The one thing I need?

[davekershaw]

Apr 20, 2008, 9:03am, devin wrote:Re: finding a chair....I know several graphic designers and IT people that use...get this...a large exercise ball to sit on.No kidding...I have one in the studio now, it's a great option to have in addition to the chair.Hey Devin.My wife's got one of those.I'll borrow it and give it a try!

[billg]

Hey Dave, I really went through the paces tryting out mics a while back. I had a really high bar because the studio where I had been working I used a mic that was in the 3k ballpark & got pretty used to it! I was broke (I'm always broke) so I just went about researching & trying out every mic under the sun. A lot of people like the Studio Projects C1 (about $200). It's a very good mic but not on my voice. It has a very modern, very "bright" sound but is "essey" and nasty on my voice. I used it on a client's vocals (a country singer) who swears I had his voice sounding better than it ever did . . . go figure. I settled on an MXL V69m. It's a tube mic. I was ready to get rid of that one until someone told me that this was a great mic if you replaced the stock Chinese tube. I replaced it with a tube that was recommended on a few of the "gear head" sites & man did it make a difference. Without doing an a/b comparison I'm not gonna go as far as to say it sounds as good or better than the 3k mic. But I will say that the fact that it's close enough to make me even think about it surprises me. I use a Cascade ribbon mic for backround vocals & electric guitar cabinets. They are great mics but maybe a little to "dark" for a main vocal mic. I bought factory second for $129. If I hadn't been satisfied with my tube swap venture I was going to check out Karma audio. They let you "try before you buy." One thing to be aware of, a lot of these affordable mics are made in China & quality control is an issue, so you could get a great one or not so great one. Another mic that's supposed to be awesome for the money is the ADK Hamburg ($300) but I don't know first hand. Hope this helps & good luck!

[squids]

Hey Dave!Happy to hear you're starting up....don't forget to throw in some bucks for the therapy of your choice (alcohol, whatevah!) when the stuff won't do what you want some days! I'm using a Blue baby bottle mic, which works cuz I'm an alto with a smooth voice.....it's good for jazz torch singer treatment. It's also got a really small pop screen, which helps with singers who don't like having something stuck in their face all day. It's pricey but I got a really good deal on ebay. Bill's having great luck with his setup but I know a female vocalist might need something a lil different or be prepared to really work your preamp to get it sounding where she wants it. Us females (sigh). We jes like that.

[milfus]

hey, good tip for compression, if done right, theres no peak diff at all, you can click it on and off and it doesnt get any louder, just the quiet parts around the peak pull more into focus. If you have a min, send me a pm and i can answer any compressor probs you are having/give some tipsonly thing i would suggest, and this is just because of my own preferences, get a tube pre-amp, even a cheap tube pre sounds better than some of the thousand dollar plug ins, and you can gain stage with it to give ya signal strength and head room

[mazz]

milfus,I agree that the compressor can work well as an "averaging" device as you describe. There's times when totally squashed in your face is appropriate which is completely different than the scenario you described. And peak limiting is a completely different use of a compressor as well.There's no one-size-fits-all setting for compression. Really understanding how a compressor works and being able to dial in the sound you're looking for is a necessary skill in recording and is usually one of the most difficult concepts in recording to wrap one's head around.For Dave re: his post: I recommend running a vocal track through a simple hardware or software compressor and experimenting with the different controls. Turn down the speakers and try extreme settings to hear what the different functions do. Really listen to the difference between the dry and compressed versions. Try to hear compression on commercial recordings. After experimenting on your own, you'll start to be able to hear compression being used as an effect, etc. You've been hearing it all along, but now you'll know what you're hearing.Just my 2cents!Mazz

[steveha2865]

billg,Could you tell me what tube you put in your V69m mic? I like my V69 but there's always room for improvement. Thank you

[devin]

As always, Mazz makes a great point...and this one about compression is a biggie. There's nothing worse than having a killer track recorded, but it has too much compression going in...it can't be undone! Finding a way to get really good at this is an art, and a requirement.(note: I'm not very good at it myself...but I'm starting to realize how important it is).Along this line, I think I take back my stance on "Dave, don't buy anything else until you explore the limits of what you've already got"...and add one piece of gear that can be really beneficial. If you haven't upgraded the Sennheiser's, seriously consider a great pair of quality headphones with excellent isolation for use when recording yourself. I used to use $20 earbuds with construction hearing protection over top....not good. You and I are very similar (mostly tracking by ourself, in the same room as the DAW, etc)...and that one purchase turned out to be a small leap, not just a step.Being able to set up your (new!) mic, and play your acoustic while hearing what your signal path is hearing is very educational. Silvercord and I both went with the AKG 271 headphones. I find the isolation really good for acoustic guitar...and now I can hear alot more of what the mic is picking up. Good headphones that isolate and accurately reproduce sound would greatly help you determine mic placement and compression settings...both areas are high on the list from the folks that have already responded.P.S. When you figure out the mic placement and compression, tell me how, OK?!?

[billg]

Steve, I sent you a pm but in case anyone else wanted to know about the replacement tube;it's a nos (new old stock) Mullard/Philips ECC81 bought it online from www.kcanostubes.com for $32 plus shipping.

[liamkelly]

Apr 20, 2008, 4:05pm, billg wrote:Steve, I sent you a pm but in case anyone else wanted to know about the replacement tube;it's a nos (new old stock) Mullard/Philips ECC81 bought it online from www.kcanostubes.com for $32 plus shipping.You know, Bill, I so respect you for sharing your technical tips Really I do. But the real truth is that you've got a voice with centuries of character And you use it so well They don't have a valve for that Liam

[milfus]

Apr 20, 2008, 1:10pm, mazz wrote:milfus,I agree that the compressor can work well as an "averaging" device as you describe. There's times when totally squashed in your face is appropriate which is completely different than the scenario you described. And peak limiting is a completely different use of a compressor as well.There's no one-size-fits-all setting for compression. Really understanding how a compressor works and being able to dial in the sound you're looking for is a necessary skill in recording and is usually one of the most difficult concepts in recording to wrap one's head around.For Dave re: his post: I recommend running a vocal track through a simple hardware or software compressor and experimenting with the different controls. Turn down the speakers and try extreme settings to hear what the different functions do. Really listen to the difference between the dry and compressed versions. Try to hear compression on commercial recordings. After experimenting on your own, you'll start to be able to hear compression being used as an effect, etc. You've been hearing it all along, but now you'll know what you're hearing.Just my 2cents!Mazzyeah but that would be limiting, not compressing, and yeah, peak limiting is peak limiting, i just made the distinction because he had allready seperated them