Mics and Monitors

MarkDPC

Howdy,

I'm looking to get a good all round mic for guitars and vocals. Not sure what to get as there are a wide varity, also looking to get some studio monitors again nothing mad expensive as its a home studio.

Cheers.

TroutMask

Hi there,

MarkDPC wrote: »

I'm looking to get a good all round mic for guitars and vocals.

for recording? The rule of thumb is LDC for vocals and SDC for (acoustic steel string?) guitar - though a well-chosen LDC can shine on both. The pre choice is paramount and should be factored in to the equation. Gearslutz 'Low-End-Theory' forum is pretty good if you're on a budget.

MarkDPC wrote: »

Howdy,
looking to get some studio monitors again nothing mad expensive as its a home studio.

Hmmm. Cheap and good monitoring are mutually exclusive IMHO. Have you considered buying used? Dynaudio, Genelec etc are the brands you want to consider. Are Adam any good, people?

GTE

Genelec introduced some fantastic small format monitors in recent years.

I really liked them so I got a set of the 6010a models for mobile and home studio use. Genelec replaced them with the 6010b and the 8010a popped up recently too. They have been great, from Dublin to Dubai in a back pack with a very trustworthy Genelec sound. Parts of me prefer them to my bigger KRK VXT6 monitors which I use when I am home, which are a very good mid to high range monitor in their own right to be fair.

You could get a used or new clearance set of 6010a going cheaper since they are discontinued. The fate of the 6010b is something I am not too sure of with the recent announcement of 8010a so you may be able to get something for a good deal.

On the KRK front, they do 4" versions of the VXT for smaller scale work. I have the 6" versions. They flatter the sound on the low end a bit but that could be my substandard room. A sock in the bass port works wonders too! =P

Given a good owner, I think the used market could work well for you.

auti

Your mic choice will depend very much on what suits your voice - there is no clear answer here. You should try out as many LDCs (Large Diaphragm Condensers) as possible but certainly don't rule out dynamic mics since, depending on your voice, an SM58 might be just what you need. In my case an RE20 is perfection but it took me a long time to figure this out!

If you are looking for a recommendation you could start by looking at the AT2020 or SE2200a - both are very good budget mics (with very different characters) and you will find them cheap second hand. Both will also work well for an acoustic guitar too given the right placement.

In terms of recording the acoustic though, as mentioned above, a SDC (Small Diaphragm Condenser) would be the usual choice. I use a pair of Oktava MK012 and get good results. If you can afford to buy a matched pair with all the capsules you will have a very nice set of extremely versatile mics. If you purchase these first then check them out on your voice, they might do just the trick!!

Someone mentioned that preamps are super important, and they really are, but if you are looking for professional results then the best preamps in the world and the best mics in the world will still sound like s**t if you are recording in a terrible room. I very strongly urge you to look into acoustic treatment and get on top of that before you spend your money on high end pres and mics. Acoustic treatment is really not expensive but will make the world of difference to your end results. €100 spent on a few acoustic tiles is money far better spent than €1000 on a lovely pre. And by the way, don't bother spending less than €700 - €800 on a pre because if you are trying to upgrade what you already have, unless it is absolutely shocking bad, you will actually not hear much of a difference in sound quality between pres under this price range!!!

Oh, while I'm on 'bang for your buck' don't forget to use a pop shield when recording vocals (you can make one out of a pair of tights and a wire coat hanger!!) and buy a good quality xlr cables, it's worth spending an extra few quid on ones with Neutrik connectors.

Finally, don't get too hung up on not having 'the best' gear just learn how to use what you can afford and make the most out of what you have. You can't buy engineering and mixing skills.

MarkDPC

Jasus lads, you've helped out loads...I think I'm gonna go down the second hand route. As I am only starting out, I dont wanna spend a whole load of money and give it up a few weeks later.

Just another question if you dont mind.

I'm running an Mbox 2 through Abelton 8 live. But i need more inputs. An examples of what i can use for this?

Cheers.

auti

The Mbox 2 has two inputs. Do you really need more than this?

What will you be recording? If you are recording an acoustic guitar and vocal then the usual way to do it would be to step record ie record the acoustic guitar first then record the vocal over it. This way you will have full control over the sound of the guitar and the vocal without any bleed between sources.

If you must record the guitar and vocal at the same time then it is actually much easier to use just one mic for the guitar and another for the vocal rather than trying to record the guitar in stereo while recording the vocal (using three mics). The more mics you use the more difficult it will be to control phasing - the recording engineer's worst enemy!! By step recording you can record the acoustic in stereo without the headache of trying to capture vocals while keeping everything in phase.

In saying this if you definitely require more inputs then you need purchase a new interface with more inputs. Alternatively, you could use a mixing desk for the extra mics and plug that into your Mbox but the problem with this is that you will end up with everything on a stereo track and will not be able to mix the individual instruments.

In general the only reason I ever require more than two inputs would be to record drums (although for some applications a single well placed mic, or stereo pair, will do the job perfectly!!), or recording an ensemble. However, unless the performance will suffer by not recording the group as a whole I prefer to step record so I can retain full control when mixing. Even recording an ensemble though you can get away with just using a stereo pair in a nice sounding room.