In the video bellow he talks about Six different Mic placement techniques that you can use, all of which use one of the five places on the diagram bellow of mic placement spots for different sounds and what kind of overall sound your looking for. Some of which will not have any effect with phasing the reason being is they are recording the same part and area of the guitar however the reason this is helpful is it get different sounds you couldnt pick up for example a condensor and a dynamic will pick up different parts that might not sound apealoing alone however when put togever creat a really full sound your also able to look at different variatys of sound so you can see what works for you and what doesnt. The kind of Mic placement that most people use is the ASB space pare which is when one mic is placved high up the fret board and the other down towards the bottom of the guitar usually found by the string nuts. This set up is used for songs with a lot of picking style as it gets the overall sound from the bottom mic but just gets the extra sound from the fingers people are usually looking for.

A lot of websites i got my sourses of are talking about micing up on a budgewt which means they are mostly onkly using one micropohone when recording however due to the fact we have a lot of microphones at college were probably going to use a two mic set up when recording. The reason being is i really want to capture the finger picking style Billy uses as it means that there able to notice the sound I'm looking for that is iconic to country music.  In my research they all recomend to use a dynamic microphone when recording as it picks up all aspects of the instrument at a proffessional level and a dynamic microphone can create a greate recording when it comes to guitars electric and acoustic. Two that have been suggested in the website I used were  SM57 and condessor microphones. 

Audio Haze (2021) 1 microphone vs 2 microphone set up , YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du07aMdkG44 (Accessed: 01 April 2025). 

Phasing is talked a lot about when recording with two or more microphones at the same time recording the same thing.  Phasing focuses on the sound waves a recording gets from a Microphone. These can be seen quite clearly when zoomed in. In the waves you have the peaks as you can see in the picture the very top of it is the crest, the way you can messure if there is or isnt any phase is by seing if they match eachother closely for example there going up at the same time but arent perfectly in line. They are never going to be perfectly in line especially if you use two microphones on opposit ends of the guitar because they are both record two completely seperate things. However you can tell very easily if soething is out of phase as they will be opposite onn bith sound wave. What this does for the sound is it lowers the volume of the track and also you dont get much bass were as when the phase is correct you get a much rounder and full sound. The reason this happens is if one tracks crest is going up and the other is going down it mans that they are constantly canceling out we kow this because when you make the phase as bad as it can be you cant hear the music because both waves are cancelling eachother out. You will only deal with problems with phasing when you have microphones recording seperate parts of the guitar as therer waves can very likely not be in sync due to the fact that it takes longer for the sound and waves to travel to the microphone. A really good example which is explained in the video above is if you put a microphone directly at the whole in a guitar and one high up the neck of the guitar the one facing the whole is gonna get to the microphone faster that the one up the neck as it is harder for the sound to reach the mic due to it isnt were the majority of the guitars sound comes from. As you can see bellow it show the prosses and what it looks like when something is out of phase going from the left one being in phase the middle one changing this and the right one being out of phase.

SM57 Microphone

One reason the shure SM57 excels in recording guitar is all due to its tailored frequency responce. Its also due to its high SPL handling and durable design all of which im going to explain in detail in this paragraph. The SM57's range which is 40Hz - 15KHz has a Presence bost which is around 3-6 kHz. Presence boost is a feature that emphasises the upper mid range frequencies, this frequencie can make a sound sourse for example a voice or a guitar sound clearer brighter and more present recordig which can change the quality of a recording is huge. It even echances the upper harmonic silibance which is a key reason why it works so well with a guitar. Due to the fact there is a dip from 300 - 600 Hz it reduces muddiness when recording which is a key aspect of acoustic recording as you want a very full recording which can pick up both high end and low end frequencys. The microphone also got rid of unwanted low end rumble. Another thing was it has high SPL handling. SPL handling in audio refers to a system or component that can withstand different sound pressure levels. For example due to the fact that the SM57 has a high SPL handling it means that it can with so=tand load amplifiers or sounds so its good at recording all soughts of versions of guitar. The microphone is very reliable with a 190 dB SPL tolerance which means its very reliable when it comes to recording high cranked amps with distortion. Industry standard status for this mocrophone is huge for example the producer Butch Vig relied on this microphone. For example when he recorded Nirvana with the song never mind this was the only microphone that was able to with hold the distortion and powerful of the guitar so it has culture in the music industry even though it isnt the most expensive peace of equipment it is a very high quality peace of equipment. A key reason this microphone is really good at recording guitar is due to the design of the microphone. For example due to the fact it has a flat top it means that you can use milking microophone techniques, this is when you place the microphone actually touching the amp to capture the best sound being produced by the amplifier.

Bibliography

Daniel (2019) Make a difference, Forward Audio. Available at: https://www.forward-audio.com/tutorials/electric-guitar-recording-tutorials/recording-electric-guitar-amp-microphones (Accessed: 01 April 2025). 

google (2024) SPL slit gating , Google search. Available at: https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=what%2Bis%2Bspl%2Bhandling&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 (Accessed: 01 May 2025). 

Fox, A. (2025) What does ‘presence’ mean in terms of microphones?, My New Microphone. Available at: https://mynewmicrophone.com/what-does-presence-mean-in-terms-of-microphones/ (Accessed: 01 June 2025).

Narang, P. (2025) The definitive shure SM57 review: 2025, SOUNDREF. Available at: https://soundref.com/shure-sm57-review/ (Accessed: 01 June 2025). 

Emememem (2022) 🎤 rode NT1-a complete vocal recording, Musikhaus Thomann. Available at: https://www.thomann.co.uk/rode_nt1a_complete_vocal_recording.htm?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=1581403909&gbraid=0AAAAADuDMCVabdMz87CYXOWrbNyvzVZla&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8cHABhC-ARIsAJnY12ziXmba0SyeaTj3xPJPEqJZFxacLpeNGmoVdlOwsbKhpEjJI3wnrrwaAmwDEALw_wcB (Accessed: 01 June 2025). 

Rhode condensor Microphone: 

The exact kind of microphone i am going to be researching is the rode NT1-A. Im going to look at the pros and cons of the microphone for recording vocals and see how it goes. A key aspect this microphone has is Low self noice, this being when a microphone can record very quiet noices on there own even when no external sound can be heard which means its abillity to pick up sounds is extrodinary. The exact amount of low noice this microphone can pick up is around 5 db (decibels). dispite this its also good at having high sensitivity which is when a microphone has a wide frequency range. The condensor miucrophone captures dynamic details making vocals sound extremely crisp and even expressive which is very apealing to a vocalist. There also known to create a proffesional recorded sound due to there bright sounds with high frequencys.  There also very versitile with the fact thewre not ony good for recording vocals but also guitar and piano which is why there used in not only proffesional studios but also home studios and are used as a dynamic multi choice mic.Some things that arnt as possitive about this microphone, even though the pronounced high frequencies can be good they also can cause problems with recording and be bad. For example after some research i found that the crisp high frequenys that the microphone picks up some harshness and sibilance acationally with specific kind of voices. Which if that is yours then you hacve a large problem and will struggle using this microphone. This might requre EQ work in post production however the producer wont be happy. Another one is the microphone is very sensitive to the evoriment which means it piucks up little noices you will hear in the background. This is a problem as it means you cant use this microphone for live recording as the person using it would have to be in a completely. different room otherwise there would be huge amounts of bleed of the other instruments for the microphone. bIt also means that home studios might have a problems with the sound bouncing around the room andf might mean you dont get the best recording your looking for.

Bibliography

Cheyn, C. (2023) The rode NT1-a condenser microphone review, PROs and CONs. Available at: https://www.charlescleyn.com/blog/rode-nt1a-condenser-microphone-review (Accessed: 01 June 2025). 

narang, P. (2025) The definitive rode NT1-A review 2025, SOUNDREF. Available at: https://soundref.com/rode-nt1-a-review-condenser-vocal-mic/ (Accessed: 01 June 2025). 

Microphone, R. (2022) What is a condenser microphone and when to use one , RØDE. Available at: https://rode.com/en/about/news-info/what-is-a-condenser-microphone-and-when-to-use-one (Accessed: 01 June 2025). 

neuman (2024) What is self-noise (or equivalent noise level)?, What is Self Noise (or Equivalent Noise Level)? Available at: https://www.neumann.com/en-us/knowledge-base/neumann-im-homestudio/homestudio-academy/what-is-self-noise-or-equivalent-noise-level (Accessed: 01 June 2025). 

A large amount of country music recordings are emphasised esemble recordings, this is when all the musicans record together live in the studio. The main instruments being used are: drums, bass, guitar, keyboard and vocals are sometimes recorded after. Country music has a classsic way of recording for example they usually dont use plug in loops for drums and so on and thee usually use acoustic instruments when recording. However aspects of modern country like Morgan wallen have started using trap beats which has gained both possitive and negative responces from country fans. Country music recording have a few defining things that make it different to other genres these being: Instrumentation, vocal style,lyrics and overall sonic aproach.

Bibliography

Picken, J. (2024) Music genres explained: Country: Blog, Startle. Available at: https://www.startlemusic.com/blog/music-genres-explained-country#:~:text=It%20takes%20its%20roots%20from%20various%20folk,of%20folk%2C%20blues%2C%20Western%2C%20and%20gospel%20music.&text=It’s%20a%20vast%20musical%20genre%20taking%20in,to%20more%20modern%20genres%20such%20as%20Alt%2Dcountry. (Accessed: 01 June 2025). 

Hight, J. (2018) How the sound of Country Music changed, NPR. Available at: https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2018/03/20/594037569/how-the-sound-of-country-music-changed (Accessed: 01 June 2025). 

Different recording techniques 

In nashville which is believe to be the head of country music they have different recording techniques in studios due to the fact that the large majority of people recording there are country artists and want a similar kind of sound. One thing that countryt artists do differently when recording to other genres is the instrumental aspects are mainly recorded together as a live session. Most of the recordings involving Drums,bass,guitar and keyboard as this was popular in the 90s but other genres changed this by recording seperately and using drum loops with midi interfaces but country music doesnt take this aproach. As ive researched above coountry music love there acoustic sounds and this is another aspect of most studios in nashville. There are a dozen recording studios with acoustic properties so when recording acoustic instruments your able to get a better sound focusing in on ths kind of music which other citys don't. For example studios in other citys like new york and london are becoming more home run as rent prices seem to increase so thats why nashville is so popular with recording in the country music industry as your able to get that acoustic sounfd you cant find in many other places. However this kind of studio session isnt cheap as your looking at the highest quality equipment and producers which can cost up to £2000 per day.

Bob Bullock

Bobis a local celebrity in the country music producer scene especially in nashville and is known as one of the best producers for this genre. He initially like many producers who work in nashville was a producer in los angeles were the majority of the work he produced was rock and pop going back to the early 70s. He worked with large names in the industry like neil young on crazy horse with his first backing band. Nowe today hes knoiw best for his work on some extremely popullar songs in the music industry that are seen as milestones in country music. He worked with shania twain on most of her tracks which she co wrote with mutt lange. this includes the global hit "I feel like a woman" which blew up the charts in many different countrys. Hes even worked with  Reba McEntire, Patty Loveless, George Jones and the late Waylon Jennings and this has aloud his reputation to grow in the country music scene. People came all over the world to get that specific sound that bullock was able to produce as they believed it was authentic as you cans ee from this quote from bullock. "Mutt's quite brilliant as a producer, and when he came to Nashville to make Shania's records, he let us do what we do best," says Bullock. "He wanted those Nashville elements on the record." One way that bob showed that he is different to other producers was his belief on how instruments shoulkd be recorded and sound mainly with acoustic guitar. This can be shown in this other quote here on his comparison to country recordings and pop recordings when it comes to guitars."In pop, you're usually creating an illusion," says Bullock. "In country, you're trying to capture reality. You're going for more organic, earthy sounds." What bob is explaining in this quote is other genres try to change things to make them dsifferent were as country music want to make it sound like its being played infront of you and not on a electrionic device and this is why they have different recording techniques. He explains in the youtube video that his recording has changed however microphones and placement has and he says that his mixing style has changed drastically after moving into more country styled music. Bullock liked to use a two microphone set up prefferably a matching pair of microphones. His favourate microphones including AKG 451 or the 460 version however if he is using a single microphone technique he would prefer the Techinca 4033. He did explain that microphones with a larger diaphrag,s can be set back a bit further back for guitar otherwise it can clip and cause problems when mixing. when he sets up the pair of microphones he has them in a xy set up and has them four to six inches from the sound box and the neck to capturer loads of organic sounds coming of the guitar. He explains in his interviews and qui]otes that this allows him to capture the low and high strings with more definition which means it uses less EQ which gives him room and guitar resenence which is perfect for that natural sound your looking for in country music. The way he uses a signal path also is effected by the kind of instrument make he is recording for example, he uses a concole if it is neve however if it isnt then he will dfecide to keep it outboard from experiance and personal prefferance. The type of instrument will ne as crutial as the microphone as he knows a les paul j200 which is a common country used guitar producess a very strong which sound which Bob explains is good for padding the track, were as a talor acoustic is sharper and in his words create a edgier sound so he sugests them when people are performing a lick and or solo. Another thing that BVob has a very efficant way to mic up is the steel pedal as every time he records them its this way and you very likely have heard this with the amount of artists he has recorded sand produced for. The way he records it is with a split sgnal with a DI into the console and one to a amlifier. The amp is udsed to blend the room sounds with the recording to give it a full sound, he explains this in his quote bellow and his reasoning.  "The amp is really mostly used to blend some of the room sound into the track," says Bullock. "Steel guitars are unique in that they each have a particular sound that seems to remain intact through a [direct injection] into the console. One neat trick is to record them to two tracks (one for the DI and one for the amp), then spread them slightly in stereo; again, a fuller but still natural sound." All this information can be found in both links bellow.

Justin neibank

"But I sometimes split the vocal signal off to a pitch shifter or a Vocoder spread left and right, and then send a guitar through the effect, so that it's the instrument that plays the effect, but in such a way that it supports or offsets the vocal. It can give the vocal a neat harmonic twist without compromising the integrity of the vocal performance. It makes it contemporary and often more dramatic, but it still stays real." It also plays into another subtle but pervasive country idiom: the call and response that permeates bluegrass and blues music, from which country sprang. "Someone sings and an instrument replies," The way he does infact split the channels can be seen in the picture and his methods is the reason so many country artists vocals sound amazing.

Bibliography

       Other World Computing (2022) The Art of Capturing Sound with Nashville’s Bob Bullock, YouTube. Available at:        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8igPi3euQA (Accessed: 04 June 2025). 

Daley, D. (2025) Nashville recording. Available at: https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/nashville-recording (Accessed: 01 June 2025). 

Steel pedal guitars

Origin: this instrument originates from hawai however they also came from spain as fro the change fro the 18th century to the 19th century people with shiops were bringing both spanish and mexican workers over to hawai and thats how the regular guitar was implimented in hawai. This was during the phase were they were developing strings from gut strings to steel strings. Due to the gfact that the hawain people had guitars but no teachers they taught themself and one way they did that was by accident creatig open tunning so when they strum all the strings it plays a chord and they only have to move a single finger to change this. This created its own style called slack key and is still popular coming from the 1800's. A man called joseph kekuku who clames that he was on a train track walking with his guitar and when he picked up a metal road spike  it sliped as a accident and hit his strings and he liked the sound so he wanted to make this a technique. He sits down trying it out but the road spike is to heavy so he trys a knife but its to fin but then he trys the back of a metal comb and that makes a nice sound and he explains it sounds like singing when your sliding it up and down the guitar. The reason the person talking believes this to be true as a large amount of guitar music before the western colonisation was accapella. He then incorperated finger picks to make it loader and uses a steal bar and thats were it gets its name the steel pedal guitar. He also explains that it has to be steel srings to get that sound due to its the wy the steel runs against the other steel and this happened in the 18 90's .

How steel pedal came to country music:The time in which the steel pedal was created was the exact same time that america anexing hawai which happened in the 1900. Because loads of american people are hearing this music and enjoying it this lead to there being a love for hawai music int the 1910 decade. This became the most popular kind of music for that time period in the tenth decade. This also corisponds with the fact that this is when music was just starting to be recorded so some of the first recordings most likely had a steel pedal guitar in them or a variation of this. Some of the first recorded guitarist are hawain steel pedal guitarists which is amazing. The start of the second generation of steel guitar player when it souly started to become into country music is thanks to a artist in the 1920's called Sol Hoppii. He came over from hawai in the 1920s and moves to hawaii and starts to play clubs in LA and was invited to appear with Hoot Gibbson who is one of the early cowboy movie stars and this is when theyu were begoining to add sound and music to live picture and Sol comes in to be his steel guitarist and this was the turning point for the instrument. Although then towards the end of the 1920 and starting the 1930s jimmy rogers who is believed to be the father of country music starts using A steel pedal in his music. And this was when steel pedal was seen as a lead instrument and was before guitar was and guitars were very much a backing instrument for steel pedals which it is the opposit nowdays. Before artists like mer travis started incorperating guitar as a lead instrument. They were playing things like horns sound like die to the fact that there doing rage time jazz and blues and its all being led by steel pedal styles. In the 1930s we start to see western swing be incorperated into the music industry and this is were steel pedal begins to gain popularity and shine in america with artists like Bob wills who was extremely famous at the time using them and so on. This is how we got the steel pedal anthem in the sense with these tracks and this is when the electric pickup became a thing and the first guitar to become electric in a sense was the steel pedal as a lappy. This was due to the fact is was a growing and loved lead instrument they wanted it to be louder and able to shine and hear it over a loud band with horns and drums. Tis were most people incorperate country music with the steel pedal especially in the west with texas and is to believed to be as important as the fidle in westen swing.towards the end of the slap steel era is when you get the untimate anthem for the steel pedal which is sleeo walk by santo and jonny. This is believed to be the most famous steel pedal song there is and you will know it as soon as you hear it.

The different kinds of steel pedal: The overall explenation for all of these different variations of the steel pedal is actually called steel guitar and the order of the coming out of these different instruments is steel guitar and then there are two different kinds of lap steel guitar you have the acoustic version and the electric version. The acoustic version called a dobo which came out in the late 1920s which actually came out after the electric lap guitar. The way they wanted to make a acoustic sound louder was they created a loud steel cone in the guitar instead of a average whole which makes a mixture of steel pedal sunds and a guitar. Then finally in the 50s the steel pedal was invented and is the most famous version of the instrument. For this version its extremely varied as there isnt one version of the tuning as there are so many variations.

Main artists of steel pedal music: He explained that if there was one artists that he wants people to know the most its buddy emins. Peole believe that hes tlike if you combined jimmy Hendrix les paul and mother may bell carter and made them one person but on steel pedal format thats how tallented Buddy was. The track recomended to listen to is on the album night life and it sounds like a jazz album and the reason its so impresive is hes taking a instrument that is nothing to do with jazz and using jazz tecvhniques to change that and developed the onstrument and shown how diverse it actually could be this recording can be found in the music video at 12 minutes and 9 seconds in. This artist is werpop country had came from and knowone else was doing this at that time. Another person to look out for would be peak drake and also loyd green. However when you get around the 90s era people like Paul franklin are huge as he has fetured in loads of music from the 90s to now. Hes probably the biggest steel pedasl player of the modern era abd has the most amount of features on songs higher than anyone else. It can al;so be used as a instrument completely different way by artists like robert randalf with sacride steel. This is the lead instrument in some churches and he works with people nothing to do with country and is just huge in the guitar world for example hes done work with eric clapton and so onworking more in the main stream rock n roll world of music. Another thing that isnt common is female steel pedal player like barbra mandrell and also the chicks who are extremely popular format rather than the experimental world. He explains that the most popular song hew hears covered by steel guitarists in cowboy take me away which has amazing steel part by loyd mings and his daughter is the dixy chicks player and he plays all of the steel parts. All the information ive got is from this video.

Bibliography

Masterclass (2021) Country Music Guide: History and Sounds of Country Music - 2025, MasterClass. Available at: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/country-music-guide# (Accessed: 01 June 2025). 

Country music hall of fame (2023) History of country music instruments, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Available at: https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/learn/family-and-community-resources/history-of-country-music-instruments (Accessed: 01 June 2025). 

smith, G. (2022) The Strange Story of the Steel Guitar, Country’s Most Magical Instrument, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg9KFX0GObo (Accessed: 01 June 2025). 

Now that I have this information of the microphones when i go into the studios i know how all the equipment works so when it comes to recording I know exactly how to to use the rode microphone for example when im recording the vocals how to get the best recording for my vocals. I also know understand how phasing works so i can talk to harry and explain when hes setting up the acoustic guitar mics how is this not going to cause phasing so i can get the best recording. Linking to this i can also tell my producer that I want to use a specific micing technique as i want a specific sound for example i want a dynamic microphone towards the top of the fet board to capture the sound waves co,ming from the picking style and little things like this are going to help me get a perfect recording for my song and make it sound different and better to other peoples recordings. 

Primary research 

My producer explaining how he find the Attack the kick drum and compresses it.