Hi everyone,
Some may remember i posted on here a little while ago regarding the choice of soundcard. I have now decided to purchase a PreSonus firpod (eight mic preamp ins, midi in etc.) to run in conjunction with my pc, most probably using Cubase to record with.
I now have a couple of questions regarding the room which i'm leasing to record in, and also the kind of mics i should use, and mic placement within this room. I'm kind of thinking this is a bit more of an interesting topic than my previous, so hopefully you guys can get something out of it as well as answering my dumb ass questions!
Basically this is the run down.
The room I'm leasing is the third and top level of a music store, prob around 1/2 a km from the centre of the city where i live. It is a very old building, my room has no carpet, a realatively high celling - hence the room is very 'alive'. When you clap it's all around you. I'm aware that studios are typically the opposite of this but this kind of sound is what i'm after. I very much want a retro kind of trashy sounding drums, very loud vocal and main guitar kind of sound. To put this into context, maybe something along the lines of that Franz Ferdinanz sound, (if you're familiar with that). Or maybe a pre whie album beatles sound.
Or what about this. A certain amount of warmth and drive, within the context of this metallic, ambiant sounding room. Think 'aggressive' also.
Hopefully you get my drift, these are my questions...
What kind of mics should i buy? I'm guessing a decent condenser, couple of 57s for guitars...what about drum over heads? Also if I'm recording vocals with the condenser and i want to put a mic in the corner of the room to mix with the condenser, what kind? Will something less smick get the sound i'm after, maybe an sm58..?
I want to get that really ambiant trashy kind of sound but i'm still after warmth and drive to get in your face. ? ?
Any sugesstions and/or just personal crit appreciated!
Cheers, lilarthur
Comments
Tube Condenser Mic Whats up! I just bought a really nice micr
Tube Condenser Mic
Whats up!
I just bought a really nice microphone a few months ago. It's a NADY TCM 1050 Tube Condenser Mic. Its relatively cheap - around $250 when I bought it, but I'm sure they've gone down. Here's the site:
http://www.nady.com/products/product_pgs/tcmmics_pg1.html
Big rooms are great and when you want a dry track all you need t
Big rooms are great and when you want a dry track all you need to do is hang some moving blankets over some mic stands .... Get some fiberglass and trap all the corners and you're in business.
If you have a great sounding room, I think you should get a couple of U87s for use as vocal, drum o/h's and room mics ... the U87 seems to pick up the most ambiance in a room in comparison to others. Other than (or along with) that, my choice for absolute "must have" mics / standard studio fare are;
Shure
SM57 (several) drums, guitars, vocals etc.
SM7 (at least one) bass amps, kick, vocals.
ElectroVoice
RE20 (at least one) bass amps, kick, vocals,
Senheisser
421 (several),drums, guitars, vocals etc.
441 (at least one) vocals, horns, woodwinds, snare, kick.
409/609 (several) toms, snare, guitars, vocals etc.
Beyer
201 (several) snare, guitar amps, vocals etc.
AKG
451 or 460 / 480 (at least two) acoustic instruments, drum overheads, hi hat.
D112 / D12(at least one) kick, floor toms, bass amps, guitar amps, vocals.
AUDIX
D6 (at least one) kick, floor toms.
Audio Technica
4033 (at least two) toms, drum oh's, guitars, horns, woodwinds, vocals etc.
You should be able to fill this "wish list" for less than $7000 ... add another $2000 for a decent used U87 ..
... the it goes on but IMO these are the ones that are basic requirements. Of course YMMV .. After you have those, you can fill in the collection with the nice stuff like tube and ribbon mics ..
Some great suggestions, thanks very much! I especially like the
Some great suggestions, thanks very much! I especially like the bit about putting a particular sound in context - Got me thinkin'!
What are people's opinion on the presonus firepod??
The only reason i ask is that i've browsed quite a bit through this forum, as well as some other similier home recording websites, and have come across two seperate threads regarding people having trouble with it. I kind of think that a piece of equipment kicke that either works or it doesn't - i guess some things may be a little more user friendly than others....
I haven't yet purchased it yet, but it seems to be really good value for money, also i'm yet to come across a unit with that many (8) mic pre's built in. Anyhow, if anyone has the dirt on this particular piece of equipment, may they please cough up below!
Cheers. :o
I would really try to make sure you have a way (movable panels,
I would really try to make sure you have a way (movable panels, a closet, the bathroom) to record fairly dry stuff as well. It's great to have a trashy, "big" sounding room but as with all things it will lose it's effect if you don't put it into context. (Mixing dry sounds with ambient ones.)
I'm not gonna jump into the whole mic discussion (look through the other forums here - it's been mentioned ten times the last week only!) except for this: if you're recording the room to mix with your dry vocal takes (great idea!) you'll probably want a stereo pair of condensers for this application. A dynamic mic, such as the 58 might work but won't give the open sound you're after. Also, make sure you have two mics - the room is a 3d thing after all. :wink: These two mics will also work well for drum overhead etc.