Members Bruce Swedien Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 Here's how I feel about microphone technique. Microphones are The VooDoo-The Magic Wand, the Secret Weapon, of the Music Recording Engineer or Producers trade and craft. Do you agree....... If you don't agree.... get out of my way... I'm coming through! Bruce Swedien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tim_7string Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 I completely agree! Oh, should I elaborate? It's like night and day when it comes to recording the same thing. Using a cheapo microphone gets an okay sound, but upgrade it just a bit and it sounds 2-5x better! When all else fails, get yourself *that* microphone, and all is right with the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 I doubt there's much dispute here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 It's all important. Mics are more important than most everything else, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 Exactly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 To elaborate...that's because a microphone isn't only a transducer, it captures ambience which means it's also a time-delay processor, and is a very sophisticated equalizer (mic placement adds a second, equally sophisticated equalizer). I think the magic comes from exploiting all those elements when miking anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ggm1960 Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 To elaborate...that's because a microphone isn't only a transducer, it captures ambience which means it's also a time-delay processor, and is a very sophisticated equalizer (mic placement adds a second, equally sophisticated equalizer).I think the magic comes from exploiting all those elements when miking anything. Well then the space must be just as important yes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 It's all important. Space, placement, choice of microphone and pickup pattern, choice of microphone preamp, volume, etc. Much of your sonic personality, tendencies, and the "personality" of the room can be picked up in this manner. So...yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bp Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 Location, location, location. It's not just about real estate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bruce Swedien Posted October 5, 2010 Author Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 I think that a sound in time is the same as if it was an object in space. I don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lee Flier Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 Couldn't agree with you more, Bruce... except that nowadays so many recordings use a lot of elements that are recorded completely out of context, i.e. samples, amp sims, synths, pre-recorded loops, etc. So the person has no choice but to use post processing to define space and clarity. Often, the only thing to be recorded "live" is vocals, and those often have a ton of processing added, too. Once in awhile, someone mentions that this is a problem, and that spatial depth has mostly been lost, but the notion is usually shot down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 Clarity is done in the very early stages of the recording process, in the beginning, at the microphone. Every aspiring audio engineer or producer should have this tattooed on the back of each hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ernest Buckley Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 Here's how I feel about microphone technique. Microphones are The VooDoo-The Magic Wand, the Secret Weapon, of the Music Recording Engineer or Producers trade and craft. Do you agree....... If you don't agree.... get out of my way... I'm coming through! Bruce Swedien Sorry Bruce, don`t mean to disagree again.... but I would replace "microphones" with "talent". Talent is The VooDoo-The Magic Wand, the Secret Weapon, of the Music Recording Engineer or Producers trade and craft. Recording MJ with a SM57 is still going to sell lots of records. Recording Joe The Plumber with a (fill in the blank) mic is still going to sound like doo doo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ernest Buckley Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 Every aspiring audio engineer or producer should have this tattooed on the back of each hand. If you`re recording turd, it doesn`t matter. Does it? Talent was, is and will always be paramount. Amen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Adey Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 Yes, its not so much about a question of quality either its a whole different issue. For example, i have an old 4 track (tascam porta 2) with an old, school rock band recording on it using 1 mic. Everything about it production wise was awful. Fast forward 10 years and i have tools at my disposal which give my recordings more of that professional feel, with comp, delay, eq, properly mixed etc that people would usually call higher quality than the 4-track. Now the modern recording certainly is higher quality, but it is lacking something that the old recoding had; environmental sonic cohesion. Because i used one mic the quality was poor, but its like a Polaroid, it takes a snap shot and captures the ambience and energy of the performance. Where as now i use too many VSTi and not enough live instruments. Maybe its a slightly different point to Bruce's, but its kinda related i think. Assuming it makes sense of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 If you`re recording turd, it doesn`t matter. Does it?Talent was, is and will always be paramount. Amen. The point is that as an audio engineer, Ernest, you can't control talent (nor should you). You can, however, control how you choose to capture what talent is there. Mics are the key element in that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boosh Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 Do you agree.......Bruce Swedien You know I can't disagree on that one. I know what I can do with my mic. I've tried it on almost everything. This afternoon I used it to record the sound of crickets (yup the little critters). I'm thinking of putting the sounds of real crickets in a song. Booshy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 Couldn't agree with you more, Bruce... except that nowadays so many recordings use a lot of elements that are recorded completely out of context, i.e. samples, amp sims, synths, pre-recorded loops, etc. So the person has no choice but to use post processing to define space and clarity. Often, the only thing to be recorded "live" is vocals, and those often have a ton of processing added, too.Once in awhile, someone mentions that this is a problem, and that spatial depth has mostly been lost, but the notion is usually shot down. You definitely absolutely lose the depth and other spatial cues. But you also lose the sonic signature of each recording space, and the sonic signature of the engineer or producer, and the sounds blending together. That imparts a lot of uniqueness, and if you are using amp sims and pre-recorded loops, sure, it might "sound" good, but it loses the uniqueness and individual character. And that's the stuff that we so often love about a great recording. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ernest Buckley Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 You know I can't disagree on that one. I know what I can do with my mic. I've tried it on almost everything. This afternoon I used it to record the sound of crickets (yup the little critters). I'm thinking of putting the sounds of real crickets in a song. Booshy Sounds like a sleeper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ernest Buckley Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 The point is that as an audio engineer, Ernest, you can't control talent (nor should you). You can, however, control how you choose to capture what talent is there. Mics are the key element in that. Bruce was saying that mics were the most crucial element in a producers toolbox..I consider talent as part of that toolbox. If we are talking just gear, I would agree that mics are the most important. I thought we already agreed on this years ago. A producer, mixer, etc... can only do so much with the gear as you know and yes, you`re correct, theres nothing they can do about the "talent" we record but please, talent is the most important element to all of this. No Count Basie, no Quincy, no MJ, no Bruce. Sure Bruce could have made great records with other talent but when you`re working with the cream of the crop, its really hard to screw up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boosh Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 Sounds like a sleeper. You wait my man ,.. ;-) My songs are for dancin' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ernest Buckley Posted October 5, 2010 Members Share Posted October 5, 2010 Boosh, Looking forward to it. E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus Lozada Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Every aspiring audio engineer or producer should have this tattooed on the back of each hand. So... do you mean that I am not a great audio engineer because I can has great control of the mighty Pro Tools??? Can't it all be fixed in the mix with the plug-inz I gets from the interwebs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted October 6, 2010 Members Share Posted October 6, 2010 So... do you mean that I am not a great audio engineer because I can has great control of the mighty Pro Tools??? Can't it all be fixed in the mix with the plug-inz I gets from the interwebs? I recorded this 21-year old singer a couple of years ago, having him sing into a rather good signal chain. He turned to me between takes and asked, "How do you get such a great, huge sound recording my vocals?" I began to answer, but before I could, he added, "What plug-in are you using?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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