A Few Things I've Learned Recently

[cgarges]

I've been through an incredibly busy period over the last few weeks that has had me recording for nine different artists/bands in five different cities in three different states. I've made a few observations and learned a few things I thought might be intersting to share.

Jospehson C-42s are cool mics. Brighter and less detailed than AT 4051s (too bright as overheads on the kit at hand, but excellent on a bright piano for a rock session).

Earthworks QTC40s are also very bright mics. Too bright as ambient drum mics in the room at hand, but terrific for distant vocal miking in the same room.

Oktava ML-19s are very cool mics. Dark, as one would typically expect from a ribbon, but a little brighter than many cardioid ribbons I've used.

The new 414s with the LEDs on the switches are a total pain to adjust if you can't see them. There's no switching by feel with these.

AKG C3000s overload when placed close to floor toms.

The early four-channel Great River mic pre is a pretty cool preamp. Very clean and clear. Not quite as pleasant-sounding as the Sytek (to my ear) but does a similar thing well.

The TLA preamp-compressor is cool in a weird sort of way. It's very trashy-sounding and reminds me of older Altec stuff. It's not the least but "hi-fi" or accurate-sounding.

The Neotek Elan is a very easy console to get around on.

A Beyer M88 might stop working if a singer keeps his hands gripped around it.

When you install a new digital I/O card in a RADAR, there is a series of jumpers that must be configured propery for the machine to work. The super-awesome guys at iZ tech support can help with this.

The authorized Bowers & Wilkins dealer in Charlotte is one of the lamest companies I've ever dealt with.

Video guys who refuse to shoot weddings because they're high-stress, one-time events should not be shooting live music gigs, either.

The console that captured "The Logical Song" is alive and well. It's quite sexy.

Just thought I'd share.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[joelpatterson]

Thanks. Too bad about the B & W guys, although it's heartening to think that in the capitalist system, these guys will fail and be replaced by better, more enthusiastic and dedicated dealers.

That is great to hear about the QTC40's! I just got my [matched] pair of QTC30's on Saturday, they're already mounted on their ORTF bar. I set them up in the vocal booth, just to get a gauge of how "noisy" the "silence" is, which I take it is the only drawback with these things, and I cranked them up so loud, I could hear through the walls--distant conversations elsewhere in the complex THAT YOU COULD NOT HEAR, WITH YOUR EARS, IN THE ROOM. I said--damn!

The lesson I've learned, lately, in my busy spell is that people are really basically essentially unpredictable, some people are focussed, attentive, and others are flying around the dark side of the moon. It doesn't mean they don't like you, and value what you do. They're just crazy.

It's good to keep this in mind, at least some of the time.

[mjau]

Video guys who refuse to shoot weddings because they're high-stress, one-time events should not be shooting live music gigs, either.

Nice

[Rodgre]

The console that captured "The Logical Song" is alive and well. It's quite sexy.

Chris, you're going to help me sleep a lot better tonight!

I should start another thread for Supertramp appreciation.

Thanks for the knowledge Mr. Garges.

I hope to hook up with you some time this year if possible.

Roger

[kayagum]

I've been through an incredibly busy period over the last few weeks that has had me recording for nine different artists/bands in five different cities in three different states.

I thought I was busy. I'm a welfare recipient next to you. I'll shut up now.

Earthworks QTC40s are also very bright mics. Too bright as ambient drum mics in the room at hand, but terrific for distant vocal miking in the same room.

I'm starting to think that brighter mics do better with more distance, and that "thumpier" mics do better close. Not a perfect rule, but maybe it will help chill out the hyped highs of recording nowadays.

[cgarges]

Chris, you're going to help me sleep a lot better tonight!

I should start another thread for Supertramp appreciation.

Thanks for the knowledge Mr. Garges.

No problem. Supertramp rocks. I've always thought of them as sort of underappreciated and just recently I actualy bought copies of Crime Of The Century and Breakfast In America. Then, of course, the Ken Scott interview appears. Nice!

I almost booked a project to mix on that console (a beautiful old API), but it didn't work out that way.

I hope to hook up with you some time this year if possible.

Are you going to the conference, by chance? That would be way happening!

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[joel hamilton]

Great thread. I have been recording non stop for the last bunch of months as well. A couple of full lengths, a bunch of E.P's and some demos, as well as some crazy collaborative one off's...

Things i have learned lately:

Stay simple with mic setups.

Have fun and the band has fun.

The only thing that the Studer A827 HATES is when you jam up the transport in edit mode with a screwed up tapeloop... it HATED that. A lot.

Owning a U47 (which i do now) is like joining a club, or getting a diploma.

The Collins 26W is the sickest compressor ever for drum room when using a Sage electronics "bova ball" as a mono ambient mic. wow.

Vinyl cutting is boring and stressful. (I had to attend twice to cut laquers in the last few months).

I guess i just dont like 33rpm for vinyl any more. One of the records i did became a double (4 sides) 12" at 45rpm because of my new dislike of 33rpm... I never would have guessed that one...Glad the label trusted me on that one...

A great distortion pedal can make recording rock a LOT easier. (pigtronix disnortion, meet the giraffes, giraffes, meet the disnortion).

Soulive are amazing musicians.

Sonya Kitchell can really sing well, making any mic sound amazing.

The most important one: Recording gets a little easier and less stressful, and more fun EVERY time you hit record. I love recording, and I love it more every day. I find myself saying "yes we can do that" too more sonic questions than ever. The more experience you have, the better the production. I learn 10 things every session. One thing out of those ten stick with me for life.

AND:

I used to work on a console that was owned by the Who and recorded some supertramp... (neve 8028, 26 channels of 1073, 24 channel monitor section, left handed...)

[surf's up]

that console belongs in the rock and roll hall of fame chris!

[Spark]

The console that captured "The Logical Song" is alive and well. It's quite sexy.

Was it wonderful? A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical?

[cgarges]

Was it wonderful? A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical?

Nice!

I halfway expected to hear the sound of a Mattel football game when I touched it.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[thebookofkevin]

Can you/would you care to go into more detail on the C-42's? I've been thinking about picking up a pair of these for a number of months, but priorities keep shifting, and I've never had the opportunity to actually hear them, so I've been hesitant and patient (that's a new one for me).

Any more thoughts on them would be much appreciated.

thanks!

[cgarges]

Can you/would you care to go into more detail on the C-42's? I've been thinking about picking up a pair of these for a number of months, but priorities keep shifting, and I've never had the opportunity to actually hear them, so I've been hesitant and patient (that's a new one for me).

I only had them for use on this one session and pretty much what I described is what happened. I listened to them as a spaced-pair over the drumkit and although the balance was nice, it was a bit bright for my tastes. Not really harsh-bright, but just too bright for what was going on. The drummer was a little light in the kick-snare dept. and played his cymbals nice and loud, so the mic weren't really flattering the type of playing. Just out of curiosity, I put up my AT 4051s, which I usually like for a very clear type of overhead sound, and expected them to be brighter or equally problematic and they weren't at all. They were bright, but a little more spacious and open-sounding and more pleasant in general. My next go-to would have been AKG 414s, of which the studio where I was working normally has many, but had loaned out that week, leaving me one. Bummer. For whatever it's worth, we did wind up switching the 4051s for a pair of M160s on a few of the tunes and that worked well for those songs.

We were tracking grand piano along with the band and I love me some AT 4051s on grand piano, so I decided to listen to the C-42s. They sounded terrific. It was a bright piano (a C7) and the C-42s captured all the detail and pleasant overtones and helped the piano sit just right amongst the other instruments (drums, bass, acoustic guitar, and vocals). Initially, I had the C-42s in an X-Y sort of arrangement over the hammers. They sounded great, but in the context of the band, the center was getting a little cluttered, so I moved the mics into a spaced pair arrangement that I like and that solved the problem. The band could hear the difference clear as day in their headphones and liked it, so we left it.

I've been thinking about getting another pair of small-diaphragm mics for doing jazz piano trio recordings. I really like the AT 4051s for overheads on jazz sessions and I really love them on piano. I had been sort of keeping my eye out for a good deal on another pair of 4051s, but lately I've been considering getting the Josephsons, for some variety. The jury's still undecided on which way to go there. I'd love to have my hands on the Josephsons for a little longer to make a decision.

The C-42s were on loan from a very helpful Mike Bridavsky. Perhaps he can offer some more opinions on them.

Hope this helps.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[thebookofkevin]

Can you/would you care to go into more detail on the C-42's? I've been thinking about picking up a pair of these for a number of months, but priorities keep shifting, and I've never had the opportunity to actually hear them, so I've been hesitant and patient (that's a new one for me).

I only had them for use on this one session and pretty much what I described is what happened. I listened to them as a spaced-pair over the drumkit and although the balance was nice, it was a bit bright for my tastes. Not really harsh-bright, but just too bright for what was going on. The drummer was a little light in the kick-snare dept. and played his cymbals nice and loud, so the mic weren't really flattering the type of playing. Just out of curiosity, I put up my AT 4051s, which I usually like for a very clear type of overhead sound, and expected them to be brighter or equally problematic and they weren't at all. They were bright, but a little more spacious and open-sounding and more pleasant in general. My next go-to would have been AKG 414s, of which the studio where I was working normally has many, but had loaned out that week, leaving me one. Bummer. For whatever it's worth, we did wind up switching the 4051s for a pair of M160s on a few of the tunes and that worked well for those songs.

We were tracking grand piano along with the band and I love me some AT 4051s on grand piano, so I decided to listen to the C-42s. They sounded terrific. It was a bright piano (a C7) and the C-42s captured all the detail and pleasant overtones and helped the piano sit just right amongst the other instruments (drums, bass, acoustic guitar, and vocals). Initially, I had the C-42s in an X-Y sort of arrangement over the hammers. They sounded great, but in the context of the band, the center was getting a little cluttered, so I moved the mics into a spaced pair arrangement that I like and that solved the problem. The band could hear the difference clear as day in their headphones and liked it, so we left it.

I've been thinking about getting another pair of small-diaphragm mics for doing jazz piano trio recordings. I really like the AT 4051s for overheads on jazz sessions and I really love them on piano. I had been sort of keeping my eye out for a good deal on another pair of 4051s, but lately I've been considering getting the Josephsons, for some variety. The jury's still undecided on which way to go there. I'd love to have my hands on the Josephsons for a little longer to make a decision.

The C-42s were on loan from a very helpful Mike Bridavsky. Perhaps he can offer some more opinions on them.

Hope this helps.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Thank you much! I will likely be PMing Mike now. Thanks!