole article in itself! Instead, I’ll just mention a few of my preferences (as well as some other prominent choices) for the different sources we’ll be covering, and I’ll leave it to our readers to explore the toy store of other options. Step up to the microphone We’ll start with the most basic instrument of all, the voice. Anyone who’s been to a club knows that the standard approach for live vocals is to give the singer a (sometimes handheld) dynamic mic like the ubiquitous Shure SM58, and let them sing straight into it up close, with their mouth right up against the built-in windscreen. This provides the strongest possible vocal signal and minimizes the accidental pickup (leakage) of other instruments and sound on stage. Unfortunately, in a recording situation, the sound quality that results from this method is less than stellar, so in the studio, a more hi-fi approach is taken. In the studio, a condenser mic is the preferred choice for vocals— specifically, a Large-Diaphragm Condenser (LDC). Previously the domain of strictly high-end, high-price models, LDCs are now available at all price points, and some of the lower-priced models are even halfway decent-sounding. There are several (approximate) break points, pricewise—around $300–400, around $800–$1000, and around $1500 and above, up to several thousand dollars for really top-of-the-line mics. The main criticism of the lower-end models is their exaggerated brightness that can easily become harsh, while higherend models are renowned for their warmth and clarity. Tube and solid-state LDC mics run the gamut of pricing and are wellestablished as studio vocal mics. There are far too many to name here, from well-established classics like the Neumann U 87, U 67, and U 47, the AKG C414, and the Audio-Technica AT4033 to more recent models like the ADK Vienna and Hamburg, the Bock Audio 195, and
28
RECORDING JUNE 2010

By Joe Albano the sE Electronics Gemini. Even lower-priced models can achieve better sound if coupled with a better-quality mic preamp, which can also range from little to lots of money. Preparing the vocal session Regardless of price point, it’s common to see a studio engineer put up several vocal mics at the beginning of a session with a new singer, to see which one will best complement that singer’s voice in that particular situation—and it’s not always the most expensive mic, either! Matching the mic to the vocalist/session is preferable to using eq later to re-balance the sound—you’ll get much more subtle variances in tonality from different mics, and auditioning mics at the start of the session, when feasible, is highly recommended. In the studio, vocalists almost never sing on top of the mic, as they would on stage. Leakage can be better controlled in the studio, and picking up the voice from an inch away tends to give a deader, sometimes slightly nasal, and often overly bassy sound. The bassiness is most pronounced with directional (cardioid, etc) mic patterns—it’s a by-product of the directional design, and is called proximity effect. This can sometimes be used as a tone-shaping tool (think of those larger-than-life deep-voiced announcers you hear on radio and in ads), but for singing, a distance should be maintained between the vocalist’s mouth and the mic’s diaphragm. This often ranges from around 6"–12"; one common trick is to have the singer hold up their hand, fingers splayed, between their mouth and the mic and maintain that distance consistently (in case they tend to move around a bit between takes). A good LDC will be much more sensitive to detail than a typical dynamic—while that gives more open, detailed, airy, and natural vocal recordings, their extended low-end response can pick up footfalls and other thumps through the mic stand from the floor. That’s why most LDCs live in a shockmount assembly (cradle) to hold the mic—you can also control thumps with the mic’s built-in highpass filter, but that might thin out the vocal. Studio condensers’ built-in windscreens usually won’t provide complete protection from p-pops (loud thumps that often happen on the plosives, letters like “b” and “p”), so it’s common to employ a separate pop filter assembly just in front of the mic. Pop filters are available commercially, and in a pinch, the old-school solution—pantyhose stretched over a wire hanger—may look cheesy but can also get the job done. Besides distance, sometimes the angle of the mic to the singer’s mouth is also varied. Commonly, the mic will be positioned on-axis (directly facing) the vocalist, but that can occasionally result in slight harshness or “honkiness”, or sometimes an over-emphasis of little noises like lip-smacks. Often, the mic may be angled just a few degrees off-axis, to smooth out the resulting tone. Many engineers like to place the mic slightly higher than the singer’s mouth, pointing down, to capture more of the resonance from the vocalist’s head and nasal cavities, which can provide a less-nasal, more open vocal tone).



Recording - June 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - June 2010

Recording - June 2010
Fade In
Contents
Talkback
Fast Forward
Cloud Microphones JRS-34-P, JRS-34, and Cloudlifter
Mics, Mechanisms, and Myths—A Meditation
DPA Microphones 4099 Series
Chandler Limited Little Devils
A Studio Miking Primer
Sontronics Orpheus and Sigma
Zoom Q3 Video Recorder
Superscope Elevation—A Walking Tour
Recording’s Guitar Column
Reviewed and Revisited: Ableton Live Intro
Recording’s Keyboard Column
Avid M-Audio Fast Track and Pro Tools M-Powered Essential
It’s Your Music—Know Your Rights. Chapter 3: Recording Issues
ART M-Three and M-Five Microphones
Shure SRH440 and SRH840 Headphones
Readers' Tapes
Advertiser Index
Fade Out
Recording - June 2010 - Recording - June 2010
Recording - June 2010 - Cover2
Recording - June 2010 - 1
Recording - June 2010 - Fade In
Recording - June 2010 - 3
Recording - June 2010 - Contents
Recording - June 2010 - 5
Recording - June 2010 - Talkback
Recording - June 2010 - 7
Recording - June 2010 - Fast Forward
Recording - June 2010 - 9
Recording - June 2010 - 10
Recording - June 2010 - 11
Recording - June 2010 - Cloud Microphones JRS-34-P, JRS-34, and Cloudlifter
Recording - June 2010 - 13
Recording - June 2010 - 14
Recording - June 2010 - 15
Recording - June 2010 - Mics, Mechanisms, and Myths—A Meditation
Recording - June 2010 - 17
Recording - June 2010 - 18
Recording - June 2010 - 19
Recording - June 2010 - 20
Recording - June 2010 - 21
Recording - June 2010 - 22
Recording - June 2010 - 23
Recording - June 2010 - DPA Microphones 4099 Series
Recording - June 2010 - 25
Recording - June 2010 - Chandler Limited Little Devils
Recording - June 2010 - 27
Recording - June 2010 - A Studio Miking Primer
Recording - June 2010 - 29
Recording - June 2010 - 30
Recording - June 2010 - 31
Recording - June 2010 - 32
Recording - June 2010 - 33
Recording - June 2010 - 34
Recording - June 2010 - 35
Recording - June 2010 - Sontronics Orpheus and Sigma
Recording - June 2010 - 37
Recording - June 2010 - Zoom Q3 Video Recorder
Recording - June 2010 - 39
Recording - June 2010 - Superscope Elevation—A Walking Tour
Recording - June 2010 - 41
Recording - June 2010 - Recording’s Guitar Column
Recording - June 2010 - 43
Recording - June 2010 - Reviewed and Revisited: Ableton Live Intro
Recording - June 2010 - 45
Recording - June 2010 - Recording’s Keyboard Column
Recording - June 2010 - 47
Recording - June 2010 - Avid M-Audio Fast Track and Pro Tools M-Powered Essential
Recording - June 2010 - 49
Recording - June 2010 - 50
Recording - June 2010 - 51
Recording - June 2010 - 52
Recording - June 2010 - 53
Recording - June 2010 - It’s Your Music—Know Your Rights. Chapter 3: Recording Issues
Recording - June 2010 - 55
Recording - June 2010 - 56
Recording - June 2010 - 57
Recording - June 2010 - 58
Recording - June 2010 - 59
Recording - June 2010 - ART M-Three and M-Five Microphones
Recording - June 2010 - 61
Recording - June 2010 - Shure SRH440 and SRH840 Headphones
Recording - June 2010 - 63
Recording - June 2010 - Readers' Tapes
Recording - June 2010 - Advertiser Index
Recording - June 2010 - 66
Recording - June 2010 - 67
Recording - June 2010 - 68
Recording - June 2010 - 69
Recording - June 2010 - 70
Recording - June 2010 - 71
Recording - June 2010 - Fade Out
Recording - June 2010 - Cover3
Recording - June 2010 - Cover4
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