#1709810 - 02/28/07 07:45 PM
Calling All Forumites!
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Matt Harper
Senior Member
Registered: 03/06/06
Posts: 45
Loc: San Mateo, CA
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In an effort to get you few, you proud, you brave in on the action, we're accepting submission via the forums for our upcoming issue.
What we need from you (if you can find the will and the way):
Briefly (yet thoroughly) describe an instance (or instances) where you have employed a particularly off-the-wall miking technique. What mic did you use, in what placement, on what instrument, for what purpose, to what end?
200 words or less per individual case described. If we pick your submission we will pay you at a .25 per word rate of what get's printed. Sure, that's not big bucks, but it's standard fare in publishing... and it will give you some great exposure in the pages of the magazine.
We want more action here, and so do you guys/gals. So let's draw the magazine and these forums together. Let's make this a fully integarated editorial process.
Trust me, this will be fun. And if it goes well, maybe we'll just have to keep doing it.
Deadline is Tues. March 6th.
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#1710471 - 03/01/07 08:10 PM
Re: Calling All Forumites!
[Re: Matt Harper]
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BrianK
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Registered: 12/17/00
Posts: 228
Loc: Los Angeles,CA,UNITED STATES
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I have a good one... coming soon.
So - we post here, or send in via email? I like the forum idea best.... draws people here and TO the forums later when they read it...
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#1710968 - 03/02/07 05:19 PM
Re: Calling All Forumites!
[Re: BrianK]
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Matt Harper
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Registered: 03/06/06
Posts: 45
Loc: San Mateo, CA
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Brian,
That's precisely the effect we are hoping to generate in doing this "feed to the pages" so, yes, please post here.
Then again, if anyone is lurking and is morally opposed to posting on a forum and would prefer to be more "private" about this, you can always email me at mharper@nbmedia.com
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#1713209 - 03/07/07 12:24 AM
Re: Calling All Forumites!
[Re: Matt Harper]
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BrianK
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Registered: 12/17/00
Posts: 228
Loc: Los Angeles,CA,UNITED STATES
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We were trying something different on drum overheads:
We taped two small Neumann cardiod mics (KM84) to the rim of a baseball cap which the drummer wore - each mic was "hearing" the Left or Right side of the kit. It sounded great - as it was close-in and also shifted to pick up whatever he was focusing his playing on, snare, tom fills, etc.
However, as he moved his head - the stereo image of the drums moved too - so all the drums panned around wildly at times - a truly weird psychedelic effect! It was good for a section of a song, or something crazy, but not for typical music...
Edited by BrianK (03/07/07 12:25 AM)
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#1714499 - 03/09/07 03:44 AM
Re: Calling All Forumites!
[Re: BrianK]
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Kramer Ferrington III.
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 05/12/05
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Loc: Wellington, NZ
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One time, we tried to get a sort of reverb happening by having the singer wear a large cardboard box on her head while she sang. The results were not particularly impressive, so we didn't try it again. 
I HAVE heard though, of some studio guy that had the "harp" out of a piano, if that's the name for the bit with all the strings.
Anyway, he used to put this "harp" between guitar amps and mikes while he was recording and, apparently, the very slight vibration of the piano strings gave everything a really nice, golden shimmer.
I don't know if it really works, but it really sounds like an interesting effect to try.
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#1714824 - 03/09/07 03:32 PM
Re: Calling All Forumites!
[Re: Kramer Ferrington III.]
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BrianK
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YOu can also do this kinda thing by putting a brick on the sustain pedal of a piano. The soundboard adds more sustain and volume, on top of the harp and strings. Interesting effect - unlike reverb, but similar idea...
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#1715179 - 03/10/07 06:16 AM
Re: Calling All Forumites!
[Re: BrianK]
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Kramer Ferrington III.
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Registered: 05/12/05
Posts: 9383
Loc: Wellington, NZ
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YOu can also do this kinda thing by putting a brick on the sustain pedal of a piano. The soundboard adds more sustain and volume, on top of the harp and strings. Interesting effect - unlike reverb, but similar idea...
I'm not really visualizing this... are you saying that you put the brick on the sustain pedal and then the piano picks up the sound from the amps?
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#1717159 - 03/14/07 05:11 AM
Re: Calling All Forumites!
[Re: Kramer Ferrington III.]
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BrianK
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Loc: Los Angeles,CA,UNITED STATES
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Yep - just sympathetic resonance. It is very low level, of course, but it does ring out (compression helps keep the loud and quiet closer together)...
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#1717160 - 03/14/07 05:14 AM
Re: Calling All Forumites!
[Re: BrianK]
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BrianK
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Loc: Los Angeles,CA,UNITED STATES
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One of my favorites is to add a "rumble" mic to a drumset:
I take a mic with good DEEP low end (RE20, Sennheiser 421, D20) and wrap it thickly in a blanket. This way, it "hears" no mids or treble, just subsonic rumble. Then put the blanket anywhere near the kit. The mic picks up low impact from everything; kick, snare, toms, the room. You can record this as a special "sub/rumble" channel of its own and get some great fatness from your drums - without having to EQ anything at all!
We call it "The Masonic Boom"! I think people like the name as much as the sound...
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#1724310 - 03/27/07 04:38 PM
Re: Calling All Forumites!
[Re: BrianK]
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wwittman
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Registered: 12/07/01
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Loc: peekskill, NY, USA
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Yes.
EVERYONE who reads the magazines now knows how to record impeccably using 'standard' methods, so they really NEED more articles on "weird" ways to record.
Yawn.
It actually speaks volumes about the readership, in my opinion.
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#1724593 - 03/28/07 05:11 AM
Re: Calling All Forumites!
[Re: miroslav]
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BrianK
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I don't know - things that are SO common now (parallel bus compression, or using a large diaphragm speaker as a kick mic) are now common, but were once experimental.
The idea I propose above is WAY more useful than a room mic, I find. It's not gimmicky in sound at all, and adds in more 'natural' sounds, rather than effected ones.
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#1724850 - 03/28/07 02:19 PM
Re: Calling All Forumites!
[Re: miroslav]
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wwittman
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Registered: 12/07/01
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Yes, but I think that perhaps one should already have a good solid handle on making good sounding recordings, and the techniques involved in that, BEFORE thinking about even parallel compression or any of those other things.
My experience tells me that a large proportion of the readership thinks they'll learn a "secret" that will eliminate the NEED to actually learn how to just RECORD something well.
If you can;t just put a mic on a bass drum and make it sound GOOD, then we have nothing to talk about regarding adding sub-speaker mics, or room mics or any other "tricks".
all of those things may be valid for someone somewhere, but they require that the engineer already KNOW how to get a good sound, what a good sound is, and how to blend the sounds together with the rest of the record.
It's like someone who's never had sex reading 20 Unusual Tips To Drive Her Crazy In Bed.
Magazines love this crap.
but it's utterly pointless
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#1724936 - 03/28/07 05:01 PM
Re: Calling All Forumites!
[Re: wwittman]
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miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
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Registered: 05/23/00
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... a large proportion of the readership thinks they'll learn a "secret" that will eliminate the NEED to actually learn how to just RECORD something well.
Yes...I think there are quite a lot of "newbies" thinking that it's ALL going to happen with just a few mouse clicks or some simple 1-2-3 step process...or some neat "trick".
It's like very newbies really want to take the time to learn/practice a craft.
"Just give me a gadget or two that can do it all at the push of a button"...that's what they want and that's what a lot of the magazines are promoting (though it doesn’t really ever happen that way).
It's like someone who's never had sex reading 20 Unusual Tips To Drive Her Crazy In Bed.
Magazines love this crap.
but it's utterly pointless
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miroslav - miroslavmusic.com"Just because it happened to you, it doesn't mean it's important."
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#1739086 - 04/22/07 02:14 PM
Re: Calling All Forumites!
[Re: wwittman]
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ghaines
Member
Registered: 06/16/00
Posts: 8
Loc: Pittsburgh,PA,UNITED STATES
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Tape a PZM mic to the drummer's chest and use it as your room or overhead mic. You'll have great MONO compatibility.
I know this is late, but it's a fun one and i wanted to share.
You might need to make a sort of necklace with the PZM because tape isn't the best to stick to a sweaty drummer.
GH
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#1744319 - 05/01/07 06:53 AM
Re: Calling All Forumites!
[Re: ghaines]
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BrianK
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Disagreed...
I'd rather hear records made by people trying new things than redoing the old things the same way over and over. I DREAM of those sessions where people will LET ME do something other than "what everybody else does". I'd enjoy a record made with NO standard, classic mic techniques.
Why teach people to FOLLOW? Instead, teach them to create, to be new, to be different. Ideas of creativity inspire creativity. It was once ODD to use more than one mic per drummer. Before that odd to use more than one mic per group.
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#1744361 - 05/01/07 09:15 AM
Re: Calling All Forumites!
[Re: BrianK]
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miroslav
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Registered: 05/23/00
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I think the real thrust of the comments above was that people should first learn the basics...the stuff that's tried and true and been used on a million recording sessions over the last 50 years...
...and THEN venture out into the oddball stuff.
Also...I would say that 90% of what makes a record really interesting is the actual songs, their arrangements and the performances...
...and the other 10% is the mic placement, etc.
But that's just my very personal, "small world" opinion...I may be wrong.
Besides...when you are just listening to a song...can you really tell which mic was used...where it was placed...and what pre it went into...?
Edited by miroslav (05/01/07 09:21 AM)
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miroslav - miroslavmusic.com"Just because it happened to you, it doesn't mean it's important."
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Moderator: BrianK, J.J. Blair
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)...but really...how many people would ever use that to record seriously?
