Basics of recording (How To:)

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highland-piper
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Basics of recording (How To:)

Post by highland-piper »

I'm planning on posting a few examples of the basics of recording, especially as it relates to whistle. There are plenty of other forums where you can get an understanding of the basics of how to chose recording (DAW) software, or what to look for in an audio interface (the thing that connects the microphone to the PC). I'm not going to get into that too much, but instead focus on the practical application wrt whistle.

So here is the first installment. It's called "Which microphone?" I made a short clip with one phrase repeated four times. I used a different microphone for each of the four takes. They are, in order:

Shure SM-57 -- About us$100
Shure SM-81 -- About us$300
MXL 990 -- Maybe $50 or $75, but used for as little as $15 if you get lucky.
CAD M179 -- $125

The first is a dynamic microphone. It is a live sound standard. You almost can't go to see some act on stage and not see an SM57 somewhere. The others are all condenser microphones. I used the same position for each microphone and kept the whistle in the same location for each take. I can hear differences in each of them, although not as much as some descriptions might lead one to believe. I'm kind of surprised that there isn't more of a difference between the 57 and the 81. The M179 has a variable position switch -- I used it in the cardioid setting, because the other three are also cardioid.

In the future I envision similar recordings using a microphone at different distances, moving the microphone within the room, and moving to different rooms. I also see demonstrations of EQ and compression being useful.
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MTGuru
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Re: Basics of recording (How To:)

Post by MTGuru »

highland-piper wrote:You almost can't go to see some act on stage and not see an SM57 somewhere.
Or SM58 - which I believe is the same microphone capsule, but with the ball-end pop screen.
highland-piper wrote:I made a short clip with one phrase repeated four times.
Are you going to post the clip? You might want to identify the whistle used, too. :wink:
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highland-piper
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Re: Basics of recording (How To:)

Post by highland-piper »

MTGuru wrote:
highland-piper wrote:You almost can't go to see some act on stage and not see an SM57 somewhere.
Or SM58 - which I believe is the same microphone capsule, but with the ball-end pop screen.
highland-piper wrote:I made a short clip with one phrase repeated four times.
Are you going to post the clip? You might want to identify the whistle used, too. :wink:
DOH!

Here's the link: The microphones are in the order listed (57, 81, 990, 179)

https://soundcloud.com/piperbob/57-81-990-179

The whistle is a Carbony D.

Good point about the 58 -- it is the same as the 57, except with the screen. The screen keeps you from being able to get too close to it -- good for singers, not so good for guitar amps, but not much difference either way for whistle.
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MarkP
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Re: Basics of recording (How To:)

Post by MarkP »

just to confirm (my brother in law used to work for them)
http://www.shureblog.co.uk/faq-whats-th ... -the-sm57/
The 57 and 58 microphones are actually based on the same cartridge design. The main difference is in the grille design. The SM58 was designed for vocal applications, and therefore uses a ball grille with built in pop filter to eliminate plosives. The SM57 is designed as an instrument microphone, where a smaller grille size is more practical and plosives are less of a concern. Subsequently, the SM57 does not use a ball grille with pop filtering and instead uses an integral resonator/grille assembly, where the grille is actually part of the cartridge.

Each grille design places the diaphragm of each microphone in a different acoustical environment. The distance from the top of the grille to the diaphragm is shorter on the SM57 compared to that of the SM58, which allows for a more pronounced proximity effect through closer mic positioning. Additionally, the different resonator/grille assembly design of the SM57 produces a slightly higher output above 5 kHz.
If you're canny can cannibalise an old 57 or a Unidyne B and a bit of spare plastic housing you can make a swap grille and have two mic characteristics in one

Distancing the whistle is probably a good idea as the effect of the 57 shield is to slightly raise the response above 5kHz, which might be the opposite balancing you need. If you don't want to get too close then use a vocal pop shield.

PS. the SE1 is a good home recording buy (get a pair if you can) but then you need an interface with phantom power
Mark
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Re: Basics of recording (How To:)

Post by MarkP »

I use a pair of these...
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Plugged into one of these...
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Or sometimes one of these...
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and a bunch of those...
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Mark
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