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Gino Benedetti
This week when I came into the studio I was lucky enough to observe Joey mixing a song with one of his clients. One of the things that I picked up from observing was the process of automation. I watched them listen and determine the spots where the lead track volume could be brought up. So they go to the lead track and mark those spots with dots and then they actually can bring the volume up on the lead in just that specific spot. Then when the song played back the fader automatically went up on the lead when that spot comes. In the end they really had a great mix of all the different sounds in the song and everything blended well.
Also I learned about microphones. He brought me to his live stage where he explained that cardioid dynamic mics are what he uses for his live stage because they are not as sensitive and they will not pick up all of the other sounds on the stage rather just the vocal or guitar sound that is going directly into the heart pattern of the mic. Everything else is blocked out. He then took me to his vocal room and explained that cardoid condenser mics are what he uses in that room because they are much more sensitive and will pick up everything so you can hear every detail in a vocal. These mics are better for overdubbing and one sound rather than a bunch of different sounds all together. Also we talked about omnidirectional mics which can be used like if a vocal group is singing in a circle with the mic in the middle because the pattern is a full circle. We talked about the different kinds of cardioid mics including super cardioidal mics which have a narrower heart shape that could be used if we have multiple toms on a drumset that are close together. Then we talked about the importance of frequency response and basically that if we use a mic made for a flute on a kick drum then the result will not be too good and that we would need to eq that kickdrum. He told me that if the right mics are used, the right instruments are used, and the right room is used then there should be no need for an eq. He showed me some of his work where he uses nothing but mics and instruments. The result is a natural sound with no artificial eq reverb or anything because there is no need. He showed me his bidirectional mics he has overhead of his drums which give him the natural reverb of the room. I learned alot about mics this week and am excited for more next week.
