Judah RatzlaffVictoria Recording Connection

Lesson Six Posted on 2016-04-29 by Judah Ratzlaff

A great lesson today on microphones and their placement in the studio. Brent and I went over the course material including the test and some of the issus covered in chapter 6. Soon, after going through the material, we set out to do some recording to see what results we got with different microphones in different formations and in different areas. We mostly covered stereo miking and the different configurations that you can use to achieve an optimal stereo sound. All the mics we used were sent through a Seventh Circle C88 preamp. We started by using a pair of Royer Mod condenser mics in XY (90 degree) formation and then with a Clave (Cuban instrument/rhythm) moved along the microphones from right to left to get a better idea of the stereo image and how well the sound was being picked up. We also used two diffent sets of capusles on these microphones to see how the it changed the results. We had omnidirectional capsules and cardioid capsules. The omnidirectional mic definitely picked up more of the room sound while the cardioid was more of a precise sound and had a better stereo image. Later on, we set up microphones on the grand piano as well and played around until we found a sound that worked for us. We ended up with really pleasent results using two caridioid condenser mics at, roughly, a 110 degree angle. After we had some recordings, we talked about stereo imaging and how you can use mics to create different effects. A tip that Brent shared with me is that you should always pan reverbs away from the instrument its coming from so it doesn't "muddy up" the sound source. Also, at the very end of the lesson we actually took apart a tube condesner mic to look at the components of the microphone and then used it to record a few sounds on the Grand Piano. 

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