Archives
June 2010
In our June issue, we dive into the guts and the glory of a topic that’s a favorite with almost every recording musician: microphones! The “guts” comes from Paul J. Stamler, who provides us with a fascinating look at the workings of mics—why they sound the way they do, how they work with our other equipment, and what “common knowledge” about them is useful... and what is nothing more than myths and hearsay. The “glory” comes from Joe Albano, who gives us a useful primer on mic placement and applications for a variety of musical sources.
Our Guitar Column takes a look at cool guitar miking techniques, and our Keyboard Column looks at miking electronic keyboards. (And if you’re scratching your head and wondering why anyone would mike a synthesizer, you don’t want to miss this article!)
Our reviews cover some very cool microphones from makers you might not have heard of, but should. The new 4099 instrument mic from DPA Microphones is reviewed, Scott Dorsey takes apart the "new vintage" Cloud JRS-34 ribbon mic, and we take a look at two marvelous designs from British maker Sontronics—the Sigma and the Orpheus.
If mics aren’t your thing this month, don’t worry, there’s much more: we return to our series on the legalities of protecting your music with the third instalment of our series “It’s Your Music—Know Your Rights”, and we review headphones from Shure, new software from Ableton and Superscope, a handy video/audio recorder from Zoom, and more—over a dozen reviews in all!
Whether you’re a beginner looking suspiciously at his brand-new mic purchase and wondering how to actually use it, or an expert looking for new and unusual ideas on how to make mics and music come together, there’s something for you in the June RECORDING!
Cloud Microphones JRS-34-P, JRS-34, and Cloudlifter
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Reviewed by
Scott Dorsey
Cloud Microphones JRS-34-P, JRS-34, and Cloudlifter |
Reviewed by
Scott Dorsey
A new maker draws on classic ribbon mic construction techniques.
The ribbon microphone is a natural figure-8 microphone; it’s a thin ribbon of metal foil suspended between some magnets. Air moves the ribbon back and forth an......Expand
A new maker draws on classic ribbon mic construction techniques.
The ribbon microphone is a natural figure-8 microphone; it’s a thin ribbon of metal foil suspended between some magnets. Air moves the ribbon back and forth and a current is induced in it by the magnetic field. It’s sort of like a one-turn dynamic microphone.
There are a lot of different variants on the ribbon design, from the small high-tension ribbon mics beyerdynamic makes to the aluminum-on-mylar printed ribbons Fostex used to make, but most of the time when people think about ribbon mics they think of the traditional line that RCA made popular in the 1920s and kept making well into the 1970s with constant technical innovation.
Back in the 1930s, the ribbon was very popular because its low mass meant it was the only available microphone design that could handle high frequencies and reproduce transients well. Today in 2010, the reason most people grab a ribbon is the exact opposite; the ribbon tends to smear over transients and mellow out the high end more than modern condenser designs. The old RCA ribbons had a wide variety of sounds but all with the same basic character, and it’s one you’ll hear on a lot of older recordings.
The Cloud Microphones JRS-34-P was designed by Stephen Sank, whose father Jon R. Sank (hence the initials) was the designer of many of the later RCA ribbon microphones, including the BK-11 that was probably the pinnacle of ribbon microphone technology for RCA. The “P” stands for “passive”, meaning this isn’t a modern active design with a built-in phantom-powered head amp that lets the mic run with a wide variety of preamps. Cloud makes such a mic, the JRS-34, and its head amp is available separately as the Cloudlifter. I had a chance to work with all three products; most of my tests were done on the JRS-34-P, which gets most of my attention below....
Read more in the June 2010 issue of RECORDING!
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DPA Microphones 4099 Series
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Reviewed by
Paul Vnuk Jr.
DPA Microphones 4099 Series |
Reviewed by
Paul Vnuk Jr.
An instrument mic system that goes everywhere and really delivers the goods.
DPA Microphones is a Denmark-based company that designs and manufactures microphones with a reputation for sonic realism and accuracy. DPA is court......Expand
An instrument mic system that goes everywhere and really delivers the goods.
DPA Microphones is a Denmark-based company that designs and manufactures microphones with a reputation for sonic realism and accuracy. DPA is courting musicians with the 4099 Series of miniature condenser microphones; although they are billed as a live instrument series, their use extends easily into the areas of studio and live recording.
The 4099 is really not so much a “series” as it is one microphone available with a choice of five instrument-specific mounting systems and two input sensitivities. Currently available are versions for Guitar, Sax, Violin, Cello/Double Bass, and the high-SPL Trumpet model. I worked with two of the standard-sensitivity 4099s, one each of the Guitar and Violin mount systems...
Read more in the June 2010 issue of RECORDING!
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Chandler Limited Little Devils
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Reviewed by
Paul Vnuk Jr.
Chandler Limited Little Devils |
Reviewed by
Paul Vnuk Jr.
That Chandler eq and compression magic, now in handy 500-Series format.
Chandler Limited’s Wade Goeke is just never satisfied with the mic preamps, eqs, and compressors he already has. First there was his LTD series of Neve ......Expand
That Chandler eq and compression magic, now in handy 500-Series format.
Chandler Limited’s Wade Goeke is just never satisfied with the mic preamps, eqs, and compressors he already has. First there was his LTD series of Neve emulations, next came his partnership with EMI/Abbey Road to reproduce modern versions of the classic EMI TG line, and this was followed by his Germ series based on vintage Germanium circuits (the first successors to valve-based technology back in the ’50s). We reviewed the eq and compressor from the Germanium line back in our October 2007 and March 2008 issues.
So what is Wade up to now? The new Chandler Little Devils, of course, a series so far consisting of an eq and a compressor, both of which we will be looking at today....
Read more in the June 2010 issue of RECORDING!
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Sontronics Orpheus and Sigma
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Reviewed by
Paul Vnuk Jr.
Sontronics Orpheus and Sigma |
Reviewed by
Paul Vnuk Jr.
Two very cool mic designs from the UK—now available in the US.
We at Recording have been curious about Sontronics microphones for a few years now, but their distribution in the US was somewhat limited; luckily that all chang......Expand
Two very cool mic designs from the UK—now available in the US.
We at Recording have been curious about Sontronics microphones for a few years now, but their distribution in the US was somewhat limited; luckily that all changed a few months ago with new distributorship and I was excited to finally get my hands on a couple of their designs.
Launched in 2005 by Trevor Coley, Sontronics is a UK-based company that offers British-developed and -designed, Chinese-made microphones, and preamps made in Europe. The mic lineup includes the full range of styles and sizes from tube to FET to ribbon and more. Another “me too” line in an ocean of imports? A quick look around their website may change your mind....
Read more in the June 2010 issue of RECORDING!
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Zoom Q3 Video Recorder
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Reviewed by
Lorenz Rychner
Zoom Q3 Video Recorder |
Reviewed by
Lorenz Rychner
A musician’s video recorder should deliver awesome audio quality, right? Check it out!
Why does Recording write up a video recorder, you wonder? Because the Zoom Q3 is touted as doing a better job at audio recording than you......Expand
A musician’s video recorder should deliver awesome audio quality, right? Check it out!
Why does Recording write up a video recorder, you wonder? Because the Zoom Q3 is touted as doing a better job at audio recording than your average pocket-sized video recorder, that’s why. With video content becoming more of a focus for every music project thanks to sites like YouTube and Facebook, there’s a real need for a video recorder that delivers the goods on the audio side of things.
Look at your average pocket-sized video recorder and the last thing that stands out is the microphone. It’s usually hard to find, hidden behind tiny holes in the body, and produces horrible sound that’s prone to breakup, and worse, at sane levels—let alone at realistic band-performance levels.
Enter the Zoom Q3. Take a look at the picture: The round grey mesh behind the protective blue slats covers a pair of stereo condenser mics, mounted in X/Y configuration. Turn the unit on and record something, play it back, and it becomes immediately obvious that this unit is designed to record audio. So much so that, to my way of thinking, the video takes the consolation prize—the unit can indeed be switched to record only audio!...
Read more in the June 2010 issue of RECORDING!
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Superscope Elevation—A Walking Tour
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Reviewed by
Lorenz Rychner
Superscope Elevation—A Walking Tour |
Reviewed by
Lorenz Rychner
A quick spin around the workflow of this handy education/recording software tool.
The names Superscope and Marantz have been linked off and on over the decades, and if your music making goes back far enough you may remember ......Expand
A quick spin around the workflow of this handy education/recording software tool.
The names Superscope and Marantz have been linked off and on over the decades, and if your music making goes back far enough you may remember their specialized cassette recorders and later CD recorders aimed at the music education market. Features like half-speed playback for play-along practice and others made these devices ubiquitous in music students’ homes and in music schools. These days, under both the Superscope and the Marantz names, you can still buy such hardware devices that now incorporate today’s technology like SD cards, MP3 files, etc.—check out www.superscopetechnologies.com.
Now Superscope has released a piece of music practice software called Elevation that makes these teaching and practice tools available on your computer. Audio recording is among the program’s tools—which, like all things recording, made us want to look at it, hence this Walking Tour....
Read more in the June 2010 issue of RECORDING!
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Reviewed and Revisited: Ableton Live Intro
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Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Reviewed and Revisited: Ableton Live Intro |
Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
The compositional fun and power of Live in a form anyone can afford.
When I was chatting with the folks at Ableton about their newest products, I mentioned that I wanted to get a review of Live Intro into the magazine as soo......Expand
The compositional fun and power of Live in a form anyone can afford.
When I was chatting with the folks at Ableton about their newest products, I mentioned that I wanted to get a review of Live Intro into the magazine as soon as possible. They were a bit surprised, considering that in the midst of their many other initiatives—helping to develop new controllers like the Akai APC40 and APC20 and the Novation Launchpad, building a new online collaboration system, and promoting the exciting prospects in the Max For Live programming environment—Live Intro was released with fairly little fanfare.
My response to this surprise could be taken as a summation of this review: “Reviewing Live Intro is a no-brainer. People need to know about Live Intro because it puts Live in everyone’s hands for very little money, and that is a very good thing.”...
Read more in the June 2010 issue of RECORDING!
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Avid M-Audio Fast Track and Pro Tools M-Powered Essential
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Reviewed by
Mike Metlay with Fernando Curiel
Avid M-Audio Fast Track and Pro Tools M-Powered Essential |
Reviewed by
Mike Metlay with Fernando Curiel
A simple entry-level audio interface pairs up with an introductory version of Pro Tools.
M-Audio’s new Fast Track provides a straightforward set of features and comes with Pro Tools M-Powered Essential, a simplified version ......Expand
A simple entry-level audio interface pairs up with an introductory version of Pro Tools.
M-Audio’s new Fast Track provides a straightforward set of features and comes with Pro Tools M-Powered Essential, a simplified version of Pro Tools that’s intended to get new users into M-Audio’s recording world as easily and affordably as possible...
Read more in the June 2010 issue of RECORDING!
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ART M-Three and M-Five Microphones
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Reviewed by
Nick Casares
ART M-Three and M-Five Microphones |
Reviewed by
Nick Casares
A new microphone lineup includes affordable multipattern condenser and ribbon designs.
ART Pro Audio has been on the audio scene for years as a manufacturer of sound processing tools. Recently, ART has introduced a series of......Expand
A new microphone lineup includes affordable multipattern condenser and ribbon designs.
ART Pro Audio has been on the audio scene for years as a manufacturer of sound processing tools. Recently, ART has introduced a series of microphones. The M Series includes a collection of condenser, tube and ribbon mics aimed at the project-studio market. For this review I received the M-Three, a multi-pattern large-diaphragm condenser mic, and the M-Five, a ribbon mic.
The fit and finish of the M-Series is clean and understated. Black metal casings give a somewhat stealth look to these mics and both models feel like they’re built to very high quality standards. Each microphone comes packaged in a standard foam-lined carrying case and includes a shock mount.
The M-Series took up residence in my home studio for about 6 months, and I used the M-Three and M-Five exclusively for two demo tracks I’ve been working on, so I had plenty of opportunity to try each mic with a variety of sources and recording conditions...
Read more in the June 2010 issue of RECORDING!
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Shure SRH440 and SRH840 Headphones
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Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Shure SRH440 and SRH840 Headphones |
Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Comfortable, rugged, great-sounding phones in your choice of listening tonalities.
Shure has gotten into the professional headphone business in a big way. The company is legendary for its mics and has a longstanding and well......Expand
Comfortable, rugged, great-sounding phones in your choice of listening tonalities.
Shure has gotten into the professional headphone business in a big way. The company is legendary for its mics and has a longstanding and well-respected line of in-ear monitors, but the SRH series of headphones is Shure’s first step into a new realm. The line has four models, including an entry-level set and a DJ model; in this review we’ll take a look at the other two designs—the SRH440 and the SRH840.
Reviewing two similar models from the same line can be tricky, because if they share more points in common than differences it can be hard to differentiate them for the reader’s mind. But I’ll give it a shot... after I cover some common ground...
Read more in the June 2010 issue of RECORDING!
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Mics, Mechanisms, and Myths—A Meditation
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Written by
Paul J. Stamler
Mics, Mechanisms, and Myths—A Meditation |
Written by
Paul J. Stamler
Class is in session, and you’re about to learn the inner workings of microphones—capsule types, sizes, electronics—and how they affect your music. Make an informed decision the next time you reach for a mic!
So many micropho......Expand
Class is in session, and you’re about to learn the inner workings of microphones—capsule types, sizes, electronics—and how they affect your music. Make an informed decision the next time you reach for a mic!
So many microphones, so much to understand! Ribbons. Dynamics. Condensers. End address/side address. Tubes. Solid-state. Transformers/no Transformers. I can’t cover everything you need to know; instead, I’m going to spend most of this caffeinated ramble under the hood, talking about what actually happens inside mics, how they work (and don’t)—my colleague Joe Albano will handle the usage side of things in his “Studio Miking Primer” on page 24. Along the way, I’ll visit and bust a few audio myths, and point out a couple that survive because they’re, well, true—or at least partly so....
Read more in the June 2010 issue of RECORDING!
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A Studio Miking Primer
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Written by
Joe Albano
A Studio Miking Primer |
Written by
Joe Albano
The basics of recording seven studio-staple musical instruments—acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, acoustic bass, piano, brasses, and woodwinds—and vocals, too. If you’ve wondered how to get started miking up your band... here’s a grea......Expand
The basics of recording seven studio-staple musical instruments—acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, acoustic bass, piano, brasses, and woodwinds—and vocals, too. If you’ve wondered how to get started miking up your band... here’s a great place to start!
Despite the plug-ins, virtual instruments, and modeling doodads vying for our attention, acoustic recording is alive and kicking, and better than ever! Reasonably-priced high-quality mics and analog front-end gear (preamp, eqs, compressors) mean even the smallest project studios can come up with great-sounding tracks.
Since it all starts at the microphone, this article will serve as an introduction to the basic miking techniques used in a typical pop/rock/jazz recording. Since there’s more than one right way to record just about anything, these suggestions should provide novice recordists with a decent jumping-off point. I won’t try to cover every mic type and placement option, but we’ll cover some basic choices for miking up vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, bass, piano, and horns/winds....
Read more in the June 2010 issue of RECORDING!
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RECORDING's Guitar Column
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Written by
Brian Tarquin
RECORDING's Guitar Column |
Written by
Brian Tarquin
Effective strategies for miking up amplifier cabinets, with mic and placement suggestions.
Finding the right mic placement when recording guitar through an amp or acoustically can be tricky. Many elements come into play, suc......Expand
Effective strategies for miking up amplifier cabinets, with mic and placement suggestions.
Finding the right mic placement when recording guitar through an amp or acoustically can be tricky. Many elements come into play, such as room acoustics, amplification, mic type, and of course the musical style of the player. For example, the approach will differ from recording an aggressive acoustic guitar player compared to a subtle jazz player using a Gibson L5 archtop.
I found that playing in the room first and then walking around to see where all of the sound transients come from is the best way to evaluate your sound, especially when recording an acoustic guitar. Below are some example miking scenarios from three pros in the business....
Read more in the June 2010 issue of RECORDING!
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RECORDING's Keyboard Column
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Written by
Devon Brent
RECORDING's Keyboard Column |
Written by
Devon Brent
Miking an electric keyboard? Yes! Secrets for getting great tones from your electric keys.
Keeping everything ITB (In The Box) when it comes to DAW recording is certainly very convenient compared to recording OTB (Out of The......Expand
Miking an electric keyboard? Yes! Secrets for getting great tones from your electric keys.
Keeping everything ITB (In The Box) when it comes to DAW recording is certainly very convenient compared to recording OTB (Out of The Box). Even so, a pinch of OTB flavor can add a little pizzazz to those keyboard tracks. If you think you need to spend thousands of dollars to get that extra bit of ‘something’, think again. Let’s dive in to see what extra we can do to improve those tracks.
There is certainly something to be said for moving some air molecules about a room when making that “perfect” track. When it comes to electronic keyboard tracks, the flexibility is almost infinite. Whatever you do with after it hits the outputs is up to you. Let’s take a look at a few suggestions...
Read more in the June 2010 issue of RECORDING!
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It's Your Music—Know Your Rights. Chapter 3: Recording Issues
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Written by
Todd Gascon and Bruce Kaphan
It's Your Music—Know Your Rights. Chapter 3: Recording Issues |
Written by
Todd Gascon and Bruce Kaphan
If you’re recording music as a sideman, using sidemen on your project, sampling others’ work, or otherwise sharing talent in your compositions, there’s a lot to do in order to make sure you get fair credit for your work, and your collaborators get......Expand
If you’re recording music as a sideman, using sidemen on your project, sampling others’ work, or otherwise sharing talent in your compositions, there’s a lot to do in order to make sure you get fair credit for your work, and your collaborators get fair credit for theirs.
In this article we will discuss the legal issues that you may face when recording your songs. In particular, we will discuss the legal issues to consider when recording with others, sampling and preparing your recordings for commercial release....
Read more in the June 2010 issue of RECORDING!
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Fade Out
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Written by
Paul J. Stamler
Fade Out |
Written by
Paul J. Stamler
The $5.00 Preamp Urban Legend.
Every couple of years, an urban legend goes around the Internet audio world about a fabulous five-dollar home-built preamp that outclasses much pricier units in listening tests, with the implie......Expand
The $5.00 Preamp Urban Legend.
Every couple of years, an urban legend goes around the Internet audio world about a fabulous five-dollar home-built preamp that outclasses much pricier units in listening tests, with the implied corollary that this proves commercial preamps are overpriced ripoffs.
I won’t go into the “listening tests” here—subjective tests are always a can of worms. Instead, I want to address why the claim of a $5.00 “giant-killer” preamp is nonsense. Because, well, it’s not a $5.00 preamp...
Read more (and find a link to the legend itself) in the June 2010 issue of RECORDING!
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