Your Favorite Mic Position??

[taxistationary]

I've been doing a lot of recording lately and this topic awes me. I've got a Shure 57 and I've noticed that just moving it an inch can make the biggest impact on a recording tone. What's your favortie sweet spot to mic a speaker? I haven't found mine yet... [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

[markD]

Re: Your Favorite Mic Position??

well, i like a sennheiser MD421 pointed between the the "e" and "r" of my rivera 1x12 cabs. that's about 2 inches to the left of the center of the speaker. the mic is usually at a 30 degree angle, but sometimes straight on. it usually sits about 3 inches from the grille. i use EVM12L speakers, so they sound better with some "room" around them. to achieve this i also set up a nuemann u87i about 2 feet back, around 4 feet up in the air. this mic angles down at a 25 degree angle pointing toward the cab. this gets blended in with the 421 at about a 30:1 ratio during mixdown.

[Matt Crooks]

Re: Your Favorite Mic Position??

With a 57 I don't have a favorite position. It has to be moved around every time to get the best tone for the amp/gtr/player combination.

I'm using a Royer 122 for gtrs. now and it is much less position sensative than is the 57.

[PallarAndersVisa]

Re: Your Favorite Mic Position??

i like to take the grill off the cab cover and put the shure 57 like half an inch from the inside of the wall, like a couple inches away from the center thing. fuckin sounds awesome

[Rupe]

Re: Your Favorite Mic Position??

I typically aim a 57 so the top is parallel to the cone, just off center. I tweak from here to try and find a sweet spot. It's cool to mix in a condenser or ribbon mic approx 2' from the speaker to fatten the tone. Once again, move it around until you like what you hear. There is no exact science here as everybody has a different idea of what good tone is. Having the patience to go through a trial and error process until you find your sound is the "secret" [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]
A mic that I typically use in place of a 57 is an Audix D-3. It has a very flat response and gives the most accurate reproduction of any mic I've heard in the 100-200 dollar price range. It doesn't give the rolled off highs and mid bump that has made the 57 so popular, but it records clean tones far better IMO. I can use an EQ during the mastering process to add back anything that a 57 may have contributed.

[Newc]

Re: Your Favorite Mic Position??

Ya know what I'd like to see?
This:



A small cage-type thing you put in front of any cabinet that has a mic (or two or three) mounted on a sliding and telescoping bar so you can easily play around with mic placement. I've thought about this for years now, but don't have the tools or materials to make it. I suppose one could be jimmied up out of a household sliding glass or shower door track and some associated rollers, some PVC pipe, and an existing boom mic stand.

If you could find some way to lock the slider in place once you found a sweet spot, you'd be set.

Much better than fighting the weight of a mic stand - even a boom or table-type stand gets annoying. This way you can easily slide it around the front of the cabinet until you find "the" spot.

[thetroy]

Re: Your Favorite Mic Position??

Great picture Newc...as an engineering student I like to see those kind of ideas rather than just fiddling with a mic stand.

There are about a million ways you could do that, I'm not sure that one is any better than the rest. Surely you have the tools and materials to do it somehow!

[Matt Crooks]

Re: Your Favorite Mic Position??

NewC - your drawing is missing the metal studs all over the stand! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[siggy14]

Re: Your Favorite Mic Position??

now that depends, usually slightly off axis on the top left speaker, but if my singer is being an asshole i like to put it up his asshole to shut him up. (LOL)

[Rupe]

Re: Your Favorite Mic Position??

What kind of tone do you get in that position? [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[thetroy]

Re: Your Favorite Mic Position??

Probably sounds like ass

[Newc]

Re: Your Favorite Mic Position??

Bet he can do the Judas Priest and Queen covers then [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[siggy14]

Re: Your Favorite Mic Position??

i dont care what it sounds like, if it shuts him up it shuts him up (LOL) I shouldnt rag to bad on singers, i have only had one bad one, but damn i know what lynch means when he said he just wanted to push don off the stage!