Build a Microphone Cabinet on any Budget

Sep 1, 2000 12:00 PM, BRIAN KNAVE AND MYLES BOISEN

           
 

Bare Bones Deluxe ($3,500)

By Brian Knave

(1) Sennheiser MD 421 II ($485)
(1) Neumann U 87 AI/SET A ($3,010)

Sound familiar? Well, as it turns out, this is the only cabinet for which Myles Boisen and I picked the very same mics - and in this case, his sentiments echo mine exactly, although I would point out that the MD 421 II is also a great vocal mic for certain "problem" singers.

However, if $3,500 is a bit steep for your Bare Bones budget, yet you want dearly to remain in the deluxe realm, consider combining the Shure Beta 58A ($332.50) with the Baltic Latvian Universal Electronics (BLUE) Mouse ($2,295). The Beta 58A is a very fine supercardioid dynamic with a bit more punch and sizzle than a regular SM 58 can muster. Not surprisingly, it works very nicely on snare drums and guitar amps, but it also is great to have around when the vocalist (typically a club singer) can't seem to get a good take without hand-holding the mic. It's a wonderful choice for trumpet, too.

The BLUE Mouse is an exquisite mic both sonically and visually, and it's definitely in the same class as the Neumann U 87. A hand-built Class A discrete unit, the BLUE Mouse features a cool rotating capsule grille that makes positioning a cinch. This mic sounds beautiful, and like the U 87, it works splendidly on a variety of sounds. However, it provides only a fixed-cardioid polar pattern (its biggest limitation) and, by design, no onboard pads or filters.

We've defined the Bare Bones cabinet as one dynamic mic and one condenser mic - a spartan combination that's surprisingly powerful. Depending on which level you choose (budget, midline, or deluxe), this cabinet can handle the needs of: the sampling wizard; the small demo studio; radio, TV, and Web-audio producers; and MIDI producers requiring only a modicum of recorded audio. (See the sidebars "Twittering Bones" and "A MIDIot's Mic Picks" for profiles of two professionals' basic mic cabinets that are only slightly bigger than our Bare Bones picks.)

Indeed, as long as you don't mind the restriction of building your songs track by track (through overdubbing), a Bare Bones cabinet can cover lots of ground. For example, you can capture a surprisingly good drum-set sound by sticking the dynamic in the kick drum and positioning the condenser mic overhead. You could also stereo-mic a piano (dynamic on the low strings, condenser on the mids and highs) or an acoustic guitar (dynamic near the 12th fret, condenser pulled back a bit to hear the whole instrument), or you could do a 2-track pass of a guitar amp (dynamic mic up against the grille cloth, condenser several feet back to capture room sound).

The Bare Bones cabinet will also serve well for mono sources, whether you're tracking vocals, guitars, horns, or percussion. (For more ideas, see "Recording Musician: The Mini Mic Cabinet" in the April 1996 EM.)

Think a handful of mics isn't sufficient to let you compete with the big guys? Well, check out Twittering Machine Productions (www.twittering.com), the brainchild of keyboardist and EM author Peter Drescher. A San Francisco-based operation, Twittering Machine provides music, sound effects, and voice-overs for multimedia software and the Internet. Drescher, whose list of clients includes Adobe, Beatnik, Sonicopia, Sprint PCS, AT&T, and WebTV, runs the whole show using just three mics:

(1) Neumann TLM 103
(1) Neumann KM 184
(1) Shure SM 58

"I've used these microphones to record a wide variety of audio," explains Drescher, "usually to DAT and then digitally transferred to Digidesign Pro Tools for editing and processing.

"The Neumann KM 184 is my main general-purpose mic. I've used it to record everything from dogs panting, dump trucks, and footsteps in snow to electric guitar, pan pipes, and African bells. The TLM 103 is terrific for voice-overs, and I've had some success using both Neumanns for stereo recordings of my Steinway piano. And even though I've used the SM 58 to record harmonica `green-bullet style,' mostly I use it for hammering nails (just kidding!).

"Although some Neumann mics have been criticized for being too bright, the presence boost on the TLM 103 provides a clarity that works to my advantage, given that the end product is frequently 16/22 MPEG compressed audio files. I always figure it's best to start with the cleanest, clearest signal possible before decimating it for Internet delivery, in the same way that a drawing done in bold Magic Marker will fax better than a sepia-tone photograph. But truth be told, I also use Neumann mics in large part due to the justified prestige the name carries. Whenever a client asks me what kind of mics I use, I'm always proud to say, `Neumanns, of course!'"

Need more proof that a "bare bones" mic cabinet is enough to get you into the big leagues? Craig Stuart Garfinkle (www.midiotmusic.com) is a Los Angeles-based music producer and an Emmy-nominated composer for film, television shows, commercials, stage, and songs. A Pro Tools user, Garfinkle employs only four mics for his productions:

(1) Neumann TLM 170
(1) AKG C 414 B/ULS
(1) AKG C 1000
(1) Shure SM 57

"I describe myself as an in-the-trenches working composer - no longer a neophyte, but not a superstar," says Garfinkle. "My experience runs the gamut, from feature films to prime-time and network sitcom themes to animation scoring for Disney." Highlights of Garfinkle's career include Mojave Moon (a feature film starring Angelina Jolie), the theme and music for NBC's The Jeff Foxworthy Show, songs for Disney's movie The Little Mermaid, music for the Dungeons and Dragons games, and, in 1999, the Emmy-nominated score for public television's Visions of Arizona.

Currently, Garfinkle is composing a new musical identity for Warner Brothers Cable TV Network and a collection of musical identities for Hasbro's Fantasy Factory. "Also, look for the feature The Best Man in Grass Creek, to be released theatrically this fall, which includes some of my best scoring to date," adds Garfinkle.

"I learned what mic technique I know mostly by happenstance," he says. "I have a stable of brilliant musicians that I am lucky enough to work with - Frank Gambale and Gregg Leisz (guitar), Bobby Hurst (bass), Steve Tavaglione (saxophone, woodwinds), Steve Smith (drums, percussion), Sid Page (violin) - and I just ask them where I should put the mic based on the type of sound I want to get. After years of doing this, I've learned a lot."

Garfinkle says he would love to have the luxury of searching for the "perfect" mic for every sound source and project, "but that just isn't the reality. The TLM 170 is a great vocal mic for just about any application. I use the C 414 as a backup if for some reason the 170 doesn't sound right for a given singer. I started using the SM 57 and C 1000 on electric guitars at the suggestion of Frank Gambale; he much prefers either mic to a large condenser, and often I'll use a blend of the two. The sound is brighter and more biting than that of the TLM 170 or C 414. For most acoustic guitars, however (especially nylon-string), I use the TLM 170 because its sound is warmer. For saxophone and woodwinds, it's a toss-up between the TLM 170 and the C 414. Likewise with percussion and violin: it all depends upon whether I want the sound to be warmer (TLM 170) or brighter (C 414).

"Due to crazy deadlines and the need to be able to instantly recall and edit mixes, I record almost exclusively to hard disk. Because of this, I have found that my Bellari RP 220 tube preamp is a necessity for introducing some warmth into the system. Otherwise, things come off sounding a little cold. If the budget allows, I like to track to 2-inch analog tape and then load the tracks onto a hard disk. That's the best of both worlds."