Chug chugs and diddly wee wees - Posted on 2016-03-22 by Koby Parks

Koby Parks - March 22, 2016

Chapter 6 mostly went over just that. Microphone placement. I had already learned about a good portion of microphone placement in my past experiences being in a band and attending several live shows over the years in Dallas/Ft. Worth. Reading over and studying the chapter taught and better solidified the techniques used to mic up instruments of all kinds, drums, how to record mono v. stereo, and which types of mics to use for what purpose. 

In the studio we set up a kick drum and a snare and set up 3 condenser mics across the room in 3 different locations. One was close, the second was about mid room, and the last was at the very back. I proceeded to have Alex record me sampling hits on the snare and kick and went in to listen back to the recordings on every mic. The close mic was punchy, and the furthest mic was much more delayed and ambeint, with the mid-room mic meeting both charcteristics somewhere in between. Mics used were AKG 414, MXL Hamburg Edition, and Neumann TLM-103.

After we sampled drums we then connected a guitar up and Alex had me throw down some chug chugs and diddly wee wees while he moved a dynamic Shure SM57 around on a robotic arm in front of the cab speaker. Using this tool removes any extranious work of having to mic up the cab by hand and is much more versatile and effecient to get that "sweet spot" sound into your mix. Along side the 57, he has an AEA N-22 Ribbon mic set on another speaker of the cab off-axis for a warmer low end tone to blend with the 57. The closer the mic is front to back and to the center cone of the speaker, the brighter and crispier the sound is. Pulling the mic away will mellow the tone. Even the slightest movement left to right or front to back will make a HUGE difference. Just think of how many different cabs/amps you could mic up and get completely different sounds. The laws and possibilities are literally endless.

After this he had me mic up another cabinet, but by hand. I set up an AKG 414 Condenser front and center and as close to the cone as I could. I then went into the mixing room to play and have a listen and I liked the sound. Bright and crispy, but was a little more mellow by using the condenser. He then got me to try and find a "sweet spot" and the attempt was rather meh-worthy, but nonetheless the tone had improved to a better blend of high and low end. The last thing we did was move that condenser to outside of the amp room and into the drum room and listened back to some guitar playing and the further we took it from the cab the more ambient and experimental it was starting to sound. He then took the mic into the bass room and the sound was even more ambient. This just goes to show no matter what instrument you mic up, you can alter your sound in so many ways that it's ridiculous.