Presented by the Arts Management Program in the College of Charleston School of the Arts and sponsored by Borboleta Audio Mastering, "In the MIX: Music Indus...
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Microphone Tips
As you may formerly know, every microphone has its own clear characteristics. How do you want what mic to use for a particular sound source? Its an option you have to make and there are no wrong and right way to choose one. The everyday Rule of thumb is, if it sounds delightful, use it. With that in mind, every microphone has its mechanical limits. For example the maximum volume it can handle before it starts distorting or even worse, gets damaged.
SPL (sound pressure level) indicates that maximum volume. It can be establish in the microphones spec sheet. You can deface an extravagant mic by hitting it to hard and blowMoving the diaphragm. Dynamic mics seldom have a max SPL rating. Condenser mics come with SPL rating because their built with electronic circuitry that can overload and that overload can cause audible distortion.
When your trying to find the on target placement of your mic, you need to factor in the sound of the room. Putting the mic closer to the instrument, will peter out the sound of the room (environmental interference). This kind of Mic-ing techniques is called close Mic-ing or tight Mic-ing. A good technique is to place your ear directly to where the microphone is at and this will give you a perspective of what the mic hears and in return records..
Each and every mic was built with a particular application intended for it. The characteristics of a mic help you conclude what to use it for. Like the diaphragm size, the pick-up pattern and the frequency response. All those things along with understanding of their specifications will effect your mic choice.
Pick-up Patterns:
Omnidirectional is a mic pattern that picks up all directions equally.
It doesn’t reject sound form any angle. For this characteristic, the omnidirectional mics are great for capturing room ambiance and groups of instruments. Its fantastic for picking up sound from a distance. These mics are not for live use as they can produce feedback more easily than any other pick-up pattern.
Bidirectional is a mic pattern that doesn’t hear form the edges, but it hears equally form both sides. This mic is a great choice for recording two sound sources into one track by positioning the mic between the two sound sources. Another name for this is called the figure-eight pattern.
Unidirectional and often called cardioid pickup or directional has a heart shaped pattern with it most sensitive part being the part you sing into, facing the mic capsule. This mic is best for isolating sounds. Its great for when your recording with a group of people. Because when you point the mic at one instrument, it will pick up less to none of the sounds from the other instruments in the opposite direction. The disservice of using this mic is you need to be up close to get the full sound.
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While I was in LA in January I caught up with ace guitar player Pete Thorn in his new studio. In this video we talk about his set up, mini pedal board, amp r...
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Audio Compressor Tips
A compressor is an mechanical volume control that turns loud parts of a music signal down when the VCA see’s the signal larger than a certain level that was set by the user. This makes us able to bring the complete volume of the song up and in return, the softer sounds get louder. In return, we can print the entire track with a louder signal level. Its a fantastic tool for recording instruments with a wide dynamic range.
The 5 Parameters of a Compressor:
Threshold is the point where the compressor starts recognizing the signal’s amplitude. When the amplitude rises above an established, it will start to act in a way defined by the attack time, release time and ratio settings. There are 2 ways that the threshold works. It can boost the signal up into the threshold or it can be moved down into the signal. In both the ways, the only part of the audio that gets processed is the part that goes above the threshold.. After the signal goes above the threshold, the VCA turns down the part that is above the threshold, leaving the rest of the signal unaffected.
Attack Time controls the amount of time it takes the compressor to turn down the signal after it passes the threshold. The attack time need to be adjusted just right. If its set to fast, then the compressor can turn down the transients and that can cause the instrument or song to lose its life.It can also effect vocals if its set to fast by making the ‘t” and ‘s’ sounds disappear. The opposite can happen if the attack time is set to slow. It will exaggerate the ‘t’ and ‘s’ sounds because it will pass through uncompressed because of the long attack time.
Release Time is the time it takes the compressor to let go or turn the affected signal back up when It gets below the threshold.
Fast release times work very well with the fast attack times and slow release times work very well with the slow attack times. Release settings are crucial, because if its set to fast, it can boost noise that is between the notes and if its set to low, it can compress a quieter note that follows the note the was above the threshold.
Ratio determines how extreme the VCA action will be. The ratio is a comparison between what goes through the threshold and the output of the VCA. The first number of the ratio will indicate the increase of how much dB will result in 1dB of increased output. The higher the ratio is, the more compression there is.
Output Level makes up for reduction of gain that the VCA causes. If the was reduced by 5dB, the output level can boost the signal back to its original level.
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