#mic technique

Today we introduced recording acoustic sounds using basic stereo microphone techniques, where one microphone creates the left channel and the other, the right channel.

Please read and listen to the recording samples on two websites which illustrate the difference in how these techniques sound, and make a blog post recording your observations and reflecting on them.  Listen for and comment on:

Stereo imaging (the left-to-right distribution of sounds across the stereo field)

Tone (or timbre of the recorded sound)

Balance (ratio) of direct and reverberant sound (the distribution of sounds in the depth field)

Please make objective observations as much as possible, and at the end, state your personal sound preference.

1.  Choral recording: http://www.dpamicrophones.com/en/Mic-University/Stereo-Techniques/stereo-recordings.aspx 

Listen to: 

AB Stereo 4006A Omni Microphones

Everything seems to be all coming at me in one direction. I can't hear how the ensemble is set up. There is not much attack, but the blend is nice. There is quite a bit reverb. 

ORTF Stereo 4011A Directional Microphones

Again, everything seems to be all coming at me in one direction and I can't hear hour the ensemble is set up. This has much more attack, but the lack of reverb makes it seem like the ensemble is in a smaller venue. The sound is more dry. 

XY Stereo 4011A Directional Microphones

This also comes at me in one direction and I can't tell how the ensemble is set up. Personally, this is my favorite set up. I can hear an ideal amount of attack and blend, but there is also an appropriate amount of reverb. 

2.  Drumset recording: http://recordinghacks.com/2010/04/03/drum-overhead-microphone-technique-comparison/

Listen to:

XY (Coincident Pair) xy_cardioid.mp3

I hear attack with this set up. However, the stereo field seems a bit narrow. During the fill, it doesn't sound like the sound is moving even though the drums are in different location. There is a bit of reverb, but not an overpowering amount. 

Spaced Park spaced_omni.mp3

I feel that this set up has more attack than the previous. This set up also varies in that the stereo field is much wider and I can hear the fill changing drums. However, there is more reverb. This is my favorite set up. 

ORTF ortf.mp3

How To Use Room Mics

A lot of people don’t understand how to capture a good room tone, and most people with a home studio don’t have the type of room that will have a sound worth capturing. A large, warm-sounding room is wonderful, but most drum rooms owned by drummers aren’t that; they serve more as practice spaces. That said, there is a concept that we can explore to give you the same type of effect as if you did have your drums set up in a nice, big room.

In a typical large studio with a lot of reflective surfaces, you would put room microphones at a considerable distance from the drums. When you listen to those channels by themselves, you’d hear less direct impact and a little smearing of the sound. Compare that with what you get from the overhead microphones, which should be capturing a well-balanced stereo image of the entire kit with plenty of attack and definition. Since you don’t have a big room to record your drums in, you’ll need to manipulate the sound of your room mics a bit in your digital audio workstation (DAW) to achieve a similar result.

Before we get to the processing, however, you have to decide which mics to use and where to put them. I recommend starting with a pair of Shure SM57s. These are inexpensive and will work well for this approach. Placement is going to be key. The positions of the two room microphones need to be at equal distance from that center point to achieve a well-balanced sound and to avoid phasing issues with the other microphones on the kit. You should also take into account the rest of the room and how it’s laid out. You want everything to be evenly spaced, and that includes the distance from the room mics to adjacent walls in your studio.

Now let’s talk about how to process these room-mic channels. The first thing you want to do is add a compressor on them to smear the transients (initial hits) a bit and to level out the overall dynamic range. This is all done to taste, so have fun experimenting.

Next up is EQ. Consider what happens when you move farther away from a drumset. The biggest thing you’d notice is that the low end starts to fall away. You have to keep this in mind when processing your room mics, in order to simulate the natural acoustics of a drumset miked from a distance. I use EQ to roll off the low end a bit. Again, experiment to find the best frequency to start with.

Now apply some reverb to create the feeling that your drums are in a bigger and more reflective space.

The last item to address is the placement of the room-mic signals in relation to the other tracks. In a big studio, where the room mics are placed twenty to thirty feet from the drumset, the sound of the drums is going to reach the room mics slightly later than it reaches the close mics. That delay is a big part of what makes a drum recording sound “big.” To simulate this in your setup, all you need to do is highlight the room tracks in your DAW and slide them to the right a little bit. As you do this and listen back, you’ll notice a slap-back delay effect caused by the difference in timing between the tracks. Try different placements until you find one that works for your recording.

Chris Kimsey is known industry wide as a producers' producer, having been an inspiration to many, and boasting a star-studded resumé, including The Rolling Stones, Gipsy Kings, Marillion, The Chieftains, Deacon Blue and Peter Frampton.

He first started at Olympic Sound Studios in the late sixties as a tape op, and has recently taken up residence back in the south-west London studio for a limited time where he says it feels like coming home!

His wealth of experience coupled with depth of knowledge of 'old school' as well as modern recording techniques leaves him perfectly placed to supply Audient's blog readers with this week's studio tip:

In recording Peter Frampton's guitar we were using a small Ampeg amp with one 12'' speaker and open back. To get a BIG sound from a small amp we put a microphone at the rear of the speaker to capture the push-pull effect of the speaker cone moving. Using a Sennheiser 421 gave us an extended low mid & bottom end. Split the mics left & right in the stereo and wow!!!

Read more about Chris's spectacular career including a full discography here:

www.chriskimsey.com

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