since i’ve acquired some nicer mics and mic preamps, my recordings have never sounded better.
since a lot of the marketing buzz on gear out there isn’t always helpful, i’ll do my best to explain in plain english how i think nicer sounds better:
1) i need MUCH less EQ. when i print un-EQed/compressed rough mixes they sound 80% of the way there already. they just need subtle sweetening rather than radical sound shaping. some people have described tracks recorded with nice gear as almost “mixing themselves” and i’m starting to understand what they mean.
2) they’re more focused. by that i mean a few things: tracks recorded with decent pres have their own unique space in the stereo field, they’re easy to “point” to and don’t sound smeared or indistint. a nice benefit of this is that you can have a lot more layers going on and hear everything clearly whereas having a bunch of tracks recorded on a cheaper pres like an MBox, it starts to sound really cloudy. electric layers recorded w/ my API 312 (thanks joel) and Shure SM7B stack really nicely. this is especially nice when you have lots of layers of ambience going on.
3) they sound more 3D. ok, so this does sound like a marketing term, but the best way to describe it is that tracks just sound more real. they jump out of the speakers or with headphones on they sound lifelike or larger than life. even though it’s still new to me, i’ve heard this happening on vocals with the JC1272 pre (based on the neve 1272). for even more 3D sound, try recording something in stereo (thanks bruce). i’m loving the API on acoustics using an XY pair of AKG 460s (thanks mike). that same setup works great for anything with strings and also percussion.
the moral of the story is: if you’re serious about capturing great recordings, save up (no debt!) and invest in some quality microphones and preamps.
anyone have a mic or pre they love?
