Back in April and May, I recorded and mixed a project for Todd A, the singer and songwriter for the one man band "The Hit On List." He's a talented singer-songwriter that I wish I could come up with a better title for than "singer-songwriter." He has a great alternative rock/punk-esque style that I don't think comes to mind when given the title "singer-songwriter." Anyway, he's good.
We met about a year ago at the open mic I used to host down at Costa Mesa's Westside Bar and Grill. His style had always reminded me of the Smiths, The Ramones, and Elvis Costello. He approached me earlier this year to record a 5 song EP of his original tunes. I couldn't pass up an opportunity to record one of my favorite local artists.
I was already familiar to Todd's sound from the open mics we performed at together, so I felt I was more than apt to record his music. Todd was already quite familiar with the recording process: working with click tracks, layering guitars, doing overdubs and punch-ins, so working with him was quite easy.
What wasn't easy was the environment that we were recording in. We recorded in his apartment, hopefully not to the annoyance of his neighbors. Not only was the room fairly boxy (which of course creates unavoidable comb filtering and standing waves), but was also located near a fairly busy intersection. Ambient noise was going to be a major obstacle.
Close Miking in Stereo (using XY coincident pair)
Since Todd was familiar with recording procedures, we had the option to track everything separately to a click track, which we used to our advantage. I had the opportunity to close mic is Yamaha acoustic guitar using my two Audio Technica AT2020 condenser microphones in an XY stereo miking configuration. One microphone pointed towards the neck of the guitar to capture more of the high end harmonics, while the other more or less pointed at the end of the fretboard to capture a little bit more body sound, yet still avoiding the boomy-ness that emanates from the soundhole. The two mics in XY yielded a surprisingly full sound (especially for only being about 6 inches away from the instrument), full of detail and harmonics. I also recorded the sound of the guitar's onboard pickup, run through a passive DI box into an mic input on my interface, which added some grit and girth to the sound.
For each song, he recorded two takes of acoustic guitar playing the same chord changes and strumming pattern, which I panned to various points on either side of the stereo spectrum during mixdown.
Though close miking cut down on a lot of ambient noise, close proximity could not however exclude all of the unwanted external sounds. That is where the use of a GATE comes in.
The Magic of Gating
If it weren't for the gating, there would be horns and revving Harley-Davidsons all over Todd's EP. A gate is a device that allows signals of a certain amplitude (strength... er... "volume") to pass through unaffected, while signals below that amplitude are attenuated. This basically is like a compressor in reverse. Gates can be pieces of physical outboard gear, sometimes also included on compressors, or in my case, a software plug-in. Gates basically allow you to get rid of, or at least make unwanted, extraneous sounds less noticeable, increasing the overall dynamic range of your recording. Gating of course can also be used in other, more artistic ways (look up "Gated Reverb" on your favorite search engine), but in my case, was used to get rid of the Harleys outside and the hum of the refrigerator.
Dual Miking Lead Vocals
Some people have the luxury of a great lead vocal microphone... AKG C12, Neumann U47 or U87, a vintage RCA ribbon... just imagine your favorite lead vocal sound... yeah that mic! Most of us however, do not have access to these sonic marvels, but you can still obtain a great lead vocal sound through of course good mic placement, and in this case, using two different microphones on the same sound source, used to capture different things.
On Todd's EP, I used an Audio Technica AT2020 in conjunction with the modest Shure SM57. The AT2020 to my ears is very flat over a wide frequency range, and is sometimes a character-less microphone, which I think is very useful especially since I use it on tons of different sources. As a lead microphone however, the AT2020 on it's own doesn't really stand out in the mix; you can hear it, but it doesn't have enough character to grab your attention. The Shure SM57 in all it's fuzzy and grittiness has lots of character, and has a very different frequency response than the AT2020. The SM57 does not pick up as much of the high end, the "air" and ambience of the space in which you are recording. This gives the SM57 more a dry and upfront sound. The AT2020 on the other hand picks up a lot more "air." Recording these microphones on separate tracks and adjusting their levels in relation to each other will give you a little of both. More air/distance? More fowardness? More smoothness? More grit? You can decide that in mixdown.
Though again, this is not the most ideal setup, but if both microphones are placed the at the same location, the same distance from the sound source, it can give you very pleasing results.
And by the way... what about DIY home recording is ideal anyway? It's not about the ideal, it's really about doing the best you can with the resources available, and not letting anything hold you back from getting a pretty cool sound.
You can check out Todd A and The Hit On List's new "IRL" EP on his website, TheHitOnList.com
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