Monitor placements/Settings

Tale the Mist - Recordings

Alternative Reverb

Date: 14/4/2010
Duration: 2.5 hours

Recording solo artist - Song: Saturday

Date: 11/4/10
Duration: 4 hours

I visited the home of a solo artist I previously recorded for to help him record his material. I introduced him to Logic on mac and its many advantages and he took my advice and bought Logic express (Logic Pro Lite version) and has himself been doing some recording using his Mbox soundcard.

I was asked 2 weeks in advanced if I could come down and help him record, so I got in contact with the artist and asked him things he needed. I ended up taking several different microphones, extra xlr cables and my external hard drive.

When I arrived, we laid down the drum beat on which the guitars will be played over. We created the beat using Ultrabeat and tweaked the tempo and settled on 127bpm.

After recording the acoustics guitars, I had to use EQ to get them sounding more 'natural'. The on-board pre-amps on the mbox mini weren't great and I had to EQ the tracks quite extensively.
After tracking the acoustics guitars and bass guitar, the electric guitar was plugged into the mbox for DI and we used the guitar amp pro inside Logic.

After I briefly mixed the song using Logic's own plugins, I automated certain parts of the song for balance. I saved the project on the host HD as well as my external HD connected via Firewire 800. There was very little more I could do at the artist's home (no studio monitos, just pair of desktop speakers) so I left and once I returned, uploaded the files and tweaked the EQs and compressors til the mix sounded better.

After re-listening to the tracks back home, I was amazed how different the song sounded. Many fine details were not audible on the desktop speakers (such as buzzes unbalanced instruments). Then I realised the EQs I was applying back at the artist's home was not the fault of the actual recordings but that of the speakers. I was compensating for the lack of definition and frequency response of the speakers. It really brought home the importance of having a decent pair of monitors for tracking.

Our intention with the recording was not really to come out with a very polished piece of recording but to track the whole song so the artist can work on further and embellish is needed. I agreed (sometime during the summer holiday) to re-record the song at my place and couple other songs. I sent the mix (mp3 file) via email to the artist.

Here is a piece of the recording:

Microphones comparison continued

Date: 7/4/10
Duration: 3 hours

Continuing from the microphone comparison, I compared the Shure SM57 mic with the Red 5 RVD9 mic. Both dynamic microphone.

I recorded the snare drum  from the drumkit. Same rules applies from the previous post, same settings (on the Focusrite pre-amp), placements (from the sound source).

Here is the recording of the snare by the Shure SM57:

And here is the recording of the snare with the Red 5 RVD9:

And here is the two tracks inside Logic 8:

Visual inspection of the two tracks reveal no huge difference in sensitivity of the mics (SM57 is slightly more sensitive)
On the hearing test, the RVD9 is sharp and defined but lacking the punch. The SM57 has more punch to the recording and generally fatter sound. I could see myself using the two sets of mics for different snare sounds I'm after. Generally in rock you want a fatter sounding snare, in jazz for example require more 'snare' sound.
I'm very surprised by the result and will be sure to experiment with snare mics more often to learn the characteristics of these microphones.

Next I compared two small diaphragm condenser microphones. AKG C1000s and Red 5 RV4.

I recorded a cymbal (Paiste 2002 Wild crash 20") from the drumkit and using same settings on the pre-amp and positioning of the mics above the cymbal, I hit the record button.

Here is the cymbal recorded with the AKG C1000s:

And here is the recording done with the Red 5 RV4:

And here is the two tracks next to each other in Logic 8:

Visually they look remarkably similar and there are no obvious artifacts that can be seen on picture above.
Listening tests prove the hardest so far to distinguish one from the other. They sound very much alike. There are no obvious hints to which may be which and I am hard pressed to decide on my favourite.
I have however have experience recording other parts of the drumkit, mainly the hi-hat using these microphones and my experience was slightly different. The RV4 is excellent until it gets to very high frequencies at which point they start to sound rather harsh and the high-frequencies seemed to get hyped. The C1000s however coped very well and I managed to record a smooth sounding cymbals.

I knew the RV4 was a great performer but this experiment has reaffirmed its usefulness in recording many types of instruments. And considering its price point, roughly half the price of the AKG C1000s, its definitely a good all round microphone.

Summary

After comparing microphones of two separate brands, I can confirm that these are great microphones and although they sometimes seem lacking compared with its more established competitors, these microphones are great performers. Performing these tests has increased my intimate knowledge of the microphones I own and will greatly help me in the future when trying to obtain a certain sound and finding the right microphone to do the job.

Microphones comparison

Date: 4/4/10
Duration: 3 hours

Recently I have experimented using different microphones for different jobs with mixed results. I have used certain microphones such as dynamic mics where I would normally reach for a condenser (hi-hat miking etc). I wanted to test the microphones to build a profile of the actual microphone and its characteristics.
I also compared the difference between similar microphones from different brands. I mostly compared more established brand (ie AKG and Shure) against a less known and smaller brand of microphone manufacturer (Red 5 Audio) to compare results.

Comparison of brands

I began the comparison between Large diaphragm condenser microphones. Between the AKG C214 and the Red 5 RV8

I used the two microphones to record acoustic guitar using identical settings on the Focusrite Twin Track Pro, recorded them separately making sure the positioning of the mic relative to the guitar is close as possible.

Here is the first recording (AKG C214):

And here is the Red 5 RV8:

And here is the tracks inside Logic 8:

As you can seen from the picture above, the AKG is more sensitive to sound pressure and is picking up more signal than the Red 5 mic.
Listening test between the two confirms the difference in levels. Another key difference between the two mics is the Red 5 mic is slightly bass light. The AKG has more bass response and is generally more balanced between the two. But Red 5 RV8 been priced at less than half price that of the AKG C214, considering that the performance is pretty good.

Experience in the past has shown the RV8 is also slightly less sensitive to high frequencies (cymbals etc) and tends to subdue the upper frequencies. I have found it to be an excellent ambient mic for drums and other instruments, I also use it to mike up guitar cabs time to time.
But the overall winner is the C214 with its balanced sound and natural response. It has extended bass response, clear mids and excellent high frequency response.

Kick mic comparison

Next I compared two kick drum mics, the AKG D112 and the Red 5 RVD1. Same settings, same positioning was used in recording the samples. Both mics were placed just inside the bass drum facing where the beater struck the batter head.

Here is the AKG D112:

Here is the Red 5 RVD1:

And here are the two tracks next to each other in Logic 8:

Visually it is immediately obvious that the AKG D112 is more sensitive than the DVR1 mic.
Listening test between the two mics is harder to classify than the previous recordings. The D112 has fuller sound but the RVD1 seems to have a more focus sound. The RVD1 seems slightly lacking in the lower bass frequencies but tighter upper bass frequencies. The D112 has good low end but seems the sound is less focused and not as defined as the other mic.
The implementation of these mics will depend on the type of kick drum sound I want to achieve. If I'm recording a heavy metal band with lots of kick drum pattern, I may choose the RVD1 because of the focused sound but most other musical genres I may opt for the D112 for its fuller sound.

MS (middle & side) mic technique

Date:
Duration: 5 hours

To increase my knowledge of mic techniques, I decided to research and implement the MS recording technique. I have have very little exposure to the technique and knew very little about how to best implement the technique.
I recalled reading a article in FutureMusic magazine which explained the MS technique so I began by digging up the old issue to re-digest the information. The article (August 2008 p40~46) discussed in-depth the workings of the technique and how to correctly implement and decode the signal.

I read around the subject more on the internet and also had the opportunity to use the technique whilst recording some classical guitar after borrowing a microphone with a switchable polar pattern (Audio-Technica AT 2050).

Little background on the MS technique

The MS technique is a coincident technique (mics are close together) employs a bidirectional (figure of eight) microphone facing sideways and another microphone at an angle of 90°, facing the sound source. The technique to completely mono compatible and used widely in films and audio recording.
The signal from the figure of eight mic is duplicated and its phase reversed, the two duplicate signals are panned equally from left to right. The middle component (as its name suggests) is panned to the centre.

The huge advantage of this technique is its unique ability to adjust the width of the recording after being recorded, in another words its polar pattern can be altered. The technique allows for the capture of very wide sounding recordings suited for many applications, guitar, piano, drums etc.
The technique enables to capture the room ambiance thanks to its bi-directional polar patterned microphone and the direct sound from the cardioid middle microphone.

After hearing samples of the technique on sites such as youtube, I wanted to have a go at it myself so after borrowing the Audio-Technica AT 2050 from a friend, I went about using the technique on a folk duo that came in to do some recording.

Recording

Setup: I used the Audio-Technica AT 2050 as the bi-directional mic and the AKG C214 as the directional cardioid microphone. The microphone's diaphragm were 90 degrees at a angle from each other. The cardioid facing directly toward the source (the folk duo) and the bi-directional mic faced the sides, hopefully capturing the ambiance.

(setup in the same configuration as the picture above)

(above is the positions of the vocalist and guitarist in the MS field)

I plugged the AKG C214 (cardioid) and Audio-Technica AT 2050 into Focusrite pre-amp and took the output of the bi-directional mic and duplicated the signal using the patchbay (Behringer PX 2000) and fed it into the soundcard.

After the recording was made inside logic, I bussed the side components to a stereo bus. This allowed be to control both side components and fade in and out for comparison. There is also a MS decoder inside Logic which only needs the one side component and duplicates the other automatically, with similar results.

The results became instantly apparent when I mixed in the side components to the middle component. The stereo depth became very wide and imaging very precise. When I turn the sides all the way down, the track becomes mono. When the sides are panned to the centre, because they are 180 degrees out of phase, they perfectly cancel each other out also leaving just the mono signal.

I was very impressed with the results and started to understands its significance and its many potential for stereo recording. After the recordings and the experimentation, I was sure I will be using this versatile technique for many of the recordings in the future. After returning the Audio-Technica AT 2050 to a friend, I began looking online for multi-patterned mic to buy for future recordings.

Here is the recording with MS technique deployed. The side components are first slowly brought up then turned on and off for easy comparison: