Photo by Pablo Albacete

Joel wrote a great introduction to microphones a while back where he talked about different types of microphones, their polar patterns and various specifications you need to keep in mind when buying your microphone. During the following article I’m going to continue on the path of the microphone and give you a great beginners guide to using your microphones.

Before I start, let me stress that in the end, it’s all in your ears. Be experimental when you can, move the microphone around wearing headphones to find the so-called sweet spot of the instrument. But to make things a little bit easier, here are some general tips, industry standard work principles and guidelines.

1. Microphone Placement

There are three general categories of miking: Close miking, or spot miking, distant miking and finally ambient miking. Let me explain the differences.

Close/Spot Miking

Close miking is when you use your microphone, you guessed it, close to the instrument. Generally speaking, microphones are positioned 1 to 3 inches (3 to 10 cm) from the sound source. With your microphone really close to the instrument, you get a thick, tight sound that sounds, once again you guessed it, close.

Listen to the string accompaniment of Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles. Geoff Emerick said that he got the tight sound quality of the quartet by close miking every instrument, which was very unusual at the time. (Ref: Behind the Glass, Massey, Howard.)

By close miking you also carefully try to eliminate the reflections and characteristics of the room in which the microphone is in. Many home recordists use close microphone placement only because their rooms sound bad, and they want to be able to get the purest source so they can add whatever reverb sound they want later on. Again, check out another one of Joel’s article where he gives you a few tips regarding how to make your room sound a little bit better when recording vocals, and also check out one of my articles on how to makeshift a vocal booth in your bedroom.

There has to be careful considerations put into the position of you microphone when close miking. Putting it too close to a specific spot on an instrument will only capture that specific characteristic of said instrument, like taking a picture of a tall building holding your camera in landscape view. You either get the top, or you get the bottom. No super cool vacation photo that time.

The same applies to instruments that are rich in harmonic content, i.e. instruments that have a big and lush sound. It’s hard capturing the full body, depth and bigness of an instrument using only one microphone, especially when it’s close to one specific part of the body. That is when you have to resort to either using more microphones, which I’ll get to later, or mike up at a distance.

Distant Miking

Using distant miking, you pull yourself a little bit farther from the source sound. Generally considered, microphones are placed at a distance of 3 feet or more(1m or more) from the instrument. By placing the microphone farther away you capture the full tonal spectrum of the instrument. In contrast to close miking, distant miking picks up the whole instrument instead of just a small part of it.

By putting your microphone at a distance you are also picking up a lot of the room sound you are recording in. The acoustics of the room get mixed in with the sound of the instrument, resulting in a live acoustic sound. If you have an amazing room, this doesn’t need to be a problem because the natural acoustic amazing-ness of the room only enhances the sound.

But, as I said before, many rooms tend to sound bad and only interfere with the sound of the instrument, putting an unwanted room sound on an otherwise great sounding instrument. So try experimenting with distance, walking around the room finding a good spot where you can hear the instrument well.

Ambient Miking

Ambient miking is the technique of putting your microphones at a distance that it almost only picks up the natural reverb of the room you are recording in. Sometimes it’s even at such a distance that it’s not even in the same room.

Say you are recording a drum kit in a tight sounding room but in the hallway outside the studio the drum kit sounds live but distant. By putting up ambient microphones in the hallway you are capturing the drum kit, but you are essentially picking up the reverberations of the hallway leading down from the studio room into the microphones.

When somebody puts up room mics, they are essentially miking up the ambience. Room mics can be put in the corners of the room, where they pick up the overall sound of an orchestra for example, or the room sound of a string quartet.

Ambient miking, mixed with close miking can give you the best control over the sound of an instrument. This gives you individual control over the spot mics, and over the room. Think of it as having two tracks in your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation, e.g. Pro Tools, Logic Pro etc), one for the instrument (the spot mic) and one acting as the reverb (ambient mic).

Also, if your microphone has different polar positions you can experiment with switching between them, listening to which one sounds best. This doesn’t only work with ambient miking, but distance and close miking as well. A figure eight pattern close miked can give you a tight sound from the closeness of the instrument, but also a live sound from the reflections of the room.

Photo by Pablo Albacete

2. Which Microphones to Use in Which Situations

Spot Miking

You can use all kinds of microphones for spot miking. It just depends on the instrument you are recording and the sensitivity of the microphone in question. Using condensers and ribbons for full-bodied acoustic instruments such as cellos, acoustic guitar and the sort will give you better results than using dynamic microphones that cannot capture the full acoustic quality of these instruments.

Dynamic microphones serve really well when it comes to very loud instruments like drums and distorted amplifiers due to the amount of noise they can pick up without distorting. You can easily put a dynamic mic up to the grill of your Marshall stack without thinking twice about it, but putting a ribbon microphone against a distorted, high volume amp is probably going to destroy it.

Distance & Ambient Miking

When you move a microphone farther away from an instrument, you will need to increase the gain on your pre-amp in order for it to pick up enough volume. The sensitivity of condensers and ribbon microphones means that they need less gain to accurately capture an instrument at a distance.

What this means is that unless you have a really noisy instrument, like drums or high-gain amplifiers, you will need to use condensers or ribbons. Dynamic microphones just lack the sensitivity, frequency response and gain to be able to effectively pick up and instrument at a distance.

3. Combining Microphone Positions

The most effective way to capture the full sound of an instrument is using various microphone positions, each one capturing a different tonal quality. This can include using all of the various distance miking techniques, having one microphone close to the instrument, another one picking up the a little bit of the room and then a third one acting as a natural reverb.

Example, when miking up a double bass you can put a spot microphone close to the body, aiming to capture the sound of the fingers slapping against the strings, another mic at a distance of a few feet capturing the low end, and a third one picking up the bass in the room.

Another way of using different miking positions is using a few close mics, and then one for the room. Consider using a few microphones at different positions around an acoustic guitar for example. Put one one by the sound-hole, another behind the body and a third one picking up the frets. These three microphones, although close to the same instrument are picking up radically different aspects of it. Mix and match these to get a great full and tight sound, and then add another one at a distance for yet another color.

Conclusion

Having a good basic understanding of microphone techniques is crucial to getting a good sound. The age old adage goes, (expletive deleted) in (expletive deleted) out. You can go a long way by using these techniques, setting up microphones where they are “supposed” to be. But the first and last tools at your disposal are your ears, so trust them rather than a diagram with inches, meters and feet.

If an instrument sounds better to your ears when you break all the rules, then fine. If that’s the sound you are looking for, you found it. General microphone techniques work most of the time, and get you at least halfway there. The rest is up to your ears and taste.

(Reference: Modern Recording Techniques, Huber, David Miles. Runstein Robert E.)

Choosing Your Microphone

Good vocal microphone technique is all about getting the best vocal sound using the tools available to you: your voice and your microphone. It’s important to think about your microphone choice, rather than just going for the mic that is supposed to be the standard for the job.

The three factors that are most important are:

• Polar pattern
• Frequency response
• Transducer type

Polar pattern: The quality of the microphone and how well it works with your voice are rather subjective things, but to narrow the options down these factors really help. In most cases, you’re going to want some sort of unidirectional polar pattern such as a cardioid or super-cardioid microphone. Vocals tend to be recorded close-up and personal and these days, most of the time, any reverb is added in the rack or the box — unless you have an excellent sounding room.

However, you may want to use an omnidirectional microphone. On some tracks, you might be after a spacious, roomy feel, and the best reverbs come from a good room — I don’t care how expensive your reverb unit is! In this case, the omnidirectional microphone will pick up the voice and the room in the right proportions. For solo vocals, this is probably the only reason you’d use an omni, but at some point we’ll go into group and choral vocal recording which require omnidirectional and bidirectional microphones most of the time.

In a live situation, you really should stick to your unidirectional range so you’re not picking up as much crowd noise and guitar as you are picking up vocals.

Frequency response: Selecting the mic with the right frequency response is a matter of asking what sort of tonal characteristics your voice has and which mic has a response pattern that matches it, and asking which frequencies you may want to emphasize. If you have a tinny nasal voice, perhaps you want something that picks up some more bass and thus would select the SM57 at close range over the SM58.

The human voice tends to have a spike at around 3.5kHz. You generally speaking want some emphasis here to ensure your voice is clear, plus any boosts or cuts in other areas of the frequency spectrum you may be hoping for to enhance the unique tonal characteristics of your voice.

Transducer type: Condenser and dynamic microphones play a role in both studio and live performance situations, but it’s important to remember that you should only introduce a condenser to your live set-up when you know it’s designed for the job. Most condensers are only useful in the studio because they cause wild feedback live. Some condensers have been designed for live usage, and Rode make a few of my favorite live condensers.

The Standard Live Vocal Microphone is the Shure SM58, or less commonly, the Shure SM57. You should still check out your options, but those are the safe bets in a pinch. Don’t make any assumptions if you can avoid it — while the SM58 is often said to work for everyone, I find I much prefer the SM57 and would not use the SM58 on myself.

Preparing to Sing

Before you sing live or record vocals in the studio, there are a few things you need to do to prepare.

In the studio:

• Get the stand set up so that it’s comfortable for you to stand near without tripping over the legs.
• Get the pop filter set up. Always, every time. Don’t skip it.
• Set up the signal chain and ensure everything is plugged in before turning on the 48V phantom power.
• Ensure your voice has been warmed up adequately. Another one that frequently gets skipped and shouldn’t be. In the studio, it takes time and multiple takes. If you don’t warm up, your voice will not last long enough. You are not Supervocalist and don’t fool yourself into thinking you are.
• Spend time getting your headphone mix right.

Live:

• Configure the stand. Ensure the pole in the middle of the stand is not be touching the ground. Vibrations from the ground can travel up the pole to the microphone and caused unwanted additions to the signal.
• If the microphone is a wired mic, spend time ensuring that the cable is routed around the stage in a sensible way. In a live situation it is entirely possible to trip over the cable if you haven’t been careful about its placement.
• Spend time on the monitoring both before and during the practice. If you have poor monitoring you’ll throw good vocal and mic technique out the window, ruining the sound at front of house and destroying your voice before the end of the first song.

Positioning

When performing live, the microphone should sit at about chin level and be tilted up towards your mouth and noise. It should not be at a 90 degree angle with the stand coming straight at your mouth. When you sing, and more so on stage, you sing at a slightly downward diagonal angle — a microphone coming straight for you will not only be somewhat uncomfortable, but it’ll miss plenty of signal.

In the studio, dynamic microphones are generally positioned the same way as they are live. Almost everyone is in the habit of singing into dynamic mics the same way, so you may as well make the singer comfortable!

Condenser microphones are almost always placed straight in front of the singer’s microphone. This is the best way to get a clear, pleasing sound coming down the wire. Unlike a dynamic microphone, they generally pick up signal from one of the sides, rather than the top.

In the studio, stand about a foot away (give or take for louder or quieter singers). It’s often a good idea to angle the singer a few degrees off-axis so the mic doesn’t bear the total brunt of the air coming from the singer’s mouth.

Microphone Handling

From here on out, the majority (but not all) of advice is going to apply to live performance. That’s because in the studio, you stand in front of the mic, keep still and sing. You don’t move unless you’re going to get ridiculously loud and haven’t configured your gain structure to handle it from one standing position.

First and most important tip, because if you ignore this it doesn’t matter what else you do: if you’re live and despite your best intentions you can’t hear yourself, don’t try to! You will sing louder, you’ll throw away good vocal technique that protects your voice from damage (and from sounding terrible), and you’ll ignore good microphone technique. In other words, even though you can’t hear yourself, everyone in the audience can — and you sound like a dying cat.

Forget about hearing yourself. Practice often enough that you know how to sing by muscle memory and just trust yourself to do it right.

Know the microphone. Every microphone responds differently to different treatment, despite the generally helpful standard advice on microphone technique. In the worst case scenario you’ll have to figure this out during sound check and practice; make sure you do better than that and spend time with it weeks, months, even years before the gig.

When you are told to eat the microphone, you might be surprised to learn that this does not mean you should literally eat it. Keep your hunger in check with a burger and keep the microphone about one or two inches from your mouth. In the world of microphones, this really is “eating it” and is how you will sing live, generally speaking. Don’t let the mic touch your lips.

This is your default resting position. You then need to move the mic further or closer depending on what you’re doing:

• When you get louder, for a chorus for instance, move the microphone away from the mouth and a couple of degrees to the sound. The distance you pull the mic back depends on the individual microphone. The variance in distance will be proportionate with the increase in volume — that is, the louder you sing, the more you pull back — but how far is something you’ll need to determine by getting to know the mic.
• When you sing quietly, you can move closer in, but remember not to let your lips touch the actual windscreen. If you need more volume, ensure that the microphone is right on-axis, straight at your mouth. Remember to take it off-axis again when you’re singing normally.
• Whether the mic moves or your head moves depends on whether you’re holding the microphone or if it’s on a stand.

These tactics are not used to increase and decrease volume. You want the changes in volume to be heard as naturally as possible; the engineer and compressor will keep that manageable. Your creating and reducing distance to avoid clipping the microphone with too much volume and air, and to prevent lower frequencies from disappearing when you get quiet by introducing the proximity effect. As simple as it all sounds, it’s tricky to pull off well. The best thing you can do is practice a dynamically challenging song with the microphone you plan to use most frequently.

How Microphones Work

At their most basic, microphones are transducers. A transducer is an electrical device that converts energy from one form to another. In this case, the transducer is turning sound — acoustical energy — into an audio signal — electrical energy.

Most of you would know that sound is essentially fluctuations in air pressure. The component all microphones have in common is called the diaphragm. When sound waves hit the diaphragm, it vibrates, and the vibrations (which represent the fluctuations in air pressure) are turned into electrical energy (current). At the other end of the mic lead, that current is turned into the audio signal.

Granted, that’s a pretty basic explanation of how the microphone actually works, but as a musician, producer or engineer it’s all the science you really need to know about them.

Types of Microphone

There are plenty of types of microphones, all representing a different way of converting sound into signal. Each type of microphone has its own sound when compared to the other types, so knowing which is for which is just as important as knowing your mic’s frequency response. Microphone types usually get their names from their transducer type and directional patterns (for instance, you can get an omni condenser and a super-cardioid dynamic). Let’s look at the most common types of microphone you’ll be using.

Dynamic Microphone: Dynamic mics are one of the most common types of microphone. That’s because they’re cheaper, they can be used in both live and studio situations, and quite a bit hardier than most other microphones — for instance, put a condenser and a dynamic in front of the same number of spitty singers or tuba players and you’ll find the dynamic lasts longer due to its resistance to moisture.

Generally, dynamics don’t pick up as much detail as a condenser, so they’re not used in the studio as much as they are live, but they do come in handy on loud instruments such as electric guitar where condensers are only useful a few feet away. They’re also used by bands who want to get “that live sound” in the studio.

Condenser Microphone: Condenser microphones are incredibly popular, but not as common as the dynamic because they’re expensive, and they aren’t easy to use in a live situation unless they’ve been specifically designed for that — they generate feedback very easily. Condensers generally pick up a lot more detail than dynamic microphones and are better for quieter, subtler sounds. They also require 48V phantom power, where their dynamic cousins just need to be plugged into whatever’s available to receive the sound.

Condensers are great for picking up loud sounds without losing detail, though if you don’t have a wide breadth of condensers available to you, you may end up using a dynamic for those. Condensers are fragile and anything from air moisture to a bit of a bang can ruin them in no time.

You can get live condensers, such as the Rode M2. I’ve always preferred them as I find few dynamic microphones suit my voice.

Ribbon Microphone: Ribbon microphones are quite expensive, particularly fragile, and much less common than dynamic and condenser microphones. In the studio, they’re used frequently and I know one producer (misguided or not) who said he never used any mic except ribbon mics anymore. Like dynamic microphones, they don’t require 48V power, but unlike dynamic microphones, they can be damaged if that much power is fed into them, just to prove to you they really are fragile things (there are some ribbon mics being produced now that won’t be damaged if you forget to turn the phantom power off).

Ribbon microphones get their name from the the thin metal ribbon suspended in a magnetic field that picks up the vibration and turns it into a signal by magnetic induction. They’re good for a number of purposes including stereo recording and isolating an instrument in a noisy room (think drum kits).

There are other types of microphone, including the carbon and crystal microphones, but these are the three you need to know if you’re getting started in the world of recording.

Polar Patterns

The polar pattern of a microphone determines from which direction it picks up sound — or more accurately, how sensitive they are to sounds arriving from different angles, since if you sing into the back of a cardioid microphone you’re still going to hear something (even if it’s very quiet). Read on to find out about polar patterns, including what on earth a cardioid microphone is.

• Omnidirectional: an omnidirectional microphone picks up sound equally from every angle. Omnidirectionals are great for recording choirs, a bunch of string players standing in a circle, and so on.
• Cardioid: cardioids are the most popular polar pattern, and pick up mostly noise from a wide front area with about bit of sensitivity around the sides of the back, and almost no sensitivity at dead-center rear. They’re named cardioid because the polar pattern is heart-shaped when demonstrated in diagram format.
• Hyper-cardioid: like a cardioid, but picks up a thinner area at the front and is less sensitive at the back.
• Super-cardioid: has about as much as front sensitivity as the cardioid but even less rear sensitivity than the hyper-cardioid.
• Bi-directional: these microphones pick up sound from the front and the back, but not so much the sides. Good for duets or other situations where you want to record two sound sources but exclude any others.
• Shotgun: shotgun microphones are named so because you point them at a sound source and they won’t pick up anything but that sound source. Technically, that’s not quite true — they have some sensitivity on the sides and at the back — but it’s far less than any other microphone. They’re often used in field recording and on television, but they come in handy when you’re recording drum kits and the like where you want isolation.

Frequency Response

Just about every microphone has a frequency response chart in the manual. It looks like an EQ graph with squiggly lines showing how sensitive it is (or isn’t) to certain frequencies. A microphone that’s designed to record a kick drum will generally have slight boosts in the bass regions and cut off a bit of high-end. Be careful to check the frequency response of every mic you buy before you actually buy it. There’s no point recording a bass guitar with a microphone that has a high pass.

Connectors

Most microphones use an XLR lead and plug in on the male end, though you can buy some crappy microphones that’ll plug in to a 1/4 inch jack. Steer clear of those — stick with XLR microphones or you’ll be climbing below the very worst of the recording quality microphones.

What’s important between the mic and the pre-amp is whether your lead is balanced or unbalanced. Unbalanced leads won’t do anything to stop noise. Balanced leads essentially run the signal down two wires, one with the phase flipped, so that at the other end you can combine the two signals and any noise that was introduced in the lead itself will disappear as it will be out of phase.

Electrical Current Level

The level of current a microphone generates determines gain at the other end of the lead. Mic level is a tiny amount of current, whereas line level and instrument level are quite loud as they are. When you plug a microphone into a rack in the studio or a mixer in a live situation, the first thing you need to do is amplify the signal. This is done when you are setting up your gain structure. The goal is to get all signals to line level or unity gain so they can be mixed relative to each other as easily as possible.

In a nutshell: don’t skip pre-amplification! It’s a common newbie mistake to go buy a microphone without buying some sort of pre-amp. Do your research and get something that makes your mic signal sound good — lively, loud and noise-free.

Protecting from Plosives and Wind

There are a few ways to stop plosives and pops from your vocalist or wind noise in general, but they all boil down to: put something between the microphone and the sound source (the wind is a sound source for the purposes of this tutorial). Sure, we could crap on about reducing noise by putting the singer on a funny angle or any number of tricks to get rid of plosives, but at the end of the day, some sort of mesh or fabric is going to have to go in front of the microphone. Don’t even try to record without something.

The best solution is a pop filter. You’ve no doubt seen these in use, even if only in a music video. It’s a circular fabric or metal mesh that sits in front of the microphone and clamps onto the stand. I prefer metal pop filters as I find the fabric can take some of the high-end frequencies off the top — it’s not always noticeable but I prefer to be able to take the sizzle out of a sound myself.

That said, a fabric pop filter is far better than the poor man’s solution I used years ago: sticking a sock over the microphone itself. Never had my sound clip due to a plosive, but it sure does sound muffled to my ears these days!

Buying a Microphone

So now you know how microphones work and what types of microphone exist. There are a few things to look at when you actually go and purchase a microphone. The first thing to know is what the microphone will be used for. Will it be for vocals? Guitar? Drums? Piccolo (if anyone even plays those anymore)? Or will it be an all-rounder? Be forewarned that you can’t get an all-rounder microphone — you can only get a mic that works on more sound sources than another mic.

The first factors to decide on are ones we’ve already discussed:

• Type of mic — will you be recording live or in the studio? If you’re recording in the studio, do you want something that can tolerate the beating a loud, distorted electric guitar through a big stack will put it through? What about a metal screamer? The rule generally goes: dynamics for live situations, condensers for the studio, unless the sound is loud, in which case you go for the dynamic anyway. There are probably more exceptions to the rule than there are actual cases where you’d follow it, so do your research properly and don’t flame me if you buy a dynamic vocal mic for the stage that you hate.
• Polar pattern — which polar pattern you want depends on so many factors. If you’re in a live situation, I would go for cardioids and mics that isolate. Maybe you want to pick up the room or multiple sound sources in a studio, in which case you’d go for something with a more open directional sensitivity.
• Frequency response — I think that the flatter the microphone’s frequency response, the better, but perhaps you want a live mic that has a bit of extra kick in a sound source’s dominant range (this is what the SM58 does for vocalists). Keep in mind that you can’t change a microphone’s inherent response, but you can accentuate frequencies later with a bit of EQ, hence why I think flat response is the best response.

Other factors to consider:

• Impedance — microphones are either high impedance or low impedance. I won’t go into the details of impedance, because frankly I sometimes have a hard enough time getting my head around it myself and it’s certainly not important for making great music — but generally speaking you want to get a microphone with lower impedance. High impedance microphones are cheaper and they’re fine if you’re not using a ridiculously long cable, but if you’re playing a stadium and want to run around with a twenty meter cable, it becomes more important to get a low-impedance mic and a low-impedance cable to reduce noise and interference.
• Noise cancelling — some microphones have features to help control noise, such as suspending transducer components to isolate unwanted vibrations.

The number one factor to consider when purchasing a microphone is sound quality. Above all else, try the microphone on the sound you want to record with it and see how it compares to other microphones in your budget range.

Even with the same polar pattern, transducer type and frequency response, one microphone will sound better than the other. Tone is supposedly a matter of overtones and matching frequency responses should provide matching sounds, but microphones that are built better simply sound better. Don’t listen to anyone who tells you that two microphones will sound the same because they have the same specifications — it’s not true!

That’s all you need to know in order to know quite a bit about microphones. Next time we’ll look at microphone technique and placement.

The sad truth is that you can’t get pro quality vocals happening at home. But you can improve the sound by a mile if you’re armed with a few tricks and tips, and that’s what I intend to give you.

The Room

The number one factor in vocal recording is the room. You might’ve thought it was the mic you’re using or the pre-amp you’re running it through, but the truth is if you’ve got a U87 and an Avalon but the room you’re recording in is crap, you won’t be much farther ahead than a guy using a Behringer mic through an Mbox.

You could buy one of those (often rather expensive) reflection shields that attach to the stand and sit behind the microphone, and this will do you some good, particularly if your mic is omnidirectional. However, most common vocal microphones for both home and studio users are cardioid, so the shield will still help to an extent but the majority of problem reflections will come from the front — that is, the surfaces behind the vocalist’s head.

This article isn’t about treating your room, which is a great idea if you own your home and you can learn more about doing so on a budget here. We’re talking about cheap, fast and temporary solutions for the moment. The best thing you can do in this case is to grab a blanket and tape it to a wall or hang it over a reasonably tall and wide bookshelf with some books pinning it down on top.

You want to get as much of the surface on the wall behind the singer covered as you can. Don’t neglect the area behind and above the head in particular — if your singer is taller than your bookshelf (or even around the same height), forget about hanging the blanket and tape it to the wall. The thickest blanket you can find is best.

Here’s an example that compares a bedroom recording without a blanket, and then with a blanket — I’ve used a clap, the industry standard reflection measurement technology:

Download audio file (clap.mp3)

As you can hear, the first sound has a very metallic reflection to it, which isn’t particularly pleasant. The second clap shows that you can’t eliminate reflections in a bedroom this way, but you can control them and give yourself some room to apply a nicer reverb later.

You’ll have the best luck in a carpeted room. If you’ve got floorboards or tiles, get a rug that covers as much of the floor as possible. You should also ensure your curtains or blinds are drawn as window glass is incredibly reflective. Slat blinds are not particularly good at blocking the reflections because of the gap between each strip, so try to hang a curtain even if only for the duration of your recording session. Again, the thicker the better. In some recording rooms a bit of liveliness isn’t a bad thing when the reflective surfaces have been purpose-designed, but in a bedroom you’re best of deadening as much as you can and adding reverb during the mixing phase of your project.

Dampening the vicinity behind the singer’s head can be enough to reduce reflections to decent level for home demo recording, but if you’re full of energy and have more blankets than you know what to do with, put one on every wall and maybe even lay one over your desk surface. The last suggestion involves a lot of work — you need to move your gear, put the blanket down, put the gear back, and then repeat the process when you’re done, but a reflective desk can cause a lot of problems.

Positioning

Positioning the microphone can be tricky in a home studio situation. You don’t want to be too close to walls or other reflective surfaces such as desks (especially desks, as frequencies, in particular bass, will build up underneath the desktop). On the other hand, you don’t want to be in the middle of the room — the frequencies that build up due to non-purpose specific room design are most prominent here, and are known as standing waves.

In a small room, as most home recording environments are, it’s tough to get away from walls and from the center of the room. My recommendation is that you put yourself closer to a wall that is dampened with a blanket and face the other side of the room. Get a few feet away from the wall if you can do so without putting the microphone in the middle of the room, and make sure the wall you’ve chosen is furthest away from your desk or windows. You may want to rearrange the room so your desk is at the window! It might increase the reflectivity of that area of the room, but if you can get far enough away from it, this is better than having nowhere to go because your desk is at one end and the window’s at the other.

If you can get a few feet in front of the wall you’ve chosen to dampen, make sure you can dampen as much of that wall as possible. Using a few blankets is a bit of a pain, but worth it in the end.

Your singer should stand about a foot away from the microphone as a general guide. Softer singers might be better off standing at half that distance, while a loud metal screamer might need as much as two feet of distance. Good microphone technique plays a part in the process, which unfortunately requires the singer has some experience with studio recording. Someone who has sung live for years but has never entered a studio is not going to be much better than a total neophyte, particularly if you’re using condensers, as the correct technique differs in both situations. They may have a bit of an advantage if you’re recording with dynamics (and I’ve only ever seen a dynamic mic used for studio vocals a couple of times, and one of those times was because the singer was too loud for a condenser even with a -20dB pad on and low gain!).

It’s also advisable to put the singer a couple of degrees off the center of the microphone, where it’s less sensitive. Singers like to move their heads, and a centimeter can make too much of a difference at dead-center. Which leads me to…

The Proximity Effect

Almost all dynamic microphones and the vast majority of condensers used in a home studio have a proximity effect, which is to say that the closer the sound source is to the microphone, the more the bass frequencies will be exaggerated. 90% of the time, this is undesirable in vocal recordings.

There are a few ways to combat this — your best bet is to use a singer with good microphone technique and awareness of the various problems that can crop up when they move their little heads too close. When you’re dealing with a less experienced singer I’ve found an effective quick fix is to move the pop filter a few inches away from the mic so they physically cannot get too close to the microphone (you are using a pop filter, right? If not, get one right away!). Be careful, as this may limit their ability to compensate for a sudden drop in volume by moving in a bit closer.

Gain

Most people have a tendency to record vocals too loud, which causes clipping and definitely cannot be fixed in the mix. Unfortunately, if you’ve got a home studio with typical home studio gear, you don’t have the luxury of recording too soft, either. With a studio quality set-up, you can record quietly without danger (usually) of running into noise floor problems. At home, the equipment and cables are almost always too noisy and you need to record with enough volume to escape that ugly sound.

Every time you set up a vocal recording session, you’re going to need to spend time getting the levels right so that the quietest point in the song can be heard loudly enough without introducing clipping when the singer gets a bit more passionate in the chorus. To make matters worse, you need to remember that a singer — be it yourself or someone you’re recording — will get louder as they get further into the session and begin to overcome nerves, particularly those singers who are not experienced in the recording studio. So even if you spend twenty minutes getting your levels right at first, there’s a good chance you’ll need to compensate for it by the time you’re doing the real-deal tracking.

Make the Singer Sound Great

At least, to them! Almost all singers are suddenly and magically able to sing better if they hear their voice after is has been processed a bit. Different singers have different needs, but a bit of compression and reverb on the monitoring bus are usually the way to go. If your compression and reverb units are hardware units, make sure you can route your headphone bus through them so the hard effects aren’t recorded for good, unless you know what you’re doing and don’t intend to change it later on.

For those of you with a more basic setup, such as an Mbox, headphone mixes aren’t an option. You’ll need to satisfy yourself with slapping a plug-in or two on the vocal track and using software monitoring, or going without if the latency is too high for that.

Singers — and have no illusions, every singer from yourself to Rob Halford — will try to overcompensate for the flaws they hear in their voice if confronted with the raw sound from the microphone. Some are better at focusing on the performance and doing less compensating than others, but they all do it. Put some artificial control in place with the compressor and a more natural sounding room with a bit of nice reverb.

Ever seen someone who has never worked in a studio enter a treated dead room or anechoic chamber before? I was surprised to find that many people find it disconcerting. A disconcerted singer is not a very good one, so liven up the deadened sound and you’ll notice an immediate improvement.

As it happens, they say this is why people sing in the shower more than any other location!

In this special Birthday Bonus tutorial, Bobby Owsinski teaches us how to treat a room acoustically without breaking the bank.

To learn more about what you get as part of Audio Plus, read this. To take a peek inside this tutorial, hit the jump!

Sneak Peek

With more and more musicians and engineers able to have their own personal studio, many times the last thing considered is the acoustics of the recording space. This is understandable, since if you don’t have the recording gear in the first place, a great acoustic environment isn’t going to do you much good. But I think that one of the major reasons that the recording environment isn’t given a higher priority in a personal or non-commercial recording space are the perceived costs in attaining something acoustically reasonable.

It’s true that designing a commercial facility with a great designer/architect is going to cost you anywhere from $300 to 500 USD per square foot (or more) to build, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t improve your present recording environment for much, much less. All it takes is a bit of knowledge about some really basic acoustics principles and some time, and you can improve your studio more than you could’ve imagined in most cases (with no math involved unless you want to go another step).

Table of Contents

1. Soundproofing
2. Acoustic Treatment
3. The Curse of Low Ceilings
4. Air Conditioning
5. When You Can’t Make Physical Changes
6. Placing the Kit in the Room

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Assigning Key Commands

The Axiom 49

The first step, and the easiest, is to get Logic to recognize the Axiom’s transport controls, and then we can add functionality to a few more buttons. Go to the Logic Pro menu to the right of the Apple menu, and navigate to Preferences > Key Commands.

Logic’s Key Commands Window

Key Commands allows you to configure a keyboard shortcut or control surface command for a massive range of Logic’s features. Open the Global Commands section by clicking on the small arrow next to it.

• Click on the Record listing, which should be the first item under Global.
• Click on Learn New Assignment, which is in the lower right corner of the window.


The Axiom’s Transport Controls

• Press the Axiom’s Record button.

The Record button on your Axiom is now ready to go — give it a shot to make sure! Time to deal with the rest.

• Find and click on Play in the Command list.
• Click on Learn New Assignment.
• Press the Axiom’s Play button.
• Find and click on Stop in the Command list.
• Click on Learn New Assignment.
• Press the Axiom’s Stop button.
• Find and click on Rewind in the Command list.
• Click on Learn New Assignment.
• Press the Axiom’s Rewind button.
• Find and click on Forward in the Command list.
• Click on Learn New Assignment.
• Press the Axiom’s Forward button.
• The last button is the loop button which is harder to find, so use the Search field to find Cycle Mode — click on it once you’ve found it.
• Click on Learn New Assignment.
• Press the Axiom’s Loop button.

That was a little repetitive, but your transport controls should be fully configured by now. Take a break from the tutorial now to make sure they’re all functioning the way they should.

If you’re planning to get a whole bunch of Software Instrument track recording out of the way in one session, we need to add a couple more functions to the Axiom’s buttons so that we don’t need to go back and forth between the computer and the keyboard.

Use the search box to find “Select Next Track” and once it is selected, click on Learn New Assignment. Hit a button that suits you — I used the Zone 1 button — to assign it.

Now find “Select Previous Track” and follow the same procedure with an adjacent button. In this case I used Zone 2. With the Zone 1 and 2 buttons I can now navigate between tracks whether I’m in the Arrange window or the Mixer, use the Rewind and Forward buttons to find the spot I want to start recording at and then hit the Record button to start a take. You may want to find the Undo key command and assign a button for that so that you can quickly get rid of a bad take.

This means I can record takes on a whole bunch of instruments without touching the computer. If you’re recording through a microphone in your control room, it may prove convenient to have these controls set up if your microphone is closer to the Axiom than the computer.

A quick note: if you’re planning to use zones to split your keyboard up in order to control different MIDI instruments, it’d be wise not to assign Logic controls to the zone buttons like I have.

Assigning Faders & Knobs

Having those buttons configured is really useful, but sliding faders and turning knobs is far more fun! Logic makes the process for assigning these pretty easy, although if you’re not attentive it’s much easier to mess your configurations up.

The Axiom’s Faders

Let’s start with the faders. Some people will configure things so that the eight faders correspond to the first eight tracks in the Mixer, but I find my projects always have far too many tracks for this to be a useful way of working. Instead I like to assign the faders to modify a value on the currently selected track (which can now be easily changed using the Zone buttons).

Click on the selected track’s volume fader on the screen and then hit Command-L. Alternatively you can go to the Logic Pro > Preferences > Control Surfaces > Learn Assignment for … menu item. Either way, ensure that you click on the variable you want to assign a control to and then enter Learn Mode using the shortcut or the menu item.

Logic’s Controller Assignments Window

At this point it’s as simple as moving the corresponding control on the Axiom, so move the first fader in the set and then click “Learn Mode” on the window that has popped up when you’re done. This will disable Learn Mode — you must do this whenever you’re finished assigning controls before touching anything else either on the keyboard or in the software. If you do, your configuration will be ruined by the new input you’re sending Logic. I always forget to do this and wind up having to configure the control again!

If you’re going to do a whole batch of assignments in a row you can actually leave Learn Mode on to speed up the process, but it’s good to get in the habit of turning it off when you’re done to save yourself a headache.

Assign four sends on your selected track to some busses. It doesn’t matter where the sends go at this stage, we just want to be able to change our send amounts from the keyboard. Now, click on the first send’s volume circle and hit Command-L. Move the first knob of the first row on your control surface.

The Axiom’s Knobs

This time, don’t hit the Learn Mode button. Instead, click on the next send volume circle and move the second knob, and repeat this until all four have been configured. If you think you’ll be needing eight knobs for sends, you could even do more, but four is enough for me. Click on the Learn Mode button and test your knobs to ensure they change the values you want them to change.

Finally, I like to set the ninth fader up to control the Master Fader — after all, that’s what M-Audio intended it to be used for. Again, click on or move the master fader’s volume, hit Command-L and simply adjust the fader on the Axiom.

The knobs and faders can be set to modify just about any variable in Logic, whether it’s in the main Arrange or Mix windows, or part of a plug-in. Click on that variable’s software control, hit Command-L, and make the adjustment. For experimentation’s sake I set two faders to control the Logic Compressor’s threshold and ratio and it worked fine (though I have since removed those controls). Anything you think you’ll use on a regular basis, you should create a controller assignment for.

Other Devices

Since we haven’t used M-Audio’s Enigma software to configure controller assignments, this tutorial really applies to any device you have that can act as a control surface. The method is the same. The only downside to using Logic for these configurations is that you can’t switch to another set of controls using the Axiom’s (or any other device’s) Preset bank. That said, try out any device you can plug in and see what you can come up with using the key command and controller assignment windows!

Step 1 — Make Good Use of Auxiliary Channels

If you’re only recording with a few instruments on 4-8 tracks, feel free to skip this step. With larger sessions, creating a headphone mix — and mixing in general — can become difficult. Ensure your main instrument groups are being sent to an auxilary instead of directly to the master fader. With rock tracks, I tend to use an aux for vocals, guitars, and drums. Since bass guitar usually only needs one track, I leave it without one.

To do this, create a stereo auxiliary track, name it appropriately and set the input under the I/O section to a free stereo bus. Then click on the output selector under the I/O section of each track you want to route and set it to match with the bus selected for the aux track’s input.

In the image above are the individual drum tracks in the mix I’m working with; without routing these to an auxiliary, creating a mix — whether it be headphone or master — would be hell.

Here’s our original mix, still in the tracking phases, but with some compression and EQ applied to control things:

Download audio file (1.mp3)

Step 2 — Create a Headphone Auxiliary

Create a new stereo auxiliary track as you normally would and set the input to a new unused bus. Name this track Headphones. On each main instrument group auxiliary and any effects auxiliaries you are using, create a new send and select the bus you configured the Headphone aux to accept audio from.

Step 3 — Consult with the Artist

At this stage you should have the artist in the recording room listening to the track and performing along with it. My project has everything except vocals tracked, so in this case we’d be working with a singer. Remember that the drummer, guitarist and singer are all going to want headphone mixes designed for them, so don’t use the same on all of them. Once you have a rough idea of which starting levels they’d like, it’s time to start mixing.

Step 4 — Begin the Mix

Go through each of the sends on your group auxiliaries and set up a basic mix. Make your starting mix identical in levels to the main mix, since your musician will have asked for changes based on that. Go through the list of modifications and start experimenting — this whole time, of course, you should be using the send faders, not the track faders. Continue to get feedback from the artist through talkback (assuming they’re in another room).

The vocalist wanted a dryer mix — the delay and reverb is often distracting — with much less guitars so the rhythm of the track would remain at the forefront. The bass and drums are the main feature of this headphone mix, which means no distractions and all the information required to know where we are in the song and keep the rhythm strong.

Here is what the headphone mix sounds like at this stage:

Download audio file (2.mp3)

Step 5 — Hunt Down Problems

Even with those changes, the singer found the mix too roomy despite the lack of delay and reverb. The problem in this case was the variety of overhead, room and hallway tracks on the drums. We muted these and the singer was much happier:

Download audio file (3.mp3)

Unfortunately, as you can hear very clearly, the noise gate on the hi-hat is really audible without those drum ambience tracks, so we bypassed the plug-in. With the ambience tracks on, a bit of extra room noise on the hi-hat track was just sounding too much but since those are off for the headphone mix this isn’t a problem.

Step 6 — Roll Off the Highs

Depending on the headphones and microphones the artist is using, microphone bleed of the high frequency variety can become a problem. If that’s the case, roll of some high frequencies with an EQ on the headphone auxiliary.

Download audio file (4.mp3)

Step 7 — More Advanced Control

At some stage most artists will want more minute control of certain tracks. Instead of asking for more overall drums, they may ask for more kick drum but want the snare lowered. In this case you may want to leave that particular track out of the instrument group auxiliary and create a send directly to the Headphone auxiliary. Remember to compensate for any loss in gain if you have limiters on your group auxiliaries.

Here’s our headphone mix with plenty of kick and not a whole lot of snare:

Download audio file (5.mp3)

There are a few ways to do headphone mixes, but this is one that’s worked well for me and strikes a balance between making the actual mixing easier while providing options for making smaller single-track level changes.

A Brief Look At A Session

I recently went on a field recording session with a friend, capturing various ambient sounds from Seattle. We had prepared a list of the places we wanted to visit, and scheduled the trip so that we could hit the maximum number of spots in the most efficient manner. As with any field session, things didn’t go 100% according to plan, so several stops were cut from the trip. Our first stop, however, was generally a success, and the steps below outline what we did.

Flickr photo by N6DN

Step 1 – Location and Setup

Our first stop was the beach at Golden Gardens, an area with lots of people, boats, planes, and surf from the Puget Sound. Our recording setup consisted of the following:

• Zoom H2 mobile recorder with 8GB storage
• Tascam HDP2 mobile recorder with 2GB storage
• Audio Technica MH50 headphones
• Matched pair of Oktava MK-012 microphones
• Homemade windscreen
• Boom microphone stand with 2-microphone adapter
• Spare cables and batteries

The Oktava microphones were setup up in ORTF fashion, connected to the Tascam, and guarded with the windscreen. The Zoom was used to get up close and personal with the surf and shoreline, while the ‘big rig’ setup was about 50 feet back from the waterline.

Step 2 – What Went Wrong

Flickr photo by Torri 479

Some with sharp eyes may have noticed something missing from the above setup. When you’ve got 2 people, and 2 recorders, you would think that 2 sets of headphones would be handy. Well, the first mistake we made was in forgetting the second set of headphones. If we were recording one-after-the-other, this wouldn’t be a problem. But we tried recording at the same time, and the result was the loss of some great material due to microphone blowout. Despite having our makeshift windscreen in place, the wind was still reaching my mic setup, and as a big train passed by in the background (Wow – what a great sound!), the wind kicked up and clipped the microphones making the recording useless. Here’s a sample:

Download audio file (windclipping.mp3)

Our microphones were clipped by the wind during a great recording moment.

We adjusted the volume and location of the windscreen on our next attempt and managed to capture some better material. But our moment with that train had passed, and we lost an opportunity to get some good stuff.

Additionally, I made the mistake of setting my recorder on the ground as I was configuring the microphones, just as a curious dog came by to check things out. The result was a paw full of sand landing right on the recorder. Fortunately, the Tascam is a hardy beast, and no permanent damage was done, but I was quickly reminded how important it is to have portable gear protected at all times.

Step 3 – What Went Right

On the bright side, we had arrived at our location early, and given ourselves enough time in the day to sit for another round of recording. We did end up getting a lot of good material, including shore ambience, boats, people, dogs, sea-planes, and a short Amtrak train in the background. Lots of great ambience from one location. We also made notes of things that needed tuning for our next stop, so on our way there, we stopped by my place to get a few extra items – including that second set of headphones.

Back In The Studio – Cataloging and Editing Your Field Material

After a day in the field, we were both exhausted, so we didn’t do anything other than transfer our captured material for future listening and editing. We managed to get through about 50% of our list, and scheduled another day of recording later in the summer.

Now that I have the material, it is time to listen, edit, and start mining for the gems held within.

Flickr photo by Erik

When you’ve returned to the studio and transferred all your recordings to your editing machine, the next step is to begin cataloging and editing your material. Chances are you’ll have a fair amount of good material, and a fair amount of material that wont be as useful. The importance of listening to all the material and generating a good reference sheet for it is invaluable. It will allow you to easily and quickly find this material when you need it.

Many sound designers and recordists use dedicated software for archiving their recordings. Applications such as SoundMiner, Basehead, and Net Mix Pro offer database-driven access to your files, while apps like AudioFinder and Snapper extend the existing filesystem to make finding and editing your files a snap.

For my own sanity, I will usually catalog my material into at least three sections:

• Original unedited recordings – this is the material transferred straight from the field
• Edited raw recordings – this is the material after I’ve gone through and edited it, selecting the takes I like, giving them unique names, etc. However, I’ve done no post-processing to this material.
• Edited and Processed Material – This section is usually a ‘living’ section, because my needs for a given sound may change depending on the project. For example, I may use a plane sound unaltered except for volume and EQ adjustments, or I may use it in conjunction with another sound when trying to create some kind of third sound that isn’t necessarily a plane. In this case, I may have several versions of the plane sound that have been processed differently.

Take your time with this step. One of the greatest teachings I’ve ever received as it pertains to working with sound – be it composing, sound design or engineering – is that a good (fill in the blank) is a good librarian. The more organized you are with your source material, the more efficient and effective you’ll be at finding, creating and editing when the time counts!

Editing and Mastering Field Recordings

The last step in our tutorial is to look at a few simple ways to edit and manipulate your field recordings to yield useful material. There are an infinite number of ways and combinations to tweak your sounds to get the results you want. Below are a few techniques I use frequently that consistently yield useful material.

• Volume/Gain – This is a no-brainer, but it isn’t to be overlooked. Meticulous listening to a long ambient track may reveal that some subtle volume changes are needed over time to accentuate specific moments. Alternatively, if you’re selecting one or two slices of sounds, you might be able to adjust volume differently than if you were manipulating those sounds in the context of a longer ambient track.
• Noise Reduction – Depending on your source material, using a Noise Reduction plugin may help in getting rid of unwanted noise in your recordings. Be very careful with these types of processes, however. They often result in unwanted aliasing and artifacts.
• Equalization – Selective equalization is a great way to start to isolate the material you want from a field recording. Let’s say you’re recording the ambience of a forest, and you want to focus on the leaves and the birds – it is safe to do some cuts to lower frequencies in this case, because much of that material will simply add noise to your final recording. You might be able to boost the gain of your recording after some selective EQ to a range much higher than you would without it, since you’ll not (necessarily) be boosting the noise with it.
• Multiband Compression – This is one of my favorite techniques, and while explaining the full process of using one of these is beyond the scope of this tutorial (are you reading this, Mo?) a multiband compressor allows you to adjust the apparent volume of a sound across multiple frequency bands. The result is that you can, for example, reduce the low-end frequencies while increasing mids and highs in a way that is distinctly different than simple equalization.
• Limiting – Of course, at the end of the chain, you may simply want to increase the apparent volume of an entire recording. Using a brickwall limiter is a simple way to do this, with the understanding that you’ll be increasing the volume of the good and bad parts of your recording.

Conclusion

I hope this brief look at field recording has given you some ideas for recording your own sounds, and offered a few useful pointers on improving the quality and workflow of your sessions. Below is a short clip of the seashore ambience that we finally managed to capture in the steps above. I’ve applied some EQ, volume adjustments and multiband compression, and limiting to yield a really nice ambient background.

Download audio file (final_seashore_ambient.mp3)

Seashore ambience – Golden Gardens, Seattle, WA, USA

If you’ve found this tutorial helpful, or have ideas or questions – please share them in the comments! Until next time, keep listening!

Why Would You Want To Do This?

There are a number of good reasons to use a second machine as a video host:

• Free up resources on your main computer. Running video internally can be a major processor hog, causing the rest of your session to suffer.
• Give yourself more screen real estate for writing.
• Using a screen dedicated to video means you can have the image larger and easier to see.
• Have a more professional looking studio for showing work to clients.

What Are MTC and MMC?

To keep both computers in sync with each other we’ll be using MTC and MMC. MTC stands for MIDI Timecode and allows us to send timecode information via a MIDI connection. In this tutorial the “master” computer will be your main writing machine, and the “slave” will be the secondary computer running video. When you hit play, the master computer sends the running timecode information to the slave computer over MIDI, which tells it where to play back from.

MMC stands for MIDI Machine Control and is a set of commands for controlling playback. MMC is important for when you’re not in play mode but you’re moving the cursor to a new place in the sequence timeline. While MTC requires the master to be in play mode, MMC will send an immediate message regardless of play mode and the slave will line the picture up to match your location.

Basic Considerations for Your 1st Machine

When deciding which computer to make your master, you should generally always go with the faster and more powerful machine. The more RAM and processing power the better, because although running video can take a lot of system resources, the primary reason for all this is still to write music and that’s what we need to make sure we can do as well as possible.

You’ll also need to be using a program that can send MTC and MMC information. Most of the leading DAWs have this capability. For this tutorial I am using Logic, but the principles are basic and should work universally.

Lastly you’ll need some way to receive audio input from the video machine. Otherwise you wont be able to hear what’s on the video! Just about any audio interface with a stereo input should be fine. Because I only need to hear the video audio for reference, pristine quality is hardly a concern. I use the headphone jack out of the video computer, split into stereo quarter inch inputs on a MOTU 828 mkii.

Basic Considerations for Your 2nd Machine

Although your second computer should be the weaker of the two, it doesn’t mean you can use any old paperweight for the job. Generally I’ve found that Mac Minis are great for this purpose, as they are fast enough to bear the load of running video but they are also pretty cheap. You can usually find one on Craigslist for only a few hundred bucks.

You need to make sure that whatever you’re using, it has some sort of audio output. As I mentioned earlier, it can be as basic as a headphone jack.

You’ll also need to have some sort of network connection, because in this tutorial we’ll be sending the MTC and MMC information over network. I’ve found that a wireless connection is reliable and fast enough, though you could also use Ethernet cables and an Ethernet port just to be sure.

Set Up the 2nd Machine’s Monitor

When deciding on where you’re going to place the monitor you should take a few minutes to consider how you typically work. Although there might be a nice big open space on the left side of your desk, if your MIDI keyboard is over to the right you could find yourself with a very sore neck before too long. Try to place the monitor somewhere that is not distracting but also does not require very much effort to look at. I have the video monitor mounted to the wall just above my main monitors, which has worked out very well.

If you ever have clients over to your studio or showcase your work for others, you also need to consider how they’re going to be able to see the video. Sit or stand where they typically would and make sure that the monitor is in a favorable position for making your work look its best.

Keyboard & Mouse

Using two different computers at the same time can become a cluttered and confused mess once you start adding keyboards and mice to your desk space. The best solution is to find some way to use the same keyboard and mouse for both computers. There are hundreds of KVM switches available which let you hit a button and switch control to the other computer.

An amazing piece of software called SynergyKM lets you use the same keyboard and mouse over multiple computers and simply switches control via a network connection. When you move the mouse to the side of the screen you’ll switch to the other computer, as if it was simply a dual display. This is the most efficient method I’ve found.

The idea here is to make it as easy to possible to use both computers. If it is in any way a hassle you’ll become frustrated every time you want to control a different computer.

Audio

Similarly, you’ll want to make it as easy as possible to control the volume of the video’s audio. Again consider how you typically work and what it is you’ll need to control. I’m routing the audio into Logic using the 828 (which allows me to control the volume, and also record any dialogue or effects if I need to for some reason) and then back out again to a Mackie Big Knob. The Big Knob lets me turn dialogue or temp music on or off at the press of a button.

MIDI Network Setup

You could use MIDI cables and a MIDI interface for MTC, but I suggest you save yourself the clutter and use your network instead. There are commercial products such as MIDI Over LAN available, but Mac OS X actually comes with MIDI Over Network software built in.

Inside the Utilities folder of your Applications you’ll find Audio MIDI Setup. Open the application and choose the MIDI devices tab. Double click on Network and we’ll set up a session.

First you’ll need to create a session under “My Sessions” by clicking the + button. Name it what you like, usually something short and sweet is best like “Master Video”. Now switch over to your 2nd computer and do the same thing but call it by a unique name. You should now see the other computer’s session show up in the Directory. On either computer, choose the session to connect to, click Connect, and you should be all set. We’ll test it out soon.

Set Up Your 1st Computer as the Master

To set up the main computer, we need to set it to output MTC and MMC. Under Project Settings choose Synchronization. Next choose the MIDI tab. You can uncheck “Transmit MIDI clock” if it’s checked, as we wont be using it. Next check “Transmit MTC” and choose the network session that you created in the previous step. Finally check “Transmit MMC” and uncheck “Listen to MMC input”. Pretty simple, right? All we’re doing here is telling Logic to send MTC and MMC information via the MIDI network session you’ve selected.

Lastly check the framerate of the video you are trying to run. You can set this on the General tab in the Synchronization preferences. If you don’t know it you should ask whoever gave you the file, but you can also usually check the Movie Inspector in Quicktime.

Set Up Your 2nd Computer as the Slave

For the 2nd computer we’ll also be editing the Synchronization preferences, but this time we’ll be choosing opposite preferences. Under the General tab, set the Sync mode to MTC and check the “Auto enable external sync box”. Under Frame Rate choose “Auto detect format of MTC”, which will keep you from having to change the framerate on both computers. Next go back to the MIDI tab and uncheck everything except Listen to MMC Input.

Test It All Out!

Now there’s nothing left to do but try it all out. Load up a video on the slave computer and then hit play on the master. Make sure you are controlling the video but also that your audio is working as well. If you’re running into problems, there are a few things you can check. Do you have the right framerate? Did you check the right boxes on each computer or get them mixed up? Are your computers connected over the internet? Are you sending MTC out of the correct session?

Leave a comment discussing your success or any questions you run into.

Step 1 – What is field recording?

Put simply, field recording is the process of capturing sounds from the real world, for future use in analysis, archiving, sound design, foley, or composition work. The process of recording these sounds can range from simple to covert to extremely complex. Additionally, the material you wish to capture may be staged (e.g. recording weapons), or spontaneous (e.g. recording crowds in a public place) or some combination of both.

The important thing for beginners to recognize is that field recording can be as simple or as complex as you wish to make it. Don’t allow yourself to be discouraged by the possibilities, but rather start by taking a simple walk around your neighborhood with a low-profile and simple setup. The results will surprise you and you may find that you are instantly rewarded with unique, original material to add to your library.

Step 2 – Tools of the Trade

Flickr photo by BoomeraATV

Before taking your first field trip, you’ll need to collect some capturing equipment. As noted previously, don’t be discouraged or convinced that you can’t have a productive recording session without thousands of dollars of expensive equipment. What you choose to record, and the techniques you use to record, are often as important as the equipment you use. Below is an overview of the basic equipment you’ll need to get started.

• Headphones – You will need some decent headphones for monitoring in the field to ensure your recordings are being captured the way you’d like. If you’re on a covert recording operation, you may want or need to use earbuds. If you’re doing a more elaborate session, some studio-grade headphones may be in order. Personally, I’ve found that a comfortable set of closed-back studio headphones such as the Audio Technica ATH-M50 are really useful for blocking out unwanted noise when you’re trying to capture a particular sound in the field. You can expect to get a good sounding pair of headphones for less than $150USD.


Audio Technica ATH-M50 Headphones

• Microphones – The type of microphone you select for your field recording session will vary widely depending upon the source material you wish to record, your budget, the type of recorder you’re using, and the particular method of recording you use. Audiotuts+ has a number of great tutorials on film recording and on selecting a microphone. These tutorials will be useful in helping to determine how to proceed, but below is an overview of some common microphones that might be useful.
  1. Stereo Microphones – These microphones come in a variety of price ranges and configurations. They include microphones where there are two distinct ‘heads’, and some wherein the capsules are enclosed within one head. Additionally, these will use varying pickup patterns and recording schema such as Binaural, XY, ORTF, and M-S. Prices range from a few hundred to a few thousand USD.
  

  Schoeps CMXY 4Vg

  2. Shotgun Microphones – Shotgun microphones are particularly useful for targeting a specific sound source at a distance. These microphones tend to cancel out more side and rear signals, resulting in a recording that is highly directional. Prices range from a few hundred to a few thousand USD.
  3. Uni and Omnidirectional Microphones – You may already be familiar with microphones of this type – they include, omnidirectional microphones, cardiod, hypercardiod, etc. These types of microphones can be used for a variety of field recording functions, and can be especially useful when using a matched pair of like microphones when recording in stereo or when using HDR techniques. Prices range from a few hundred to a few thousand USD.
  4. Built-In Microphones – Many portable ‘prosumer’ recorders such as those offered by M-Audio, Edirol and Zoom, have built-in microphones that allow an all-in-one field recording package. These microphones tend to be of fair quailty, and utilize some form of stereo scheme such as ORTF or XY. For beginning field recordists, these are an ideal way to get started without the hassle of larger, more cumbersome units.
• Windscreens – In field recording, wind is often the most challenging opponent to good recording. There are numerous ways to block or reduce wind, however, if you’re willing to spend some money or get creative. On the high end, companies such as Rycote offer high quality windscreens for specific microphone types, which results in a dramatic reduction of wind noise in your recordings. On the low-end, a trip to the fabric store and some DIY know-how can result in a perfectly useful windscreen using a wireframe and some fur-like fabric. Most portable recorders ship with some form of foam windscreen. Prices range from several hundred dollars to less than $20USD and some elbow grease.


Rycote Softie Windscreen

• Recorders – Last but not least, portable field recorders range widely in price and functionality. On the low end, units from Zoom, Edirol and M-Audio are great tools for inexpensive and good quality stereo field recording. On the higher end, units from Fostex, Sony, Sound Devices, and Zaxcom provide more flexibility and fidelity, including multitrack recording and improved converters, preamps and conversion. Prices range from $200USD to several thousand.

Zaxcom Deva Recorder

Step 3 – Pre-Recording Tips

In terms of raw technique, field recording isn’t much different from recording in the studio. However, because you’re adding an element of chaos to the mix (i.e. real world interference), you must be especially mindful of a few things when making your first trip. Here are a few tips to keep in mind before venturing out.

Flickr photo by Khalid Almasoud

• Weather – Ideal field recording conditions depend heavily on what, exactly, you’re trying to record, but for most situations a warm, dry day with low wind is ideal. If you have to contend with extreme heat or extreme cold, you’ll need to take extra precautions for your equipment and yourself. Additionally, whether or not you’re intention is to record the sounds of the weather, such as rain, be mindful of protecting your equipment from the elements. Prolonged exposure to direct sunlight and any exposure to rain or snow is BAD NEWS for recording equipment!
• Time Management – Even under ideal conditions, field recording takes time. More often than not, it takes more time than you think it will. Allow yourself plenty of time for travel, setup, recording, review, more travel, more setup, more recording, more review, and strike. And don’t forget that, because you’re dealing with the real world, things like traffic (foot and auto), cooperation of the weather and environment, and unexpected equipment malfunctions can all add time to a well planned day.
• Power Planning – If your equipment is battery operated, be sure to bring LOTS of extra batteries, or the ability to recharge batteries quickly. Always carry spare batteries with you – both on your person and in your equipment storage bags. You never know when you will need to replace them, and having to make a trip back to the car or to the store may mean the difference between capturing the sound you want and missing it entirely.
• Self Care – Believe it or not, a day of field recording can be hard work. You need to plan ahead with snacks, water, and even meals. If you’re brain and body aren’t operating at 100%, no amount of high-end equipment will make up for your poor judgment.
• Mobility – Before leaving for your first trip, test out the mobility of your setup. Can you comfortably move around with your headphones, recorder, windscreens, microphones, mic stands, cables, and batteries? Try to maximize your portability, keeping cables coiled and tidy, and batteries handy.
• Set Goals – This may seem obvious, but it is important to know exactly what your goal is for your field recording trip. Know your destinations if you’re traveling, know who to contact in case of emergencies (equipment or otherwise) and have a clear picture of what you’d like to come back with. This will go a LONG way in ensuring you get the material you need.

Step 4 – A Day In The Field

Flickr photo by inchadney

Now that you’re primed, prepped and have all your pre-planning taken care of, it is time to journey out into the field. Here’s a breakdown of what a typical recording session might look like.

• Transport – You depart your location and head to your recording destination.
• Scouting – Arriving at your destination, you scout the area to determine the best place for you to set up your equipment. In some cases, you may be doing mobile recording, moving while recording. If this is the case, you’ll want to do a walkthrough of the area to establish your trajectory.
• Check Conditions – As part of the scouting mission, you’ll want to check your conditions. How’s the weather? Might it rain? Will there be issues with moisture or extreme heat today? Are there a lot of people nearby? Any stray dogs who might foul your recording (or equipment?). Just having an awareness of your surroundings is important, because it allows you to adapt quickly as the situation changes. Additionally, it will aid you in setup.
• Setup – Next you’ll get all the equipment setup, powered up, and ensure that all is functioning properly. You’ll also want to make sure your backup power and equipment (if any) is standing by, readily accessible. Depending on conditions, you’ll want to have wind and weatherscreens handy.
• Setting Levels – Before doing your first official ‘take’, you’ll want to do a few practice runs to set levels. Do a few recordings at various distances and input levels to maximize the particular sound(s) you wish to capture. Remember the old adage: “GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT”. If your recordings are too quiet to begin with, when you go back to the studio they may be too noisy when you have to boost their volume in post. Likewise, if the recordings are too loud, you run the risk of clipping, which will ruin your day and, if done to extremes, your equipment.
• Record! – You’ve done all the planning, you’re equipment is ready – now it is time to record. Take your time, be patient, and get as many takes as you can of the particular sound(s) you want. It is easier to wade through too many recordings than to make a second trip out to capture a sound you could have gotten the first time around.
• Take Notes – One of the keys to being a great sound designer or composer is to be a good librarian. Take notes of your recording session, including when, where, how, with what equipment, as well as specific notes about each take. These will serve to make your time in post be more productive and will act as a learning tool for future field sessions.
• Have Fun! – Last, but not least – have fun! Recording and capturing sounds is fun, exciting and often surprising. Some of the most amazing sounds you’ll capture are those you least expect. Be prepared for the unexpected, and you’ll be rewarded with great material for use in all your future endeavors!

Conclusion

In Part 2 of our series, we’ll take a look at a field recording session that I recently did, including some audio examples. We’ll then examine what techniques we can use to improve these sounds back in the studio.