Description
We started out recording with a vocal mic, because I'm guessing that's what many of you are most likely to have access to. But this all gets a lot more fun once you get into mics that are specifically made for recording. And that doesn't have to mean expensive, it just typically means they're so sensitive that it's nearly impossible to use in a live situation. And then in return they have a much more full representation of the frequency spectrum.
So here's an example of what's called a condenser microphone. This model falls in the more affordable end of the spectrum, but you can also find condensers that cost more than a new car. But as always, you can get extremely far with the more affordable stuff. These kinds of mics typically require power to function, and the good news is that most interfaces can supply that through the microphone cable.
This is called phantom power and there's typically a little switch that enables it. Sometimes it says 48 volts instead.
Once you have your mic plugged in and the phantom power switched on you can test if you're getting signal. Remember that these are extremely sensitive mics so you don't need to tap it or clap loudly. Just make some sound and see if you're getting signal in your recording software.
Once you've established that it's all working, you need to set the level. So play the part and make sure the meter isn't going above 2/3rds or so.
Just like we talked about earlier, you can get a million different results from changing where on the instrument you point the microphone and how close you get, but for now let's go with our standard 12th fret and roughly 8 inches away. That's most often a good place to start.
Now let's record our example, so you can hear what the acoustic guitar sounds through the condenser mics. Notice that it sounds a lot more pretty and expensive now. A lot closer to what the vocal mic sounded like after we EQ'd it, but now it's even better without EQ. Feel free to go back and compare it to the other examples afterwards.
Lesson Info
