matthew mcglynn

Not really new GEAR per se, but one significant new development is the amount and quality of online instruction. There are amazing resources on Youtube, beautifully recorded with great sound, multiple camera angles, transcriptions, etc.

I thought that, too, until I got one. I never got used to the mesh heads. And I hated the phantom triggering, where the snare would trigger during a tom fill, etc. Theoretically the sensitivity of those things is adjustable, but I could never make it work. (What do I know, I only spent 20 years as a professional software developer...) There is something visceral about hitting real drums with wooden sticks that V-drums can't match. Electronic kits have their place, but my studio isn't one of them.

If my email archive is any indication, the Neumann U87 is the most lusted-for microphone in history. That's the most commonly named microphone everybody wants to buy. I have a theory about this. I'm collecting data to see whether my hypothesis is correct. You can help, whether you own the mic or not. Here are the questions: If you own a U87 or U87 Ai, is it a go-to mic in your sessions, or do you feel like you frequently reach past it for more 'interesting' choices? If you don't own the mic, but you would include it in your short list of top 5 most wanted to buy: have you ever actually used one? Please post your response! I'm eager to see if I'm right. :-)

Dave, great question. I have a bit of a bias, given that I've spent the better part of the last 10 years designing and building microphones. But the reality is that the reason I chose mics rather than preamps is that I believe they are often the most important part of the signal chain in terms of determining what the track sounds like. I'm assuming that the source and the room do not vary in this scenario. That is, given a single singer or guitar rig or drum kit in a single room, if you had to choose between mic, pre, converter, my ranking would be mic, then pre, then converter. Placement IS critical, although in most cases, I'd rank that behind mic choice. Just to illustrate: a lot of home recording people have a closet full of "stupid deal of the day" condensers that tend to be bright and harsh sounding. There are not many placement tricks that would make those mics NOT sound bright and harsh. But you can put a better mic in just about ANY position and it will sound better than the harsh mic. Maybe that's less true on guitar cabs (to address Mark's point); I'm thinking of drums, vocals, acoustic guitars. Needless to say, lousy placement can make a great mic sound awful. I have seen inexperienced artists "eat" a large-diaphragm condenser in a studio setting, and then wonder why the track doesn't sound good. "That's what works for me on stage!" Umm, your tongue shouldn't actually make contact with the mic's capsule during the take. #protip

You had me at "personalized multitrack recording of rehearsals." That's a killer idea right there. We used to just put up a pair of room mics in case our nightly improv jam turned into a song (which it sometimes did -- magic!). My worst recording snafu came after finishing tracking on a really tricky song. I'd spent a day on it, fighting my way through a couple solid takes, only to delete the first verse and chorus of ALL OF THEM by mistake. I spent an hour with a variety of file recovery tools, hindered not just a little by a full-on flop sweat attack. Finally I succumbed to the obvious conclusion: acceptance that I'd had a day of solid practice on some difficult parts, and I'd just need to track the @@$* thing again. Which I did, in one or two more takes. Live and learn.