Microphones

Dynamic microphones

A dynamic microphone is a type of microphone that works by converting sound waves into electrical signals using electromagnetism. they are very durable and best suited for live performance and drums. The two types of dynamic microphones are moving-coil and ribbon. They handle high sound pressure levels which makes them good for recording instruments like snares, kicks and guitar amps. This means you can place them close to the sound source.

Moving-coil microphone

Ribbon microphone

Condenser microphones

Condenser microphones are much more sensitive and are therefore more efficient and effective at picking up more subtle, detailed sounds and effects. This makes condenser microphones perfect for high quality studio recording. The downsides of using a condenser microphone is that they are usually not very durable and more sensitive which requires you to think about how far you place the microphone from the sound source so that it does not get damaged. A lot of condenser microphones have many polar pattern options to choose from.

Also known as bi-directional. Good for recording duo singers, guitar + vocals

Good for picking up the entire room. More natural recording outcome

Best for picking up a single instrument from one direction such as a kick, or strings

SM57 - snare drum

cardioid / dynamic

D112 - kick drum

cardioid / dynamic

Bi-directional / condenser

Rode NT2A - guitar, vocals

cardioid / dynamic

SM58 - vocals

The element 88 audio interface

An audio interface is a device that will allow you to connect your computer to other microphones, instruments and many other pieces of audio equipment. This allows you to record, process and play music sound using your computer. One of the main roles of the audio interface is analogue to digital conversion, also known as AC/DC conversion. This is important because it turns analogue audio signals, such as those from instruments or microphones into digital data that the computer can process and work with. Here at the college recording studios, we use the element 88 audio interface which allows you to connect up to 8 different instruments using two different types of cable end.

Micing up instruments in studio

Violin

Micing up the violin is simple enough with the proper equipment, which we thankfully have at the college. It involves using the 'the band' acoustic pickup which is designed specifically for the violin in order to mic it up. This will wrap around the base of the violin, just below the bridge, and will be plugged in from the band into the DI (direct input) and into one of the speakers.

The acoustic band attached to the violin

Example of a DI, similar to one used in the college

Drum kit

The drum kit as a whole can be one of the more tedious instruments to mic up, due to each component having a different type of mic best suited for the job. The kick drum should have a large diaphragm dynamic microphone such as the shure beta 52A or the AKG D112. The snare drum should use a basic dynamic mic such as the shure SM57 just over the top of it. Toms should be miced with either small diaphragm condenser mics or dynamic mics such as shure SM57 or AKG C414. The hi-hats should use small diaphragm condenser mic such as the AKG C451 and finally the two overhead mics should be a matching pair of condenser mics such as the neumann KM184 or the AKG C414.

Visual example of miced up drum kit

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