Hello again Stephen. You’ve been very helpful to me and I am hoping you will help me through one more dilemma. I am putting a mic in my all tube Marshall combo to record distortion guitar. I am using a Sennheiser e609, a dynamic mic, right up against the grill off my Marshall DSL40. I […]

I'm currently in audio production school, but I'm a musician at heart and that's what led me to recording school. I'd really love to purchase my first condenser mic this summer, but I need something specific. I'm looking for a condenser mic that is around $500 (or less) and picks up female vocals, acoustic guitar, […]

Hi Steve, Thanks for the email about the “Yes We Can” videos on YouTube.  They were very educational.  Everyone involved in the production did a great job. I wanted to ask you a few questions about some of my observations: 1.      I noticed you started out recording vocals with an SM7 then later […]

Hi Steve, I am constantly reading reviews on the internet about different pieces of musical equipment.  Given my limited budget, I am always looking for the best values. I recently bought two MCA SP-1 microphones for $39 each after reading good reviews for them.  I have done a little bit of vocal recording with them […]

Greetings Wise One: Have you ever used the Glyn John's method of recording drums?  I've been trying to use it.  It seems simple but there seems to be real problems with phase coherence, in particular if you are recording in a small space. IF you have ver used it, does one place one overhead directly […]

So if I'm recording with the Blumlein set up, do I need to set the pans to the hard right and left and switch the polarities like you do with the mid-side technique or is it something different? The Blumlein technique only requires two figure of eight pattern microphones, placed as close together as possible […]

I've been experimenting with the  mid-side (MS) recording method. So I understand how to do it.  When I look at the phase relationship of the three signals on a spectral form (in Ozone 3), the signal is out of phase. When I hit the mono activator just the middle mic is remaining.  Should the overall […]

Stupid question: What does the 10dB switch on a mic do? The only stupid question is one that's not asked! The -10 dB switch you see on some microphones is a "pad" switch, which attenuates the output of the microphone by 10dB.  You would use that when recording a very loud source where the microphone […]

This next part in the series will focus on several "studio standard" microphone choices and recording tips for electric guitars. Although there are a wide variety of digital amp simulators available today that allow you to plug your electric guitar in direct and get a wide range of sounds, there still is nothing quite like […]

Carrying on with the theme of popular microphone choices that many pros use for various instruments, this article will focus on various microphones commonly used to record acoustic guitars. The choice of microphones and placement for recording acoustic guitars can vary quite a bit depending on the style of the music and the role that […]