microphone overload - what to do? suggestions please...

[jkretz]

i have a rather interesting problem. i've acquired (or have at least access to) quite a bit of gear in the last year - but have not had any time to "get to know" it.

woe is me - i know.

what do you normally do to put gear through it's paces and figure out what you like it on? i'm getting ready to (finally) record my bands album and am just realizing that while i've got a bunch of microphones, i'm pretty clueless as far as what to use where. i'm gonna list out what i've got, and what i'll be recording, any suggestions would be awesome.

(i realize these aren't hard and fast rules, but testing every mic on every source would be pretty impractical)

microphones:

LDC:

1x AT4050
1x Rode NTK
1x Studio Projects C1
1x Blue 8Ball

SDC:
2x Earthworks SR77 (same as SR30)
1x AKG C1000s

Ribbons:
2x Cascade Fathead

Dynamics:

1x Beyerdynamic M88
1x AKG D112
1x Sennheiser MD421
3x Shure SM57

I may have left a few off of the list, but I am unfortunately new to most of these mics. In general I'd like to go for "smaller", retro-ish, more easily manageable sounds. The songs are pretty dense arrangement-ise and my mixing skills are not great. I figure the less mics on a source, the better (for me).

Here are the sources I'll be needing to deal with.

Drums - was thinking about doing these in mono with stereo room mics?
Random hand percussion (shakers, tamb, sleigh bells...)

Bass - (d112 on cab?)

Electric Guitars (surfy reverb laden jaguar / jazzmaster leads - cleaner casino rhythms - 57 or m88? maybe fathead?)
Acoustic Guitars - (earthworks?)

Wurltizer
Rhodes
Hammond (rt3 with no leslie unfortunately)
Piano (upright)

Cello / Violin / Viola (fatheads?)
Clarinet / Flute (fatheads?)
Trumpet (fathead?)

Sorry for the long post - just dealing with some analysis paralysis over hear and any suggestions on where to start would be great!

[Snarl 12/8]

Use a pad...





Bah dum dum.

[suppositron]

I'm sure if you search those microphones on this board you'll find tons of posts telling what people like to use them on. And really, it's probably best to do some experimenting of your own cause you're gonna have to deal with mic placement and your band's sound sources anyway. Throw up a bunch of mics on a sound source and see which one you like better.

[Snarl 12/8]

Honestly, this seems like a case where you need to have a philosophy. Maybe you should work backwards from what you want the final sound to be like. If you want "in your face" vocals, use an LDC, if you want "vintagey" horns use the ribbons, etc., etc. it sounds like you have some of that covered, now you just need to execute. Maybe you don't want "the best mic" on each source since you'll just have everything in your face then.

[chris harris]

After 10+ years of doing this, when I get a new mic, I still have to experiment with it to figure out what I'll like it on. And, I have to do it in paying sessions, with clients! You have the luxury of learning this stuff first-hand, working on your own project. That sounds like fun to me! Of course, there are "common" uses for most mics and certainly for the different types of microphones. And, most of that info can be found easily with a search of the forum. But, even more fun, especially working on your own stuff, would be experimenting to find your own preferences, which might often differ from the conventional wisdom.

[calaverasgrandes]

It also hard to say without hearing the bands instruments. The D112, 421 and M88 are all fine kick mics. They also will do dandy on a bass guitar.
you have some good mics but some difficult mics as well. The C1000s is an infamous mic. some guys like it, some guys think it sounds like Joan Rivers nails on a chalkboard. The 8 Ball can sound good on some things, muddy on others.
I suggest you go in by yourself one day and try every mic on bass, then every mic on guitar. This will at least get you some ballpark ideas. It's fun to record 14 tracks of bass and flip thru them to hear how the same notes come across different. Heck some mics that sound crappy by themselves work wonders together. Think bi-amping sort of. I used to like to put a cheap MXL condenser next to each amp I had miced up with a 57. then I had a lot of ground covered sound wise with 2 mics that arent so snazzy by themselves.

[jabe]

Seconded.
It's hard to recommend anything without knowing quite what the instruments sound like, what you think they should sound like, where they fit into the overall song, the room acoustics, whether everyone is playing together or overdubbing one at a time, etc., etc. You'll have to experiment some to figure out what works.
On the other hand, it doesn't have to be that complicated. Most of those mics are pretty great, and it's not like everything will fall apart because you used a Sennheiser instead of a Fathead on guitar overdub #3.
If you're overwhelmed, pick an instrument, grab 3 mics, see which one you like best, and if none of them sound right, grab three more.[/i]

[jkretz]

ah, pretty much what i guessed i would have to do - try em out on everything. thanks for the input regardless - i'll do some more research and start testing stuff. i guess mainly i didn't want to miss anything obvious (what?! you recorded cello with the NTK when you had [insert THE CELLO MIC here] around?!)

this whole process is going to be a lot of fun - i just am trying to minimize frustrations with other band members by having them record parts 10 times so i can figure out mic selection / placement.

[calaverasgrandes]

honestly, thats what most of us do a lot of the time. We try every mic on everything. There are some standards, like 57 on snare 421 on toms, d112 on kick, but at one time or another almost every mic I have has been a kick mic, or a guitar mic.