Wich mic's, wich preamp,... help please

[zara]

I have a band with 1 guitar, 1 bass 1 drum and 1 femal voice. The sound we are playing is modern rock.
I need to know wich mics and how many of mics I will use. For example I think to use a shure 57 or 58 to register the guitar at the amplifer, and to use another mic 57 - 58 at 1 meter distance from the other one to have and mix the 2 tracks together. Is this a good idea? Wat suggest you? How mics should I use for drums, voices and bass? Should I use the direct out from bass amplifier or line6 Pod?

Thx, I hope anyone can help me
[img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[gerax]

This is not a small question to answer, anyway... here we go: for guitars a Shure SM 57 is the "standard" mic, (should I say bulletproof) but as always it depends on the style and tone you're after; I would experiment with a few others, SM56 for example, Sennheiser MD 421, and don't forget to try a large diaphragm condenser a about foot away from the cabinet (maybe with a -10dB pad on), like Neumann U87 or 67, Rode NTK or NT1, AKG 414; the basic concept here is that each mic has its own sonic fingerprint, so the best is to try them out, and see what you like best;Drums: my favorites: Bass Drum - Shure Beta 52, or AKG D112; Snare top- SM 57; Snare Bottom - AKG 414 UTLS , or Shure SM 81, but most condensers will work here; Hi Hat - Shure SM 81, Neumann KM 84, or another small diaphragm condenser; Toms: Sennheiser MD 421, Shure SM 57 or 56; Over Heads : AKG 414 TLII (cardioid pattern), Shure KSM 32, but a good couple of condenser mics in a stereo configuration will work if carefully placed.
Bass: D.I. line straight from the instrument output (via D.I. Box); miked cab: AKG D112, Shure Beta 52, or Sennheiser MD 421;I usually blend the two signals in mixdown as needed for the song.

As I said before, the key element when miking is carefull placement of the mics and a good dose of testing and experiment.

Hope this helps

L.G.

[zara]

ohh, thx

i will use the shure 57 and will experiment with position. Maybe can get a cool sound.

[gerax]

It's a good approach to use two different mics on a guitar cabinet (I.e. SM 57 and a condenser); try this out: point the 57 about halfway between center and the outer part of the speaker cone at about 6" with a slight angle to the border, then put the other mic (condenser, or a diffrent type of mic, even if dynamic)like a foot away , engage the -10dB pad (loud guitars could overdrive a condenser's preamp section, and this is not desireable)and experiment with angle and position to the cone. Print the two tracks and blend them as you like (or as you need) when mixing; this way you get the direct in your face tone with the 57, and a more overall sound of the guitar from the second one: the more you get away from the source with the mic, the more you get ambient reflections leaking inside the mic, and a more general picture of the source you're recording.

As always, experiment.

L.G.

[Allen Hallada]

Hello again Zara,
I was using mostly Shure mics for all my recording until this fall. I switched to the Rode line for better performance and incredible price/performance benefits. This is one hot line of mics right now and they sound great. I started out with the NT1 for vocals and guitar, then I bought an NTK which blows away anything I've heard so far, especially for vocals. If you get the NTK it has its own powersupply and I get best results by switching off the phantom power on Digi001.
I'd play with a bunch of mics and positions and find out which is best with your room setting and purpose. I wish you the best on making that #1 hit.
Allen [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]