What about instruments?

A great example of ‘never too many microphones’ must be the bass drum. Now, work this one out: Sennheiser makes three mics with the description ‘kick drum microphone’, Shure also makes three, AKG makes a couple, as do Beyerdynamic and Audio Technica. Neither Neumann nor Rode make a specific ‘kick drum microphone’ yet plenty of engineers choose these in the studio above the models designed and promoted as kick drum microphones. What sound is it that you are shooting for? Attack of the beater, tone of the shell, or the oomph that is the perfect sum of the two...

The perfect blend - Making a Utility of Microphones work for you

It’s strange how one snare drum can sound so different, depending on who is whacking it. Less strange is how nearly every singer in the world sounds different to the next. What is not strange at all is that ‘my best vocal mic’ won’t sound great with every single singer, and ‘my killer snare mic’ just sometimes doesn’t grab the right sound for a recording. Making a Utility of Microphones (or should that be a Pickup of Microphones) work for you involves a bit of time and memory. Get to know what your mics are capable of. Plug them in often, and use them for heaps of different applications. If in doubt, ask advice...and don’t shy away from experimenting. You may just be the one who discovers ‘the sound’.