The New year is on us and we're starting it in style with our first taste of GA's vintage EQ module the EQ73. Also a great new session for you to mix from The Nick Rooke Band
The
microphone is probably the most important element in the recording
chain, shaping the initial sound of the instrument or voice
you are recording. Microphones have been around in various shapes
and sizes for over 100 years and there are literally thousands
of different models to choose from. Originally an expensive
piece of kit the growth of home recording in recent years has
created a huge demand for affordable, high quality mics and
its now possible to buy a really good quality condenser
microphone for a fraction of what you had to pay 10 years
ago. The question that we are asked time and time again is "What
microphone should I use for recording a particular instrument
or type of music" and the answer is that there simply isn’t
one mic for a particular job. Ask a range of studio engineers
which is their favourite microphone for say recording a piano
and you will get 20 different answers. It's like weather...There’s
no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing and
it's the same with mics. You can use any mic to record anything
but some are more appropriate than others.
Latest News:Jan 2012
We've just taken delivery of our first batch of the new Golden Age EQ73 vintage EQ module and first impressions are that this new unit is another winner from GA. Designed to emulate the EQ section on the original Neve 1073, it is primarily designed to partner Golden Age's MKII Pre73 preamp which it connects to with a 1/4" stereo TRS jack but it will interface with other gear
Also we have a brand new session from The Nick Rooke Band featuring acoustic guitar,banjo, fiddle and harmonica and heavily featurng the amazing Lewitt LCT 640 studio condenser mic.
Microphones come in a range of different design types depending
on the size and style of the capsule but basically they all
do the same thing: they convert sound pressure levels into an
electrical current. Some are very specialist but the majority
of microphones are multi purpose and if you ask a kid to draw
a mic they will probably come up with something like a Shure
SM58, one of the most famous multi purpose microphones ever
made. Every studio has at least one and you could probably make
a decent recording of just about anything with a few SM58s.
But of course there are hundreds of different microphones and
some exploit their particular design features to be good at
a particular job. Microphones come in a range of different basic
designs: dynamic, condenser, ribbon, boundary, binaural, M-S
and more. These then can come with a number of different pick-up
patterns, from omni through cardioid to figure of 8 and with
a whole range of different diaphragm sizes, deliberately altered
frequency responses and sensitivity along with a range of stereo
microphones. There are lots of very good sites on the net
covering all the technical aspects of microphone design and
we have a number listed on our Links page.
As a brief overview 90% of all microphones fall into the two
main categories: generally, dynamic
mics are for stage and live and condenser
microphones for recording. However there is a big crossover
and it comes back to the fact that you really can use any mic
to record anything but some will be better at certain things
than others. I honestly think that there are very few bad mics
made today and even the sub £100 Chinese mics can make
a great recording with a little effort and experience.
