[Frank Stearns]

(Richard Webb) writes:

On Sat 2012-Jul-28 21:14, Mike Rivers writes:
I was hoping I could get some suggestions for
some types of microphones to propose in my paper. I need
to name specific brands, and they need to be high end
snip remainder of poorly formed query

What type of demo? What's the purpose? What's the budget for
recording the demo? Who's paying for it.
What sort of facility, room used, etcetera?

If it's of an unsigned artist attempting to get signed by a label,
they'll expect to hear essentially a finished
recording. You, who don't know doodlysquat about microphones and
are still in school have no business trying to record
such a demo. He needs to go to a professional studio with a
knowledgable engineer and producer. They may choose among
dozens of mics ranging in cost from (to be realistic) $100
to $3,000. They'll use what works best for the material
being recorded, and it may not be the same microphones for
every song.

IF this dude's going to audio school, he needs to be able to formulate his thoughts
a little better, or that school isn't teaching him much.

dO Mike and I sound a little harsh here? Sorry about that,
but your question is very poorly formulated, and yes I know
it's for some sort of paper, but that whole thing's rather
vague. You'll have to do better if you want other than
sarcastic comments from us old dogs been doing this for
awhile.

If you're doing a demo to get a gig at a coffee house, you
can do it just fine with inexpensive microphones.

Yeah right, but we don't know waht this guy's doing. What
school is this? IF you're not any better equipped to
formulate your questions than that I don't think I'd want to hire you.

Learn to do your own research. But first, learn what you
need to find out.

Well said.

+1 to all that's been said.

And, another grumpy old man here, but anyone getting into this racket needs to get
used to that in any event. (Even the nicest guys can get cranky when the client is
shelling out $5K+/hour for top players, say a string and horn section. They don't
want you, say, as a second engineer, fumbling around for an SD cardioide that didn't
match something on the list you remember from this exercise...

"Woe is me! I can't find any KM184s!"

"Hey, dip****! There're 12 Klaus-modified KM84s in the closet. Criminy!"


If the exercise truly is as stated, the I'm a little underwhelmed by the instructor.
It's largely meaningless without some kind of context.

If "background building" is the mission here (contrasted with actually having a
sense of which mic to use when), the better question might be:

"Study various manufacturer product lines. Do some research into what folks are
using/have used on a spread of sessions. For this paper, your clientele and projects
are likely to be X, and Y, while your equipment budget is Z. What products would you
be likely to put in your microphone locker and why? Defend your choices."

- extra credit to recast the clientele and projects; see how your locker contents
might (or might not) change.

- extra credit if you research the pros and cons of owning "vintage" microphones,
and discuss what you found out....

Frank
Mobile Audio

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