Week 2 - Microphones - Posted on 2014-10-09 by Vincenzo Larich

Going into my second session was pretty awesome. I was told by Thomas that we would be identifying some different microphones and hooking them up, and getting hands on is exactly what we did. First we discussed dynamic mics vs condenser mics. I learned that dynamic mics do not need their own power supply unlike condenser mics. The power supply for those condenser mics is called phantom power. I was also shown where to use some of these mics while recording, like a large diaphragm condenser for vocals because they are very accurate and can pick up much higher frequencies and such. And a nice dynamic mic can be used for drum pads on a drum kit.

After getting into detail about each of those, we went right into the studio and helped wire some up. That was my first experience hands on, and just a taste of what's to come. We set up a few mics for Thomas to play his guitar and I was able to go back and record him, where he then showed me some different tequniques of how to get different sounds from echoes, reverbs, things of that nature. We also discussed polar patterns, and how those can be used in different scenarios. An example would be the figure eight polar pattern that would be eaily used for a duet on a single mic. All very interesting things to take in.

Later this week, I have been invited to Track Star to sit in on a session with a drummer and watch them setup the mics for the drum kit and observe exactly how it all goes down. So I'm very excited to say the least and will be back to write about the experience soon.