Microphones 101 - The DSF production compendum

[nowaysj]

Well, bit of a story there... I do have a pop filter. But my vocalist was using the mic hand held... and for whatever reason, was wearing the pop filter as an accessory on her shoulder... uh, some takes I think she used the filter. I tried to clarify, but she went into some routine like she was a retard and had to speak through the, "popper"... I laughed so hard, I actually passed out... I fell out of my chair, she woke me up and I was having some type of seizure, wasn't too cool. Some of the takes we got, had pretty catastrophic pops. But I think you can tell from the context, the session was a touch less than scientific.

[Siderealdb]

Get a mic stand. If your vocalist is retarded, than let her know that. Shit like this will become irritating, trust me.


For all the people talking about sm-57's and vocals. Please buy some sort of Large Cap Condenser Mic. If your doing a live setup, then a 57 is alright, but in the studio they just create more work for the engineer.


Actually heard a story that you can run a 57 underneath the wheels of a semi truck without it getting damaged.

[wirez]

I think this is invalid advice, the SM57 produces a specific sound which may be the preferred sound that the recording engineer is looking for.

By all means it's good advice to recommend getting a condenser so that the engineer can choose between the two, but by implying that a condenser is 'better' for vocals wouldn't necessarily be true. It all depends on the preferred sound.

For example - an SM57 might be a better choice for rap/MC vocals as it's dynamic and has a higher sound pressure resistance which may be necessary for all of the hard transients in rap. A lot of MC's like the sound of soft plosives and proximity because it adds more power and aggression into their voice. / In this circumstance a condenser wouldn't be ideal as you'd need to stand the vocalist further away from the microphone in order to stop the hard transients ruining the recording (and maybe even the microphone, depending on the microphone and intensity of the sound pressure). The moving away from the microphone would result in a reduced proximity effect which may sound too 'thin' for an MC vocal take recording.

[thor_beatz]

3 types of mic's? I think that should read 3 types of common mic's...

If I want to know about mic's I just type gearslutz + question in google and you will find a proper answer on all your questions.

[deadly_habit]

this is a beginners primer man
if you know jack about mics in the first place i sincerely doubt you're going to need beyond the scope of those 3 mic types

and i'd love if more people searched around other forums, used google etc for info, but sadly that's too much effort for a lot of people

[thor_beatz]

this is a beginners primer man
if you know jack about mics in the first place i sincerely doubt you're going to need beyond the score of those 3 mic types

and i'd love if more people searched around other forums, used google etc for info, but sadly that's too much effort for a lot of people

Fair enough. It's just that I would not likely ask on gearslutz about "how to wobble". Just like i would not ask here what mic to get. In the end any effort towards teaching others about music is cool tho.

[deadly_habit]

why not we have plenty of people on here who do lots of work professionally and amateur level with mics...
once again the general user base here though has no real desire to learn recording, just production

[thor_beatz]

Like your blog btw @deadly habit

[deadly_habit]

thanks i try to cover stuff beyond the same ol boring scope that repeats itself content wise here, just kinda slacking on updates heh

[nowaysj]

I don't know thor. No doubt gs is just overflowing with recording/mixing/mastering information. Literally can just lurk and read over there, don't even have to post. But, I think dsf could potentially give better advice about a lot of gear, including mics, because we're familiar with our ghetto methods and intent, where as over at gs, its like if your signal path doesn't cost over $85k, you can't get a decent sound.

[thor_beatz]

Well correct me if I am wrong, but all that's ghetto about recording foley/voice etc, is the price you pay for the mic.

query: gearslutz, mic, budget = great advice from people who also worked with the expensive professional mic and can tell you what the difference is etc. Not out of economical necessity but from an experienced insight.

Again I would not ask "how to wobble dat" on GS, just tought i'd drop the link for those interested. Mostly due to all the KRK recommendations you see flying around on here. It's a shame if ghetto stands for a waste of money.

[nowaysj]

It's a shame if ghetto stands for a waste of money.

Almost by definition it does.

[pete_bubonic]

I use an AKG C1000s, I think it's a cardoid mic, but can be set to super cardoid with some fiddling. Though I never bother. I use it for mainly guitar recordings and more and more vocals. I love the tone it gives and the clarity to the high end. and I got it for a tenth of it's price. Woop.

[deadly_habit]

Well correct me if I am wrong, but all that's ghetto about recording foley/voice etc, is the price you pay for the mic.

query: gearslutz, mic, budget = great advice from people who also worked with the expensive professional mic and can tell you what the difference is etc. Not out of economical necessity but from an experienced insight.

Again I would not ask "how to wobble dat" on GS, just tought i'd drop the link for those interested. Mostly due to all the KRK recommendations you see flying around on here. It's a shame if ghetto stands for a waste of money.

you also have to keep in mind that the gear slutz main board and their electronic production boards are different beasts
honestly if i wasn't mainly doing electronic bass based music i wouldn't be using or recommending the rockit series, but for it they're perfect (albeit i prefer the gen 1s all day over the gen2)
and honestly if you did a comparison i think you'll find my recommendations are semi in line with gear slutz, though a few a personal taste

[nowaysj]

I use an AKG C1000s

A much reviled mic on GS , making my point exactly.

[thor_beatz]

It's a shame if ghetto stands for a waste of money.

Almost by definition it does.

Heheh, if this wassnt a music prod boards, that would be a political discussion

Like I said, just dropping the link and tickling the discussion Like Deadly Habit wrote, there is a difference between boards on GS. There is the "I only use tape and my monitors have diamond cones and it's not pronounced as bucket but bouqet" board and there are boards with "freelancers trying to make ends meet, or who still know how it used to be back in da day" kind of peoples.

Best advice for budget recording i've got was from GS. (Rode NT1A for foley recording. Extremely low self noise and as flat as it get's for the money).

I guess what I like about GS's is that you'll be likely to get an answer from a more scientific point of view. Phase cancelling, freq response charts etc.

[frank grimes jr.]

Looking for a bit of advice on a mic here.
I've had a go at searching GS and such, and really I'm digging deeper than I feel I ought to.

What I'm after is a mic that I can hang on a boom, for hands free talk over while playing records.
I do not have phantom power, and space is minimal.
There are monitors located behind the mic position, and I'm not trying to break the bank.
Also, it needs to look the part. The space is very retro.

Shure super 55?
What about these Nady knockoffs?

Do I need to worry about impedance matching, when plugging a mic into my mixer?

[pete_bubonic]

I use an AKG C1000s

A much reviled mic on GS , making my point exactly.

I rate it for guitars, but been playing around with a lot of vocals in depth lately and the mic is sounding too sharp around 8/9k. It's adding some next level freqs to any sibilance. Need to think about investing.

Or beat up my singer.

[deadly_habit]

heh my st51 got run over by a car field recoring and sounds better than it used to

[bigfootspartan]

So my girlfriend is moving halfway across the country, and we're planning on doing a collaboration type thing where she records vocals. She won't have an audio interface over there, and I'm not keen on letting her have mine, so I was wondering if anyone has any advice on how to go.

I figure that for around $150 my best bet would be to either get a USB mic (I've heard good things about the Blue Yeti and Audiotechnica 2020), or a Zoom H2.

Anyone have any reasons for going one way or another? Obviously the best would be to get a cheap interface and a proper mic, but I wanna keep this on the cheap. I do kind of want a field recorder anyways, but is it any good as far as recording vocals goes?