For the recording project with Hannah, mentioned in my previous post, I am bringing out some equipment I’ve had stashed in my home studio… which has been gathering dust for a while.  It’s great to make friends again with my microphones and my Pro Tools LE setup.  Yesterday we experimented with my Earthworks TC30K mics in the living room, using them at about three feet distance from the violin and cello.  They are omnidirectional, but with two you can make a good stereo recording.  Their sound is very open, realistic, and a bit too bright for the violin, in my opinion.  You hear a lot of the noises of playing, which can be very cool, but for this project I think these mics will be better for capturing room sound from further away.  I have used these wonderful mics for making field recordings.

Next time we will try my Cascade Fat Head II-SP Ribbon Microphones, going through my Summit Tube Preaamp.  I believe these will produce a much warmer string sound for the recording.  These mics were used (in combo with a couple of others) in my recording project of original violin pieces, Four-Stringed Voice: music for solo violin.  (Check it out here:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/gloriajusten.)

We will also be trying and comparing Hannah’s Yeti USB microphone, made by Blue, going into Garage Band.  (Annoyingly, you cannot record directly into Pro Tools with a USB mic.)   I am very curious about this versatile mic, which has four different settings available.

Really, the microphones become part of the instruments, an extension of them, as they translate our sound.  Sound originates from the metal/nylon strings, wood and horse hair, gets refashioned into analog electrical signals, gets amplified by tubes and circuits, and gets converted into digital information.  Every mic has its personality and there are many ways to craft the sound quality.  This will be fun and interesting!