Choosing the Right Microphone
02/10/23 • 35 min
1 Listener
How do you decide what microphone to use for any instrument or voice you will be recording? All microphones sound different from one another, which is a wonderful tool at our disposal. Making the right choice will improve your recording, eliminate many problems at the mixing stage, and minimize the amount of processing you need.
In this episode, I talk about why I chose the mics I did on two very different projects. One was a punk session and the other an acoustic singer-songwriter project. I explain why I decided to use a particular microphone, and sometimes suggest alternatives.
Of course, this reflects my style of recording. I don’t expect my choices to be your choices, but perhaps this explanation will help you when it comes time to make your decisions.
In this episode, I talk about microphones from AEA, BeyerDynamic, Flea, Neumann, Royer, and Shure. To be clear, I have no connection with these companies except that I love the mics they make. And I have friends at some of the companies. There are mics from many other manufacturers in my collection, but in these examples, those were the mics I used.
email: [email protected]
www.youtube.com/c/DWFearn
https://dwfearn.com/
How do you decide what microphone to use for any instrument or voice you will be recording? All microphones sound different from one another, which is a wonderful tool at our disposal. Making the right choice will improve your recording, eliminate many problems at the mixing stage, and minimize the amount of processing you need.
In this episode, I talk about why I chose the mics I did on two very different projects. One was a punk session and the other an acoustic singer-songwriter project. I explain why I decided to use a particular microphone, and sometimes suggest alternatives.
Of course, this reflects my style of recording. I don’t expect my choices to be your choices, but perhaps this explanation will help you when it comes time to make your decisions.
In this episode, I talk about microphones from AEA, BeyerDynamic, Flea, Neumann, Royer, and Shure. To be clear, I have no connection with these companies except that I love the mics they make. And I have friends at some of the companies. There are mics from many other manufacturers in my collection, but in these examples, those were the mics I used.
email: [email protected]
www.youtube.com/c/DWFearn
https://dwfearn.com/
Previous Episode
Headphones for Mixing
The typical music consumer these days is listening on earbuds or headphones. Or maybe on the tiny speakers in their smartphone. Few are listening on speakers, at least none of any reasonable quality.
It makes sense for us to take this into consideration when we mix a song.
Engineers have always had to make adjustments and compromises in order for their mixes to translate well for the public. Since most of your work will be heard on some sort of personal listening device, it is often good to either mix using headphones, or at least check the mix that way.
In this episode, I talk about my personal preference for headphones for mixing and listening, which goes back decades. Sure, I use the studio monitor speakers as another reference, but when it comes to details, I just hear more with the headphones. This is especially true when editing.
Everyone has to develop their own approach to this, and I expect many people prefer monitoring and mixing through their expensive monitor speakers. And there are times when speakers are the way to go, such as when more than one person has to listen, or when you want to get that visceral experience of feeling the bass.
Many people in the world of recording were saddened to hear of the death of Joe Tarsia, founder of Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia. Joe was a pioneer, always on the forefront of new technology. Many successful engineers came up under Joe’s mentorship. I know I will miss the interesting conversations I had with Joe, going back to the late 1960s.
You can listen to my conversation with Joe Tarsia from 2020 in episode 26. Here is the link:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/942952/5418067
There is also a YouTube video of the same conversation, with some extra content, including a series of photos from Joe’s career:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMwTQ8XhY9c
email: [email protected]
www.youtube.com/c/DWFearn
https://dwfearn.com/
Next Episode
Dave Hill
Most of you in the professional audio world have learned that Dave Hill, founder of Crane Song, died in February.
Dave and I were friends for over 30 years. In this episode I tell some stories about our interactions over the decades. Not only was Dave an amazing engineer and designer, but he was also a wonderful human being.
There is a terrific documentary about Dave, made by French filmmaker Alain Le Kim. It is now available on YouTube. Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68VPMNeIlVs
Your comments are always appreciated. You can reach me at [email protected]
email: [email protected]
www.youtube.com/c/DWFearn
https://dwfearn.com/
My Take on Music Recording with Doug Fearn - Choosing the Right Microphone
Transcript
75 Choosing the Right Microphone February 10, 2023
I’m Doug Fearn and this is My Take on Music Recording
I would guess that you have accumulated more than a few microphones over the years. Why are there so many different models? Why do they sound different from each other? I have talked about these questions in the past, so in this episode I want to explore why we choose a particular mic for a specific instrument or voice.
As a quick review, here is a very brief summary o
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