Microphones don't matter
David Mellor argues that knowing how to position a microphone can make a far bigger difference to the quality of your work than which microphone you choose.
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Two days ago I was fortunate enough to address the British Sound Recording Association at their annual conference, this year taking place in sunny Bournemouth, England.
Although I certainly knew of the activities of the BSRA beforehand, I hadn't met them before, so I wasn't sure what I should talk about.
I decided therefore to talk about what I know best - helping people learn how to do audio better. That's the work I do with Audio Masterclass.
Having made that decision, I sat down and thought hard about what it is that makes the most difference to the quality of a recording, from a sound engineer's point of view (which rules out the music, performer and often choice of instrument, sometimes the choice of recording acoustics too).
Over the course of my career I have listened to literally thousands of pieces of student work, so I am very well placed to know the difference between a good piece of work, and one that for one reason or another doesn't quite make it.
Defining 'good' would be an interesting point.
I see 'good', in the context of a recording, as being one of the following...
- Being a marketable product and therefore demonstrating professionalism
- Expressing musicianship effectively
- Achieving personal satisfaction for the creator
There is one thing that most often makes the difference between a good and a not-so-good recording...
And that is not paying enough attention to the things that really matter. The corollary of this is paying too much attention to things that matter less.
I find that many budding recordists pay a lot of attention to things that don't make a great deal of difference to the quality of their recordings.
One of these is the choice of microphone preamplifier. If a preamp has a wide enough frequency response, low enough distortion and noise, then you can make a good recording with it, 'good' being defined above.
Another is the choice of microphone. And I would go so far as to say the same thing... if your microphone has a wide enough frequency response, low enough distortion and noise, then you can make a good recording.
Now this is where experienced engineers get out their big guns and try to shoot me down in flames.
Before they do however I will say that anyone who works with microphones and preamps every day will gradually learn about the differences between different models. Eventually, after some years of experience, they will seem as different as proverbial chalk and cheese. And an experienced engineer can use these differences to paint a sonic picture of exceptional quality, or 'goodness'.
(Oddly enough, the professional may achieve less personal satisfaction because he or she will always be striving for better, but that's a more complex issue that I will leave aside for now.)
But for anyone who is new, or quite new, to recording, then what is vastly more important than choice of microphone or preamp is how the microphone is used.
Learning how to position a microphone effectively for a particular voice, instrument, or ensemble of voices or instruments, is a combination of art and science, and there is no doubt whatsoever that the more experience you get, the better your recordings will be.
If, for example, an instrument that you are recording doesn't sound quite right through your monitors, would you first consider changing the microphone? Or moving the microphone that is set up already to a better position?
An experienced engineer would know if a change of microphone was necessary. A new starter however will find very much more benefit in spending time optimizing the microphone's position in relation to the instrument and room.
So, let the heavens fall in on me if they may, I am going to say categorically that microphones don't matter. Not in the beginning anyway.
Microphones need to be of professional quality (no faults, wide frequency response, low distortion and noise), but once you have that in place, it's how you use them that will be the greatest determining factor in the quality of your recordings.
Oh by the way... I am very happy to see reasoned disagreement in the comments section below, but please take care to read the whole of the article first.
P.S. Tomorrow I'll be telling you why microphones do matter!
Publication date Monday May 17, 2010
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Discussion on this article's topic...
Chris Khoo, Madrid/london, Spain/uk
Interesting article and good tech-chat fodder! Especially for 'newbies on a budget'!
Monday May 24, 2010
Bgremixes.com, Richmond,va, USA
I've recorded my vocals with an mxl v69 going into an mbox,
a rode nt 1-a going into a presonus tube pre
a nuemann u87 going into a n avalon 737
are there differences? yes of course but ever so slight & the avrage person even when liking all three songs, cannot tell me which was recorded on the 3500 dollar vocalchain versus the 300 dollar vocal chain
so you are right on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
a rode nt 1-a going into a presonus tube pre
a nuemann u87 going into a n avalon 737
are there differences? yes of course but ever so slight & the avrage person even when liking all three songs, cannot tell me which was recorded on the 3500 dollar vocalchain versus the 300 dollar vocal chain
so you are right on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday May 19, 2010
Anonymous
why cracks in some recordings while listening through the earpiece?
Tuesday May 18, 2010
Anonymous
MY wife never went, "aahh this beyonce song needed a akg mic with a greatriver preamp mixed thru a neve console". listeners want to connect emotionally, we try to be the bridge, but then we must b a strong bridge. I hear a Parker solo and I never think of the microphone he used, though I'm an engineer, it really doesn't matter!!!!! I'll only change something if it gives me problems or if a new gear will inspire my creativity, ooh!! also to annoy my wife.
Tuesday May 18, 2010
J-alhomestudio, Malabon, Philippines
I agree to most of the comments and the article itself. But even a cheap, non-professional mic can be used optimally to deliver its best performance. I started recording without pro gears of any sort. I've recorded vocals for 4 years before getting my first decent mic (PG58). Although the high frequency response was very limited, the dynamics and bass response was not a problem when I instructed the vocalists to work their distance correctly in every part of the song. Basic compression helped a lot too. Today, I use a PG81, still positioning it at the best spot possible, and I use multi-band compressors! Friends say that my recordings have no difference at all with commercially released ones. The thing is, it's easier to position some mics (condensers don't have so much of the bass proximity effect, for example). So there's still enough motivation to get a better mic. It's simply more convenient to use the best mic suited for the job. But an expert must know how to get by with what they have at the time. Money/cost always matters.
Monday May 17, 2010
Bruce, Murray Bridge, Australia
Great article which speaks true. I use a Rode NT1A for all of my vocals and have had some exceptional results and some really bad ones. The placement is paramount along with the area you record in. I find that gear some of the acoustics are affected by whats in the room with you such as baffles and screens but the best results have come from positioning the mic differently or changing the distance or position of the singer in relation to the mic. I have some cheap Berringer mics that are used live and have used then to record with much the same results. Good or bad it comes down to placement first and foremost and everything else follows.
Monday May 17, 2010
Jay Walsh, Tucson, Az, United States
Bravo on an excellent piece and to the supporting comments. Yes, we'd all love to have an arsenal of Neumann's and AKG's running through UA's or Avalons, but sorry, I left that 20 grand in my other trousers. I've got four mics: a Heil PR40, and EV Blue Raven, an MXL v67g (modded) and a PG81 that I've recently purchased and just love. My results are wonderful. Granted, I'm not set up to record an entire band (let alone an entire drum kit) but, for my project studio, it works just fine. Let the mic snobs bark about the 2% difference in sound relative to the 3-5x's cost. Good training and good experience trumps cost most any day.
Monday May 17, 2010
Ben, Chandler, Az, USA
I've done some very nice, some have even said beautiful, acoustic recordings with mics and preamps not on the "snob" list of prefered gear. I've commented before the importance of knowing the pick-up patterns of any mic you use, especially for distant recordings, as well as the basic specs relative to noise, frequency responce and transient performance. That being said I think it's a "no brainer" that placement is the next most important thing. While I, and my colleagues, can engage in a fair amount of gear slutyness, and may disagree heatedly as to which thingy is the best, it's the final result that really matters. I constantly manage to raise eyebrows when the details of methods, is revealed, on what has already passed as a very good recording. I often use stuff noone thought of. They consider me a daring chance taker.., a little unorthodox. The usual responses are "well, I wouldn't have done it that way" or my favorite, "it's really good, but if you'd used such and such a doowacky, it would have been better" By all means consider placement, especially when all you've got is the equipment available at the time. The string quartet is here, now where did I put those SM57s hmmm...??
Monday May 17, 2010
Al Pratt, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
"the attached comments make me think of the recording engineers that spend 10 hours on getting a great snare drum sound for what is essentially a bad song." For sure Keith, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, although many studios make their living trying to do that... no one I know has the luxury of turning away a client just because it's bad material, and they try to do their best with what they've got... some of course, just like to rack up the studio hours...
Monday May 17, 2010
Luke Schneider, Jasper, United States
Thanks for writing this, David ! I once recorded a guy with his shure PG58, which sounded really bad until, in one part of the song, he moved closer and to the side, and all of a sudden the vocal track sounded great ! Then, he moved again, and it went back to bad ! I was amazed to see this happen, even with a cheap mic.... I'm pleased to hear that a record can be made even with mxl mics, and Mackie ONyx mixers !!
Monday May 17, 2010
Brian Rose, Colton, Oregon, USA
Wonderful comments and insights are shared here; thank you all. I agree that one-on-one training for the young and hungry intern is second to none. At my school, where inevitably most students just wish to be told which mic and where, we have to constantly reiterate the need to be conscious of potential phase issues, and to USE YOUR EARS above all, and that for every "rule" there will someone creatively breaking it with good results. In defense of schools I, who does not advocate lengthy and expensive tenures in them, do see the value of broad training. Our one-year program is basic training for industries that reach further than just making records for bands. After that the student must get an internship to move on. And they do so without an immense and debilitating debt on their backs.
Monday May 17, 2010
Kieth James, Edmonton, Canada
I may be drifting off topic, but the underlying philosophy of your article and the attached comments make me think of the recording engineers that spend 10 hours on getting a great snare drum sound for what is essentially a bad song.
Monday May 17, 2010
Al Pratt, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
Bravo, a courageous stand. I completely agree, although I think that to make a good recording by your definition, I would take it "back" a step or two to include the recording space itself and the producer/engineer team.
A good room, in my oh so humble opinion, is what separates the wheat from the chaff in the music world. What the engineer does with mic position in that space is the result of his knowledge, experience and thirst for adventure. The producer also hears the sound in his mind and seeks to capture that with a microphone, and sometimes even tries to create the sound of a bad room for effect.
But the engineer/producer/creative talent team, even if only equipped with a humble mic running into a mediocre board in a bad room, can still produce a smash hit, because they hear the sound they want and capture it, and capture the public's attention with an original sound and original talent.
A good room, in my oh so humble opinion, is what separates the wheat from the chaff in the music world. What the engineer does with mic position in that space is the result of his knowledge, experience and thirst for adventure. The producer also hears the sound in his mind and seeks to capture that with a microphone, and sometimes even tries to create the sound of a bad room for effect.
But the engineer/producer/creative talent team, even if only equipped with a humble mic running into a mediocre board in a bad room, can still produce a smash hit, because they hear the sound they want and capture it, and capture the public's attention with an original sound and original talent.
Monday May 17, 2010
Jonas Jansson, Skokloster, Sweden
This made me think of not to buy any new mic than i already have (Sm57 and SP B1), i was thinking about a Cascade Fathead or some ribbon mic. But i still need a good preamp. I currently have my dads Alto tube preamp. But on the choice of preamps i'm very "unknowing", I thought first to have a tube preamp, but now when so MANY have said not to i'm not sure which to chose. I'm on a really tight budget. Name some preamps up to around 300$
Monday May 17, 2010
Johnny Terumo, London, UK
Thank you. Said in an exasperated tone of voice. (subtext - finally!)
I work every day with runners and assistants who talk nothing else but how this piece of gear is better than that. Yes I know, this is part of the fun and one of the nerdy things we do in our industry but the fundamentals are often forgotten in these conversations. When those with long experience have similar chats, these basics are understood (when not mentioned) but beginners often don't realise this. I think a big part of the reason for this way of thinking is the democratisation/commodification of recording, where marketing often replaces the traditional master/student relationship as the prime method of educating up and comers. And too many teaching in the exponentially increasing number of recording schools (present company excluded, obviously) are merely products of those schools rather than the increasingly rare engineers who scraped their way up from the bottom. 'Twere better in my day and all that.
I work every day with runners and assistants who talk nothing else but how this piece of gear is better than that. Yes I know, this is part of the fun and one of the nerdy things we do in our industry but the fundamentals are often forgotten in these conversations. When those with long experience have similar chats, these basics are understood (when not mentioned) but beginners often don't realise this. I think a big part of the reason for this way of thinking is the democratisation/commodification of recording, where marketing often replaces the traditional master/student relationship as the prime method of educating up and comers. And too many teaching in the exponentially increasing number of recording schools (present company excluded, obviously) are merely products of those schools rather than the increasingly rare engineers who scraped their way up from the bottom. 'Twere better in my day and all that.
Monday May 17, 2010
Steve Humes, Tampa, USA
Splitting the signal between two different pre amps, and using different mics simultaneously, then blending has been a working solution for me to achieve the sound I am looking for.
It also "fast tracks" the learning curve of the nuances of the equipment, and the room.
Mic placement is an art all onto itself, and cannot be taken for granted.
It also "fast tracks" the learning curve of the nuances of the equipment, and the room.
Mic placement is an art all onto itself, and cannot be taken for granted.
Monday May 17, 2010
Anonymous
I thank God for your life and i hope that you are a christian but if not please be one of them bcs your creative heart will be boosted more and more. All that i enjoyed in this article was your manner of information. Thanks. Paul Adebusuyi
Monday May 17, 2010
Anthony Linden Jones, Kurrajong, Nsw, Australia
In Mike Stavrou's book 'Mixing With Your Mind' he describes the concept of 'chasing the flame'. Fundamentally, what he postulates that the best place to put a microphone is where the sound is best to your ear. It is a pretty obvious idea, but completely contrary to the kind of pre-conceptions that are common on the net and in other books. You know the sort of thing - "to record piano, use the XYZ mic placed exactly 1.3 m from the instrument at an angle of etc, etc, etc" instead of actually listening to the sound with your ears, moving side to side, up and down, and forward and backward.
With my students, I do a comparative experiment - with the one microphone, try recording an instrument (say, guitar) in a broad range of positions onto parallel tracks in a DAW. Then listen back with the DAW on loop with each track solo'd to compare. The difference from track to track is huge.
By comparison, recording a range of microphones track by track each at exactly the same position on the instrument - the differences are a lot more subtle.
Knowing this leaves the recording engineer free to try new things. I think prescriptive recording techniques lead to uninteresting results. I read recently about a rhythm guitarist taping a small mic into the palm of his right hand to get a different perspective of the strum - imagine how that would sound!
With my students, I do a comparative experiment - with the one microphone, try recording an instrument (say, guitar) in a broad range of positions onto parallel tracks in a DAW. Then listen back with the DAW on loop with each track solo'd to compare. The difference from track to track is huge.
By comparison, recording a range of microphones track by track each at exactly the same position on the instrument - the differences are a lot more subtle.
Knowing this leaves the recording engineer free to try new things. I think prescriptive recording techniques lead to uninteresting results. I read recently about a rhythm guitarist taping a small mic into the palm of his right hand to get a different perspective of the strum - imagine how that would sound!
Monday May 17, 2010
Rick Herron, Los Angeles, USA
I am a guitarist who has done a lot of recording in my forty years of playing but am no professional. Guitarists know that mike placement on a speaker cabinet can make a difference. I would be interested to know from David Mellor, as it comes to vocals, what specific things one is looking to do when adjusting a good mike. Is it to increase clarity,improve frequency response and dynamics or other things such as enhance breathiness and other vocal techniques. There are devices that help to remove sibilance and popping, is avoiding these things part of it. David Mellor is giving me a lot to think about next time I record but It would be nice to hear him expand a little on what he has written. In essence my curiosity is now peaked.
Rick Herron
Rick Herron
Monday May 17, 2010
Antonio Carlos, Santo Andre, Portugal
I agree with you 100%. Sometimes less is more. One must learn to stand up and walk before he starts running. And we must start with the basics, the things that really matter. "The best pair of shoes may help but you need to know how to use your feet". ;)
Monday May 17, 2010
Yuda Elisha, Zanzibar, Tanzania
hi im so great to get again this chance,i like to lean how to be are good sound engineer,i don't know how long time, how much
Monday May 17, 2010
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