microphones for recording, microphone reviews, which microphone

 

The Ribbon mics continue to impress with a great new acoustic session from Graham Hodge CHECK IT OUT. The BIG IDEA is to run a studio recording materclass weekend. Look out for details!!!!!!!!!

 

Session Notes
Graham Hodge
The Brew
Fabulous Ducks Live
Circus Envy
Anya Thomson
Henwen
Haverhill Silver Band

Recording sessions

All the sessions that will appear on this site are taken from real recording sessions undertaken by the Reelsound mobile or Fairview studio in Hull. I have attempted to choose a variety of different types of music and of course, with the mobile, different locations, to give you the opportunity of mixing a variety of work of different styles. I have decided to post all the downloadable tracks as MP3 with a sample rate of 98kps at 44k which seems to be the best compromise between fidelity and download times but do remember they are MP3s and have been heavily compressed for the internet and you will need a decent broadband connection to stream them. If you really want to hear the full bandwidth audio, then for a nominal sum I will happily send you the complete session as recorded in Cubase at 44k 16 bit.wav.


Also bear in mind that as real recording sessions they are bound by the normal constraints of commercial working studios such as time and money and that also means that some of the playing you will come across might be a bit suspect. That said, this being the real world, if you want to spend 8 hours correcting the kick drum with multi layer samples and retuning the vocals in autotune, then go for it! We would both love to hear any remixes of these sessions that you want to send in and time permitting will be happy to answer any questions through the forum. As far as possible I will attempt to give you the tracks as laid down without EQ or compression though little bits of both do get put down at the tracking stage. I think it will help to know a little background about the mobile and the studio....
Fairview was set up in 1966 and has been a busy commercial concern for 41 years now because of a couple of reasons. Firstly, the vibe of the studio is that great mix between the classic old analogue with the latest technology where original AMS and AKG reverbs sit in racks alongside Urei 1176 and Focusrite Red compressors. The microphone cupboard is a delight with a list of classic German mics along with some great new mics like the AEA R84 ribbons and the Blue Mouse. In the live rooms for those who want to play the real thing is a Hammond C3 and Sharma Leslie and a lovely Colard upright piano. This mix of the best of old and new continues through into the control room with a fully serviced 2inch Otari 24 track tape machine alongside a RADAR digital recording system and racks of Focusrite and TL audio pre-amps. However the main reason that the studio is so busy and bands come back time and time again is resident engineer/producer John Spence who has built up a massive reputation over the past 25 years recording artists from the Happy Mondays and Bill Nelson to the Beautiful South.
The Reelsound Mobile is one of the busiest and well equipped Mobiles in the UK and has over 20 years produced hundreds of CD recordings for choirs such as the English Baroque choir and countless Brass and Jazz bands and orchestras as well as solo instrumentalists and singers. Reelsound specialises in location stereo recording and microphones include the mighty Soundfield and a pair of Sennheiser MKH30s along with new additions such as the AEA R84s and a pair of Hebden Sound 3010s.

 

Downloading files
On all the session pages you will be able to download the individual tracks friom the original recording session by clicking on the links as below. The ideal way to preview them is to right click and use the save as command and save the tracks to a specific folder on your drive. You can then open up Cubase and paste them into a new session .
Kick drum: AKG D112 Snare drum: Shure SM57 Hi Hats: Calrec 1050
O/H Left:Rode NT5 Ride Cymbal : Calrec 1050
Room Mic: AKG 414 (Omni)

To hear the audio files above simply double click on them and they will play in the media player you have set on your computer. To download the files, right click and choose "Save as Target". Then create a folder to download the files to. When you have downloaded the files open up cubase or a similar audio sprogramme and create a new project. Create new audio tracks and then,keeping the curser in the same place, import the downloads onto the separate tracks . Alternatively for £10 and we will send you a CD containing the complete loaded on a cubase session at 16 bit 44k waves

 

 

 
 
Microphones and recording 2008. Session Master