Microphone Techniques for Music - Studio Recording

MicrophoneTechniquesforStudioRecordingAShureEducationalPublicationMicTechniquesStudioRecordingMicTechniquesStudioRecordingfor3INTRODUCTION.........................................4MICROPHONETECHNIQUES...............................4MICROPHONEPLACEMENT................................8MICROPHONECHARACTERISTICS.........................20INSTRUMENTCHARACTERISTICS..........................23ACOUSTICCHARACTERISTICS............................24MICROPHONESELECTIONGUIDE.........................28GLOSSARY............................................29APPENDIX............................................33Index4IntroductionTheselectionandplacementofmicrophonescanhaveamajorinfluenceonthesoundofanacousticrecording.Itisacommonviewintherecordingindustrythatthemusicplayedbyaskilledmusi-cianwithaqualityinstrumentproperlymikedcanbesentdirectlytotherecorderwithlittleornomodification.Thissimpleapproachcanoftensoundbetterthananinstrumentthathasbeenreshapedbyamultitudeofsignalprocessinggear.Inthisguide,ShureApplicationEngineersdescribeparticularmicrophonetechniquesandplacement:techniquestopickupanaturaltonalbalance,techniquestohelprejectunwantedsounds,andeventechniquestocreatespecialeffects.Followingthis,somefundamentalsofmicro-phones,instruments,andacousticsarepresented.SECTIONONEMicrophoneTechniquesHereisaverybasic,generalproceduretokeepinmindwhenmikingsomethingthatmakessound:1)Useamicrophonewithafrequencyresponsethatissuitedtothefrequencyrangeofthesound,ifpossible,orfilteroutfrequenciesaboveand/orbelowthehighestandlowestfrequenciesofthesound.2)Placethemicrophoneatvariousdistancesandpositionsuntilyoufindaspotwhereyouhearfromthestudiomonitorsthedesiredtonalbalanceandthedesiredamountofroomacoustics.Ifyoudon’tlikeit,tryanotherposition,tryanothermicrophone,tryisolatingtheinstrumentfurther,orchangethesoundoftheinstru-mentitself.Forexample,replacingwornoutstringswillchangethesoundofaguitar.3)Oftenyouwillencounterpoorroomacoustics,orpickupofunwantedsounds.Inthesecases,placethemicrophoneveryclosetotheloudestpartoftheinstrumentorisolatetheinstrument.Again,experi-mentwithmicrophonechoice,placementandisolation,tominimizetheundesirableandaccentuatethedesirabledirectandambientacoustics.Microphonetechniqueislargelyamatterofpersonaltaste.Whatevermethodsoundsrightfortheparticularsound,instrument,musician,andsongisright.Thereisnooneidealwaytoplaceamicrophone.Thereisalsonooneidealmicrophonetouseonanyparticularinstru-ment.Chooseandplacethemicrophonetogetthesoundyouwant.Werecommendexperi-mentingwithallsortsofmicrophonesandpositionsuntilyoucreateyourdesiredsound.However,thedesiredsoundcanoftenbeachievedmorequicklybyunderstandingbasicmicrophonecharacteristics,sound-radiationpropertiesofmusicalinstruments,andbasicroomacoustics.StudioRecordingMicTechniquesStudioRecordingforStudioRecordingMicTechniquesStudioRecordingfor5VocalMicrophoneTechniquesIndividualVocalsMicrophoneswithvariouspolarpatternscanbeusedinvocalrecordingtechniques.Considerrecordingachoralgrouporvocalensemble.Havingthevocalistscirclearoundanomnidi-rectionalmicallowswelltrainedsingerstoperformastheywouldlive:creatingablendofvoicesbychangingtheirindividualsinginglevelsandtimbres.Twocardioidmics,posi-tionedbacktobackcouldbeusedforthissameapplication.Anomnidirectionalmicmaybeusedforasinglevocalistaswell.Ifthesingerisinaroomwithambienceandreverbthataddtothedesiredeffect,theomnidirectionalmicwillcapturetheroomsoundaswellasthesinger’sdirectvoice.Bychangingthedistanceofthevocalisttothemicrophone,youcanadjustthebalanceofthedirectvoicetotheambience.Thecloserthevocalististothemic,themoredirectsoundispickeduprelativetotheambience.Thestandardvocalrecordingenvironmentusuallycapturesthevoiceonly.Thistypicallyrequiresiso-lationandtheuseofaunidirectionalmic.Isolationcanbeachievedwithbafflessurroundingthevocalistlikea“shell”orsomeothermethodofreducingreflectedsoundfromtheroom.Rememberevenamusicstandcancausereflec-tionsbacktothemic.Theaxisofthemicrophoneshouldusuallybepointedsomewherebetweenthenoseandmouthtopickupthecompletesoundofthevoice.Thoughthemicisusuallydirectlyinfrontofthesinger’smouth,aslightlyoff-axisplacementmayhelptoavoidexplosivesoundsfrombreathblastorcertainconsonantsoundssuchas“p”,“b”,“d”,or“t”.Placingthemicevenfurtheroff-axis,ortheuseofanaccessorypopfilter,maybenecessarytofullyeliminatethisproblem.Whilemanyvocalsarerecordedprofessionallyinanisolationboothwithacardioidcondensermicrophone,othermethodsofvocalrecordingarepracticed.Forinstance,arockband’ssingersmaybeuncomfortableintheisolatedenviron-mentdescribedearlier.Theymaybeusedtosinginginaloudenvironmentwithamonitorloudspeakerasthereference.Thisisatypicalperformancesituationandforcesthemtosinglouderandpushtheirvoicesinordertohearthemselves.Thisisadifficultsituationtorecreatewithheadphones.Atechniquethathasbeenusedsuccessfullyinthissituationistobringthesingersintothecontrolroomtoperform.Thiswouldbeespe-ciallyconvenientforprojectstudiosthatexistinonlyoneroom.Onceinthatenvironment,asupercardioiddynamicmicrophonecouldbeusedinconjunctionwiththe