A Word To The Wise

Archives - June 2009

  • When micing brass instruments, place the mic so that the player can easily aim the bell of the instrument at the mic's cone. 36 days ago
  • An easy and effective way to mic an acoustic guitar is to place a condenser mic in line with the 12th fret pointing at the sound hole. 37 days ago
  • 800Hz - 5K is a good range to cut on instruments and voices that sound piercing, harsh and shrill. Just sweep with a big cut and listen. 38 days ago
  • If you want to hear interesting and diverse mixes, listen to LP's. They're not heavily compressed. You'll be amazed at the good and the bad. 39 days ago
  • In the mix a good sounding kick drum sounds like a basket ball being bounced. A good sounding snare sounds like a rifle shot. 40 days ago
  • I find that micing a bass amp works best when you place the mic about 1-2 foot away from the speaker. You get a lot more definition. 42 days ago
  • Get your hi-hats and cymbals to spit and sizzle by boosting your OH EQ at 15K. Still too tinny? Cut at 250HZ and 160HZ with a wide Q. 44 days ago
  • To keep your mix cohesive and 'real' sounding, use the same reverb with the same amount of send level on each of your tracks. 45 days ago
  • If you are using a subwoofer, you should know that it is NOT in your nearfield sweet-spot! You need to have 2 sweet-spots when it is on. 46 days ago
  • To mic up a guitar amp try this: Shine a torch through the speaker cloth and aim your mic at the edge of the speaker pointing to the cone. 47 days ago
  • Reverb used correctly can transform a mix from sounding edgy, harsh and flat into a crisp and mellow sound with depth and perspective. 48 days ago
  • When you mix, start with the vocals without effects. Get them to sound as clear and normal as if the person was talking to you in the room. 49 days ago
  • Compressors should be used to keep loud notes from jumping out of the mix. They can rob your mix of life and make it sound dull in excess. 51 days ago
  • EQ Formulas? Yes! Most tracks benefit from a healthy cut at 160Hz. This is the boom area. Cut this to increase clarity and definition. 52 days ago
  • Recording a drum kit with 3 mic's should be more than adequate. If you can't get that right then using more mic's probably won't help! 53 days ago
  • Sweeten overdrive guitar by inserting a de-esser set to +/- 4.5K, narrow band on the track. It removes harsh distortion for a warmer sound. 53 days ago
  • To remove noise from a track: Duplicate the track and invert phase. Filter track leaving only the noise. Play back along with the original. 55 days ago
  • It's vital to monitor your mix using near-fields in the sweet spot, but move about 15 foot back and it will sound like your reference Hi-Fi. 57 days ago
  • Compressing bass using a kick drum trigger as an external key will produce a tight sound and you can crank the bass. 60 days ago
  • Digital integrity can be improved by recording your mixdown back to a stereo track instead of letting the program bounce it down. 61 days ago
  • If it is about the people and not the gear, how come the best people have the best gear? 62 days ago