Sound Recording - the WellMixed.com Blog

The blog has not been well-tended recently, but now it will be even less so, as the WellMixedStore.com takes over the NavBar link on the main website.

However, this means the beginning of a new era, where the microphones that you want to listen to are available at WellMixedStore.com

News about all thing related to home recording will be more constantly posted on a little microblogging platform that you may have heard about called Twitter. Be sure to Follow @WellMixed there.

Before I get too many posts deep into this blog, I need to tackle a question that I know a lot of beginning recordists might have: “I only have money for one mic. What should I get?”

For me, there are only a couple of options around the $100 price point.

1.) an SM-57 by shure

or

2.) a large diaphragm condenser mic.

The SM-57 has a nice frequency response (pictured left). It adds loudness in the higher frequencies where you may want a little added clarity, like vocals. It also takes extremely high sound pressure levels. This means that snare drum rimshots that might make you cross-eyed won’t distort it. The 57 growls warmly on electric guitar. As far as durability goes, if they made cars like this, I’d still be driving a 1978 Volvo 244 GLE. My second choice for first time mic buyers is not quite as durable as this, but may suite a particular need better.

(more…)

Go ahead! Crank it up!

Oh wait… what’s that crackly hiss?

It’s the monster… behind the wall … well, from the grid really. Electricity can be DIRTY and noisy. Here are a few easy tips to help eliminate electrical noise.

1. Unplug IT. When Recording with a Laptop, unplug it from the wall and use only battery power. This isolates your equipment from anything else on the circuit that may be polluting the lines. It’s a very easy way to prevent grounding problems in your home from creating noise on your recordings. This works really well if you have a bus powered (USB or Firewire) system. You should notice an obvious reduction in electrical noise. (more…)

Everyone - even the most casual music video watcher - is well acquainted with the pop filter. Even the most thug rapper can be seen in videos preaching to a microphone behind … pantyhose. And yes, it is The ultimate guerrilla-recording technique to make your own pop filter out of your mother’s Leggs and a bent up wire hanger.

The reason for these things is called the Plosive. The rush of air after a P sound really can mess up a great vocal take. It is the number one reason for punch-ins and overdubs when tracking vocalists. Professional voice talents often enunciate with even harsher P’s than ametuer musicians, and as such the pop gaurd is a very important tool for anyone recording a vocal track.

The metal pop guard pictured is a 15 dollar model. It is almost-certainly the best dollar value I’ve ever put into my recording toolkit. It reduces the wind hitting the microphone by a critical amount, yet lets the sound pass through. I recommend metal over nylon because it is much more effective at killing the Plosive. It also is far more durable. These let the vocalist worry about the vocal emotion and not swallowing their P’s.