Post your favorite mics and mic combos for the studio..

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Post your favorite mics and mic combos for the studio..

Post by griff »

Looking something to pair with my 57 in my iso booth. Originally thought another dynamic like a Senny e906 with it but not entirely sure.
There's so much to choose from out there and it's easy to get a bit lost for choice.
I want a clear defined midrange.. maybe SDC is the way to go.
Probably gonna be close micing most of the time so will need to withstand some volume.
The 57 is decent but can tell right away there are some frequencies it doesn't pick up.
What has worked best for you guys? Sound clips?

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Re: Post your favorite mics and mic combos for the studio..

Post by philly »

I generally favour a 421 over a 57
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Re: Post your favorite mics and mic combos for the studio..

Post by Scooter13 »

Ive had good times with a 57 and Cascade Fathead 2. Playing hard rock stuff tho.

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Re: Post your favorite mics and mic combos for the studio..

Post by griff »

philly wrote:I generally favour a 421 over a 57
Yeah just been reading about them. Mixed opinions on them.
Close micing?

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Re: Post your favorite mics and mic combos for the studio..

Post by Delayman »

I am no recording expert, but I was happy with an SM81 which is a SDC on acoustic along with an SM57 for some acoustic recording. Also had a LDC for a room sound - but didn't really require that. The SM57 and SDC was good. With the two you can get a good mix of the 'body' sound, and the nuances of playing.
They keep telling me tone is in the fingers, but I have yet to see a "look at my fingers" thread.
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Re: Post your favorite mics and mic combos for the studio..

Post by bender »

griff7628 wrote:
philly wrote:I generally favour a 421 over a 57
Yeah just been reading about them. Mixed opinions on them.
Close micing?
Fatheads are fine for close miking a guitar amp. They sound good too. Another option is the Cascade Knucklehead which is designed for guitar amps. Generally speaking, ribbon mics are a bit darker/warmer than other mics, but they have a really nice knack of smoothing out the upper midrange.

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Re: Post your favorite mics and mic combos for the studio..

Post by philly »

griff7628 wrote:
philly wrote:I generally favour a 421 over a 57
Yeah just been reading about them. Mixed opinions on them.
Close micing?
yeah on the speaker. I sometimes use an ldc a few feet away and route to a different track. but by the time a few other things get added I generally knock it out altogether. what passes for body on a sparse track can turn mushy if things get busy. I don't know if that's an option with an iso cab.. i've never used one i'm sorry...
in sydney recently I used something called an aston origin on a deluxe reverb which was surprisingly good and cheap as chips!
royer 121's (ribbon) were very trendy a few years ago but they seem to be double in price now.. you might find a Chinese knock off with a decent tranny (snigger...) somewhere
hope this helps
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Re: Post your favorite mics and mic combos for the studio..

Post by Delayman »

Delayman wrote:I am no recording expert, but I was happy with an SM81 which is a SDC on acoustic along with an SM57 for some acoustic recording. Also had a LDC for a room sound - but didn't really require that. The SM57 and SDC was good. With the two you can get a good mix of the 'body' sound, and the nuances of playing.
I obviously read your post quickly - just realized you're wanting to close mic in an ISO booth - my bad. Nevermind my amateur opinion on acoustic micing. :oops:
They keep telling me tone is in the fingers, but I have yet to see a "look at my fingers" thread.
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Re: Post your favorite mics and mic combos for the studio..

Post by griff »

philly wrote:
griff7628 wrote:
philly wrote:I generally favour a 421 over a 57
Yeah just been reading about them. Mixed opinions on them.
Close micing?
yeah on the speaker. I sometimes use an ldc a few feet away and route to a different track. but by the time a few other things get added I generally knock it out altogether. what passes for body on a sparse track can turn mushy if things get busy. I don't know if that's an option with an iso cab.. i've never used one i'm sorry...
in sydney recently I used something called an aston origin on a deluxe reverb which was surprisingly good and cheap as chips!
royer 121's (ribbon) were very trendy a few years ago but they seem to be double in price now.. you might find a Chinese knock off with a decent tranny (snigger...) somewhere
hope this helps
Thanks Philly. Probably a budget of 300 max for a mic for me. Should be able to find something decent for that.
Ever tried dual dynamics?

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Re: Post your favorite mics and mic combos for the studio..

Post by griff »

bender wrote:
griff7628 wrote:
philly wrote:I generally favour a 421 over a 57
Yeah just been reading about them. Mixed opinions on them.
Close micing?
Fatheads are fine for close miking a guitar amp. They sound good too. Another option is the Cascade Knucklehead which is designed for guitar amps. Generally speaking, ribbon mics are a bit darker/warmer than other mics, but they have a really nice knack of smoothing out the upper midrange.
Will check out the knucklehead. Cant decide if I need a brighter or darker mic to complement the 57.

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Re: Post your favorite mics and mic combos for the studio..

Post by bender »

griff7628 wrote:
bender wrote:
griff7628 wrote: Yeah just been reading about them. Mixed opinions on them.
Close micing?
Fatheads are fine for close miking a guitar amp. They sound good too. Another option is the Cascade Knucklehead which is designed for guitar amps. Generally speaking, ribbon mics are a bit darker/warmer than other mics, but they have a really nice knack of smoothing out the upper midrange.
Will check out the knucklehead. Cant decide if I need a brighter or darker mic to complement the 57.
SM57s have a bit of a lower midrange scoop, a Low Frequency roll-off, and a presence peak up from 4kHz. Fatheads have a full lower midrange and extend lower than a 57, so they'd probably complement each other pretty well.

Here's a soundcloud playlist of a Sennheiser MD412 (not to be confused with a 421) and a Cascade Fathead, coincident miked, with the 412 pointing straight at the middle of the speaker and the fathead at 45degrees from the same spot (so out towards the cone).
https://soundcloud.com/benderissimo/sets/dual-mic-tests


ImageUntitled by Ben Sinclair, on Flickr
ImageUntitled by Ben Sinclair, on Flickr

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Re: Post your favorite mics and mic combos for the studio..

Post by willow13 »

one thing I use to do when recording an amp is put a mic in the room where your ears are. If you stand in the room to get a "tone" then why put a mic right by the cone when it sounds great where you are standing?

I use to stand where it sounded great and then move closer to the speaker until it got "brittle" then put a mic at the last point where it sounded awesome. Mix that as the main sound with so on/off axis mics for the win
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Re: Post your favorite mics and mic combos for the studio..

Post by griff »

bender wrote:
griff7628 wrote:
bender wrote:
Fatheads are fine for close miking a guitar amp. They sound good too. Another option is the Cascade Knucklehead which is designed for guitar amps. Generally speaking, ribbon mics are a bit darker/warmer than other mics, but they have a really nice knack of smoothing out the upper midrange.
Will check out the knucklehead. Cant decide if I need a brighter or darker mic to complement the 57.
SM57s have a bit of a lower midrange scoop, a Low Frequency roll-off, and a presence peak up from 4kHz. Fatheads have a full lower midrange and extend lower than a 57, so they'd probably complement each other pretty well.

Here's a soundcloud playlist of a Sennheiser MD412 (not to be confused with a 421) and a Cascade Fathead, coincident miked, with the 412 pointing straight at the middle of the speaker and the fathead at 45degrees from the same spot (so out towards the cone).
https://soundcloud.com/benderissimo/sets/dual-mic-tests


ImageUntitled by Ben Sinclair, on Flickr
ImageUntitled by Ben Sinclair, on Flickr
Man the Fathead sounded so fat and smooth! love it, thanks Ben.

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Re: Post your favorite mics and mic combos for the studio..

Post by griff »

willow13 wrote:one thing I use to do when recording an amp is put a mic in the room where your ears are. If you stand in the room to get a "tone" then why put a mic right by the cone when it sounds great where you are standing?

I use to stand where it sounded great and then move closer to the speaker until it got "brittle" then put a mic at the last point where it sounded awesome. Mix that as the main sound with so on/off axis mics for the win
Nice one. Yeah Glenn Fricker was saying the same thing about mic distance.
I sometimes wonder if it's worth investing in a reactive load down the track so it takes away a lot of the trial and error.
Tracking at night through headphones too with tooobs. Would be a lot of fun.
Can't seem to bond with amp sims at the moment.

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Re: Post your favorite mics and mic combos for the studio..

Post by willow13 »

griff7628 wrote:
Nice one. Yeah Glenn Fricker was saying the same thing about mic distance.
I sometimes wonder if it's worth investing in a reactive load down the track so it takes away a lot of the trial and error.
Tracking at night through headphones too with tooobs. Would be a lot of fun.
yeah using my technique at night in a house with people in it wouldn't work :rofl: ...tis glorious in a warehouse with no neighbours though
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