Microphone Techniques: Using Outboard Electronics During Recording Processing While Recording Engineers have varying opinions about the amount of processing to use during the actual recording process. Part of it comes down to how much processing gear you have at your disposal for the subsequent mix session. The predominant wisdom is to process as little as possible at any stage—period. That’s a major reason why having a good mic is essential to high-quality recordings. The more EQ and compression you have to apply, the further you are apt to get from a natural sound. That said, many engineers like to record with basic EQ and compression when it is needed for one of two reasons. One is to overcome any major deficiencies in the sound. The other is to achieve the hottest levels possible before clipping in order to attain the highest signal-to-noise ratios. In other words, processing during recording is typically in the realm of ensuring that the signal is technically optimal. On the other hand, processing more specialized effects such as reverb, chorus and delay is usually reserved for the mixing process in order to yield maximum flexibility in these more subjective and creative areas. The Mic Preamp You’ve probably heard of the GIGO (garbage in, garbage out) principal. In recording real world sounds, it all starts with the quality of the microphone. Before the low-level signal from a mic can be used in the recording and mixing process, it must be run through a preamp in order to boost the gain. Therefore, most pro recording engineers will tell you that next most critical piece of gear after the microphone is the mic preamp. Even the best microphone inputs on an affordable mixing board, sound card or all-in-one recorder don’t hold a candle to a dedicated mic preamp. Pro studios routinely pay thousands of dollars per channel for dedicated outboard preamps. While that’s not realistic for most project studios and home recordists, it is indicative of the fact that good quality mic preamps are an important thing to consider in your studio budget. M-Audio has a range of best-of-class preamps to fit any budget: the inexpensive AudioBuddy, the DMP3 complete with award-winning circuitry, and the awesome TAMPA with critically acclaimed technology and performance |
The
new Luna and Solaris microphones from M-Audio put professional-quality
results in the hands of just about anybody with a desire to record.
This month we’ll take a look at the importance of considering
the outboard gear you use while tracking.© 2007 by M-Audio, All Rights Reserved.