...is a pleasure to behold…listen to, you know what I mean.
Okay, so we’re all composers so why would we ever need a microphone, mic pre, and A/D converter? How bout solo instruments? I know there are some closet tuba players out there. Trumpet was my primary instrument before I discovered piano.
See, something interesting happened 2 weeks ago. A fellow composer was doing a ska piece and was unhappy with the trumpet samples he used. I suggested we lay some real trumpet down. One Virtual Glass (esession.com) session later, there were 5 very tidy trumpet recordings on their way to their heaven of mixing.
My signal chain was decent. Shure SM-57 (A respectable mike by anyone’s standards) into a Digi 002, right into Logic. It sounded great and there was much rejoicing.
But, could it have been recorded better?
For those of you who have not reached front end audio signal chain, ill sum it up. Mind you this is a very general flowchart..
Soundsource (Jack’s Bach Model 43 for Instance) –> Mike (SM57) –> Mike Pre (Digi 002) –> DAW
First I started with the mikes. I good friend and fellow studio owner from New York lent me a few microphones to test drive. Among them were a Blue Woodpecker and Kiwi, an AKG 414, and an Earthworks SR30. Okay, Mikes are very well taken care of.
Now the Mike Pre… A few days of weighing options as well as some expert advice from my buddy in NY and the folks at Mercenary.com and I had a new Mike Pre delivered, an Arsenal MP-R20. WOW what a difference a pro Mike Pre will make.
On to the A/D (Analog to Digital Conversion). The 002 Still served as this piece in the chain, however, since the Arsenal is such a mean machine, its balanced outs delivered mondo audio signal into the analog ins of the 002. The result? A scary vocal track, clear, bright, but not too harsh.
Now, each Mike, Mike Pre and Converter combination will yield different results. Think of it as a painter's palette. The gear are the colors, and mixing them in different ways will yield different colors.
In my case, the arsenal was the best bang for buck, it has two channels of API designed pre-amplification, and has a doubled warranty which any business owner can appreciate. However, my chain may not make sense for another's recordings. A completely clear Mike pre would have been a John Hardy, or a Great river.. Mikes were also a very important consideration. In a future blog I will get into that, its a whole weeks worth of entries by itself.
So, whats the synopsis? A decent Mike and Mike Pre will definitely change your mix, and for the better.
Till next time
Jack
