Month: January 2023

A Microphone Chameleon

Meet the newest addition to my mic locker – the UAD/Townsend Labs Sphere L22 modeling mic. It looks striking and sexy with its glowing blue color. There are actually two microphone capsules (front and rear) in one housing, and they both are used to create the mic simulation.

In practice for recording vocals, we would record as usual, but to a stereo track. After recording is where the fun begins. We now have the ability to listen to how your voice would sound through various different vintage mics and find out which one works best to help your vocal tone sound great and sit well in the mix.

Universal Audio is one of the premier companies for this kind of technology, and they have provided models of some of the most sought after microphones in the world. You have your choice of large diaphragm Neuman U-87, U-67, U-47, U-49, AKG 414 (4 models), Telefunken ELA M-251, and many others including small diaphragm condenser and dynamic microphones. I have listened to each of these models and have gotten a good idea of what type of voice would benefit from their specific coloration, which makes the selection go quicker.

In addition to the general coloration of the mic, I can control the low end mud by working with the proximity knob (which simulates the way the mic responds to how physically close you are) as well as a bass roll-off. And that’s not all!

The mic can be used as a normal vocal mic with a cardiod (heart shaped) pickup pattern, but the capsule can be rotated to change the pattern to bi-directional (great for stereo guitar or live duets), omnidirectional (to record the entire room sound), as well as in-between patterns which might give a different tone.

In short, it’s crazy versatile, sounds great, and will be a vital part of my studio sound going forward. It’s the mic for the 21st century.

 

Sonobus Remote Sessions

Ever since the pandemic, I have been trying different ways to work together remotely with you. The video chats work well for video but lack the features for good quality audio. Zoom, Webex, Facetime, Skype, Jitsi Meet – they all suffer being limited to mono audio, and an audio frequency range that is more suited to speech than music. Add to that the noise suppression algorithms that mangle sustained musical tones and it’s just not a good experience.

In the past I have used a product from Audionamix called ListenTo that worked well – full bandwidth audio, but there was no way for us to communicate with each other during a session.

Sonobus is the latest product to be offered to help musicians collaborate with each other. It was intended to be a solution for those who want to play live music with friends and band mates over the internet. It features:

  • Full bandwidth, stereo CD quality audio
  • Very low latency – usually less than 100 milliseconds to make the round trip from your mouth to the web and back again to your ears.
  • Text chat is built in
  • Voice chat is built in as well, with the ability to mute your mic input.
  • Works on Windows, Apple, IOS, and Android – so you can use it with any device on hand.
  • It is open source, so it will always have the support of the programming community
  • It is free to use
  • For best results, wear headphones or ear buds to prevent feedback.

It works well for tracking and general editing work. For mixing and mastering, however, headphones are not as accurate as speakers. When you book a remote session, remember to allow another half hour or so to get a good mix from me after we disconnect from Sonobus.