best mic

markee2004 · Post by **markee2004** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 12:26 pm

What is the best mic for recording a whole band at the same time, with just the 1 mic.

mjau · Post by **mjau** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 12:42 pm

How many in the band? Instrumentation? Anything going direct in (i.e., bass, keys, vocals, etc.)? What kind of room?
I'd probably want something omni, and would experiment greatly with placing amps/drums/etc as well as the mic itself.

ubertar · Post by **ubertar** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 12:43 pm

RCA 77dx was used for this a lot. 44 too.

markee2004 · Post by **markee2004** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 1:39 pm

most usually a 4 piece 'rock' band, 2 guitar amps (clean, and distorted at times), bass amp, and drum kit. But also just 1 guitar, and drums sometimes. to be used primarily in quite a small room with no acostic treatment. But also I'd like to consider for in a good sounding room as well. My main objective is to be able to capture the band clearly with 1 mic for demoing purposes. So the mic would have to have good bass extension for the bass, and kick drum, and be good enough that i can hear every note played on the drums and guitars.

elfkicker · Post by **elfkicker** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 2:59 pm

Aberfeldy's debut album, Young Forever, was recorded with the band playing around one mic. It was a $3,500 German hand-made valve mic - http://www.gefell-mics.com/grp_1_prod_3.htm (but, of course, it's all about placement!).

Sound On Sound has an interesting article with Jim Sutherland (engineer/producer) on the sessions. - http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep04/a ... rfeldy.htm

And if you haven't already, you should find yourself a copy of the album. The one-mic technique might not work for everyone, but it works great on this album.

AGCurry · Post by **AGCurry** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 6:36 am

If I were going to do this I would use my AEA R44CNE. It has incredible "reach" and two useable sides, so you just experiment with placement to get the mix right. I've recorded 7 people (playing and singing) at at time with it, with very nice results.

AnalogElectric · Post by **AnalogElectric** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 10:07 am

I really liked using a Neumann/Telefunken U47 longbody (tube) mic for such an application.

A SHURE SM90 is pretty good for someone within a budget.

Omni pencil-point reference mics like Eathworks and Josephson work really well.

-- Adam Lazlo

Randy · Post by **Randy** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 10:19 am

AnalogElectric wrote:Omni pencil-point reference mics like Eathworks and Josephson work really well.

On days that I don't have time to fire up all my gear, I record my band's practices with a single Behringer ECM8000 set up against a wall, to create a boundary mic. That mic has made some good recordings that we use in our demo along with the "full-on" recordings we have made.

AnalogElectric · Post by **AnalogElectric** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 10:33 am

Randy wrote:
AnalogElectric wrote:Omni pencil-point reference mics like Eathworks and Josephson work really well.
On days that I don't have time to fire up all my gear, I record my band's practices with a single Behringer ECM8000 set up against a wall, to create a boundary mic. That mic has made some good recordings that we use in our demo along with the "full-on" recordings we have made.

I'm surprised by the Behringer ECM8000, it works well. The thing I don't like about it is how much hiss (internal noise) it has, other than that, for how much it sells for, it works out.

-- Adam Lazlo

Randy · Post by **Randy** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 10:51 am

Yeah, I don't like to use it on quiet sources. It still hisses less than the tape deck I used before I started recording digital, and with something loud like a band with drums and amps, it works fine. One of these days I'll get one of the Earthworks or a Stapes, but for now it will have to do.

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