General Recording Thread

[lily93]

Originally Posted by Furlea

I'm recording a track at the moment that has a flute solo, but i'm not sure what microphone would be best. I was thinking large diaphragm condenser, but that might make it too bright maybe? Really, i'd like to use a ribbon mic but I haven't got any of those to use
Need to decide where to position the mic and even if I should use more than one. Never recorded a flute before, and I want the best sound

Any suggestions?

Or should I just keep experimenting and see which gives the best sound? Bit short on time though =/

Above it with a condenser, easier if they can sit down and play.

Stick several mics around the room where you think it sounds good, blend them in the mix.

[haze015]

Originally Posted by cheddatom

I don't know if this has any basis in logic, but I always thought that with a moving performer, you've got more chance of getting something that sounds "consistent" with a stereo pair.

If you have the guy standing facing the front, and your best flute sound (I wouldn't know) is just to his left, you stick your mono mic there. Then, when he's performing, he starts to sway a bit, rotating to his right, away from the mic, creating an inconsistent level. If you have a stereo pair facing him, he will be rotating within the field of recording. You will be able to hear him swaying side to side.

Not really, you'd just get that movement in the stereo field and to be honest, they'd only be moving a few inches here & there, so the inconsistency in volume will be small (Unless you've got the mic right up close, but wouldn't do that with a flute as you'd capture stuff you don't want to) and a touch of compression should iron that out.

[cheddatom]

Obviously it's not a massive effect. If I give you an example, I recorded a guy playing a squeeze box dealy (what's that called?) and I tried a few different mic set ups. I didn't want to use much compression because of the noise of the leather. I tried one at the end I thought was the sound hole, and it was too inconsistent from him moving, which you have to do to play the thing. Anyway, I ended up using a stereo pair, but panned close together (on the same side as it happened) and it gave me a much more consistent result with just a little compression on the both as a group.

[the_man361]

Originally Posted by Furlea

I'm recording a track at the moment that has a flute solo, but i'm not sure what microphone would be best. I was thinking large diaphragm condenser, but that might make it too bright maybe? Really, i'd like to use a ribbon mic but I haven't got any of those to use
Need to decide where to position the mic and even if I should use more than one. Never recorded a flute before, and I want the best sound

Any suggestions?

Or should I just keep experimenting and see which gives the best sound? Bit short on time though =/

place the mic about 2 feet infront of the flute a little higher than the flute is. it should be directly infront of the flute, but angle it down a little and also towards the base (not mouthpiece) end of the flute to reduce wind noise.
should give you a nice sound for start

i'd reccomend a nice sounding medium/large room, but depends what you're going for.

if you're going to record multi mic setup, watch out for phase consistency, as i imagine it could sound pretty horrible

[Phil.]

An out of phase flute... interesting...

[cheddatom]

does anyone know of a vst plug in that gives you a phase sweep control? I don't want to reverse the phase on my out of phase guitar track (because it's just as bad), and I don't want to try and get it in line using the editor. (This is hypothetical)

[haze015]

Originally Posted by cheddatom

does anyone know of a vst plug in that gives you a phase sweep control? I don't want to reverse the phase on my out of phase guitar track (because it's just as bad), and I don't want to try and get it in line using the editor. (This is hypothetical)

You can use a delay with really tiny delay times.

[Phil.]

Originally Posted by cheddatom

does anyone know of a vst plug in that gives you a phase sweep control? I don't want to reverse the phase on my out of phase guitar track (because it's just as bad), and I don't want to try and get it in line using the editor. (This is hypothetical)

We use Sonar 9 at college and it has a pack of "Sonitus FX" plugins, one plugin "Phase" allows you to do exactly what you want to do i THINK, it has three faders, volume, one i think which is width, and one which is phase.

But surely just fractionally moving the guitar track in the daw, zooming right in and moving it a fraction to the right/left, listening, re-doing would be the easiest? albeit very tedious.

[cheddatom]

Originally Posted by haze015

You can use a delay with really tiny delay times.

yeh but the one that comes with cubase is quite difficult to control on that level, you have to keep typing the numbers in.

[Phil.]

Originally Posted by cheddatom

yeh but the one that comes with cubase is quite difficult to control on that level, you have to keep typing the numbers in.

+1 why the fuck cant you use the mouse to change the delay in ms?! changing by gaps of 50 is pretty useless!

[the_man361]

just sync the waveforms up, much easier. there are phase plugins, and phase rotator plugins which will do a slightly different, more in depth job like betabugs phase bug or little labs IBP

[Anxyous]

Hey guys, I was wondering what the typical approach to recording guitar is? As in, how it's hooked up and everything.

I was wondering this, because I read, that the Exo-Politics solo was just a small amp facing down into a pillow, but I know (or at least I'm pretty sure) that you don't just record a guitar by pointing a mic at an amp.

So what gives?

[haze015]

Most recorded guitar is a SM57 pointed at an amp.

[Anxyous]

Originally Posted by haze015

Most recorded guitar is a SM57 pointed at an amp.

And an SM57 is a mic?

[cheddatom]

yes