Studio Etiquette 101: Engineering efficiency! November 25, 2008
Posted by ConnorSmith in : Microphone Techniques, Project Studio , trackbackAs an engineer, you have a multitude of tools at your disposal to create near-endless sonic possibilities. Mics, preamps, compressors, EQs, plug-ins, virutal instruments, other effects, jecklin discs…
Its no wonder its such a daunting challenge to figure out which pieces of gear to use on each source, and then figure out how to blend them all together musically… Spending too much time switching equipment to “find” sounds can really drag a session down, but rushing through things can sacrifice sonic quality (or at least sonic “interest”).
Take this as an example:
You are tracking a session at your favorite project studio. You are about to start recording the rhythm guitar (and the guitarist is using a Les Paul through a Marshall 4×10). For example’s purposes, let’s suppose the studio you are working in has 4 different preamps and 8 different mics. To run through the list of all the possibilities, you would have to try out 32 different individual mic/preamp matches. Then (as it often happens) if you wanted to put two mics on the room, you’d have even more things to move around and setup. As long as this would take, in the end, you could theoretically end up with THE best guitar sound that could come out of the studio.
…but… you just ate up 6 hours of studio time, and you haven’t tracked a single strum yet…
On the opposite side of things, you could just throw up an SM57 and track away. While the 57 is pretty “standard” as far as guitar cabs go, you may be robbing yourself of some really great potential.
In a lot of cases, here is what I would suggest: For comparison’s sake (plus the fact that it often sounds awesome), I almost always throw a close mic’ed SM57 on guitar cabs. From there I usually add another close mic (if its a dynamic, maybe a D112 or MD421; condenser, something large diaphragm; or even a ribbon) to compare to the 57 as well as a room mic (which is usually a large diaphragm condenser or a ribbon). Just be sure to line up the diaphragms on the close mics (else face the wrath of phase problems/comb filtering)!
Now you have a lot of options in the control room. Blend the two close mics? Blend a close and the room mic? Blend all three? Just take the 57? On top of amplitude/spectral stuff, remember that you have nearly limitless options in the stereo image as well (although panning two of the mics hard L and R is not a bad place to start sometimes).
That was a long tangent, but the point of it is that as an engineer, balancing sonic experimentation with forward progress is something to always keep in mind. Things only get worse as you add more and more gear. If you are in a big studio with 80 mics, 80 preamps, and 20 compressors, things start to get tricky. Anytime you have the opportunity to hear new gear, jump on that opportunity. Start building a sonic memory of what pieces are good on what sources. A little experimentation is great too when you have the time to fit it in. (Like in the guitar example, maybe try an oddball mic/pre combination on the 2nd close mic, since the 57 will probably be a solid sound anyway).
More on this to come as we start sorting out tubes from transistors and the like…
C
The Studio Files
Comments»
I’ve always used two microphones for electric guitars (a dynamic up close and condenser about 2 feet away) but the idea of using a third seems pretty cool. You referred to it as a room mic so I’m guessing you set it up fairly far away from the amp. Where exactly would you suggest putting it?
Often a room mic can add a great character to a guitar recording. The mic needs to be placed where it sounds best (so its really hard to give a “you should put it ::here::” answer, sorry)
A good place to start would be a few (maybe 4-6) feet back from the amp (closer or farther, depending on a lot of factors, including how the room sounds).
Just watch for phase problems! I would suggest moving the mic around until you find a good spot. Also, in a particularly bright and reflective room, this mic will often sound terrible.
Hey Connor–
Some great ideas in this post. I like the idea of giving yourself options in the mix by tracking with multiple mics. In today’s DAW multitrack world, track counts are usually ample to experiment like this and “waste” a track )if you decide not to use it later. You can also fix some phase issues later by nudging tracks a few samples (I said “sometimes”!)
Thanks for this.
Damon
The Studio Files