Hot answers tagged mic-placement
12
Let me just give a general answer here, because many people might end up in this situation today or tomorrow.
You could do several things to get rid of this boomy sound. In my opinion, you are using too many microphones to do this recording with.
First, two items apart from microphone placement.
Getting rid of the boominess
If you record in this same ...
11
Short answer is that it's just a good rule a thumb.
Basically you run into phasing issues when the same sound reaches two different mics at different times at similar levels. The 3:1 rule is to ensure that the sound level in the more distant mic is enough lower than the sound level in the near mic that that effects of the phase difference will not be ...
8
There's a lot of personal preferences that goes into this decision, but I personally prefer recording acoustic instruments with a large diaphragm condenser microphone. You can position the microphone very closely to the instrument, provided the violinist doesn't move around a lot when playing, and you can experiment with placing the microphone closer to the ...
8
As the mic is mounted on a stand a pop-filter would be a very easy solution.
If this is visually not acceptable (as it's a video project) you could think of adding a physical barrier between the person and the stand. For example a (DIY version of) this barrier.
6
Cymbals
The regular way of micing cymbals on (R'nR) drumsets is by using OverHeads (OH)
Usually a set of 2 comdensator microphones.
It depends on how many cymbals and their placement, how you best place the mics.
The exact placement is highly a matter of engineer preference I think: I'll describe what I do.
With a standard R'nR kit, I usually place the ...
6
I never made a decent recording of a grand with a dynamic mic. If you don't care about stereo, I would get rid of the 57, and just position the NT1 at the good spot. Depending of the kind of music, I'd put it just inside the piano - on the edge with the lid open - with pop or jazz music, (when in a reverberant room, open the lid just a slight bit and get the ...
5
The standard configuration is 2 mics, one pointed at the sound hole (but from an angle, not directly out from the sound hole) and one up on the neck around the 12th fret. The first mic will give you the tone of the guitar (mids and lows), and the 2nd one adds the highs as well as some strumming and fret noise.
As always, this is just a starting point. ...
4
From what I've read, the popular technique seems to involve getting the djembe off the floor (whether in a stand, or otherwise) so that a kick drum mic (like a D112) can be placed inside the center of the base. Some kind of condenser mic will give you more detail on the head than an SM57 will. Of course, then you have the typical drum mic'ing tradeoff of ...
3
Usually you work mics which record the "direct" tone and mics which record the room sound. So place your SM58 in the middle near the piano as you had. And place to mics 2-3m away from the piano. Then mix all three together. You'll get clear piano sound with nice room reverb and a stereo effect.
3
Are you trying to record a gang, or record yourself several times and create a gang? In the latter case, there is no scientific difference between using an OMNI mic with panning, and using any co-incident stereo system, all these techniques rely on intensity based stereophony.
What you can try though - depending of the amount of overdubs you plan - is ...
3
Endangered languages, cool gig. Your question of "can I get away with it" is more philosophical than a gear question.... sure you can get away with it, but if you value your work, then you probably want to take it up a level. Since it sounds like (no pun intended) audio would be a priority for you, I would find a used Zoom digital recorder, like the H1 or ...
3
For a solo acoustic instrument recording, I would find a nice-sounding room and try to capture the whole performance with a stereo mic setup.
By "nice-sounding", I mean
No noticeable external noise sources (traffic, air conditioning/heat, etc)
"live" (reverberant) but not too live. You can damp liveness with carpets, furniture, etc.
Not so small as to ...
3
There's no perfect solution to this one. As you mentioned omnis are out of the question so go with cardioids or figure-8s with the nulls pointed at the brass and percussion. You could also put up some reflectors behind the orchestra to help reduce the bleed.
Where to place the mics is just a matter of finding the best compromise - far enough from the ...
3
Sometimes a pop filter is not enough.
If you have an audio engineer on site monitoring the signal while the singers are recording this live or in a studio have the engineer work out a hand signal that can be interpreted as "back off from the mic".
Perhaps a reverse high five or a simple hand retracting would work. The key here is to have both the audio ...
3
Something that helps in recording studios is to get people to sing over the mic rather than directly into it. You'll notice that they generally hang a condensor mic from the roof and position it at eye level, higher than the mouth. This gets rid of all sorts of pops and plosives, as the wind generated from speaking doesn't crash into the mic.
For a speaking ...
2
Back when I had access to a grand and was experimenting recording it, i ran into the same situation - one condenser, and one cardioid, both not of remarkable quality. I got the best sound (although not perfect) by placing the condenser 3 feet above the strings on an open piano, above middle C, pointed at the strings. I placed the 57 underneath, but had to ...
2
I respectfully disagree with mic-ing the neck of the guitar in classical music, the fret sounds of a guitar are most likely considered disturbing. My personal favorite: create an XY-looking stereo pair (XY = make the capsules touch each other, and have them in a relative angle of 90ยบ) with omnidirectional SDCs, and pan them 100% L and 100% R This sounds ...
2
I think some combination of the following will help:
Work the mic. The closer to the mic, the louder the signal, obviously, but also use the proximity effect to your advantage. Years of listening to recordings have attuned us that the bass boost when the singer eats the mic means "intimacy".
Use a compressor. "Keeping the loud parts and the quiet parts ...
2
Do not go line in. Guitars have a really high impedance that is not compatible with the line in buffers on most desks and sound cards. If you have a built in DI on your desk or soundcard, chances are it's built with a really low quality transformer (if at all - using instead really really cheap op-amps without a transformer for the output - which is present ...
2
Go figure... ask a certain number of audiophiles a question and you'll get an equal number of answers.
Here's my take:
The dulcimer, like the piano, is a percussion instrument which has two basic tonal elements going on. You have the initial strike of the hammer and then the resonant response of the string/chamber/soundboard.
When afforded the luxury, I ...
2
You can also try an xy overhead mic arrangement, with two matched small diaphragm condensor (SDC) mics in an XY arrangment like so: http://www.wikirecording.org/XY_Stereo_Microphone_Technique . To go with this approach, you'd also want to pic up a stereo mic bar - google "stereo mic bar" for an idea, they can be had for under ten bucks.
There are some ...
2
Unfortunately, the choice of microphone and positioning is going to be dependent on the acoustics of the room that the recording is being used in. If it's a fairly quiet room, then an omni mic would do a pretty good job. However, if there is noticeable air handling noise or other background noise, the microphone(s) will need to be closer to the people ...
2
Here's a small selection of books I've found useful. This may be more than you're looking for but there's a lot to know and these will teach you a good amount to get you started.
The Sound Reinforcement Manual - General audio equipment explained, general audio terminology, very broad book that's a great reference and read.
Understanding Audio - More ...
2
Is the audio level clipping or is it actually a pop from breath or spit or something? If the audio level is simply clipping, then a gain adjustment may be all that is needed. If it is actually a problem with breathing on the mic or spit hitting the diaphragm, then you either have to tell them or use some kind of barrier. I don't know any other options.
2
The best quality still normally comes from direct micing of all participants, when that isn't an option, surface mics on each table work well. If you want to use a single mic, the best bet is a omni-directional mic in the middle of the room, followed by the worst option being a directional mic on one side of the room.
I'm not sure if it will work on that ...
1
Let's start with the two mics question: you should only use two mics if you're able to record them in separate channels.
IT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA TO USE A Y CABLE TO MIX BOTH MICS WITHOUT A MIXER.
Why? Well, if you're using two microphones you be getting a STEREO recording - and that's awesome! You can work with Mid/Side eq to balance the sounds and even set ...
1
Aside from the more obvious sounds of the Djembe to be reproduced in your recording, I always think it's worth considering that in folkloric musics, any stray rattles or jingles are considered characterful, rather than something to be rejected or avoided. They're worth considering in your mic set up too.
I found this article that describes the 'standard' ...
1
When you're at a table, a boundry effect microphone is a nice way to go -- provided you don't have anyone thumping for emphasis.
I like my Crown PZM-30D. I often use it at Church. In that case, I'm doing live sound reinforcement, while at the same time, I've got a second mix for remote rooms and recording to mp3 and DVD. I keep a PZM-30D stuck to the ...
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