If using one microphone is great, two must be twice as good, right? Sometimes. 
Some of the best acoustic guitar tones I’ve ever gotten have been with two microphones, this is sometimes referred to as stereo mic placement (although two microphones doesn’t always mean it’s technically “stereo,” but that’s for another day).
As with most things, if there stands to be a bigger benefit (better guitar tone), there are also greater risks (phase issues).
In all the magazine ads and music videos, this one thing is a staple.
Whether it’s a documentary on your favorite band, a movie scene in a recording studio, or a full-page ad in Sweetwater‘s latest catalog, one common theme exists: vocalists use large-diaphragm condenser mics.
I’m not a big fan of the phrase “that’s how we’ve always done it.” Certainly we should learn from the experience of others, but doing something JUST because everyone else does it leads to a fairly boring experience.
Do I use a condenser mic on vocals? Sure…but not exclusively.
Recently I posted the question “What are your favorite plug-ins?”. You guys gave me a lot of great responses. It’s helpful to see what other people are using and why they’re using it.
So today, tell me what’s your favorite microphone and why. This should be your “desert island” mic, the one you would pick if you could only have one microphone to record for the rest of your life.
I’ll go first.
If I could only have one microphone, I’d want something very versatile. If it has too much color or warmth to it, it might not be great for everything.
So, I’ll have to say that my desert island mic would be the…
…drumroll please…
It’s that time again. I’ve got three new questions, all Pro Tools related. (If you have a question, please submit it via the Ask Joe form.) Let’s dive in.
Martin R. wrote:
I have just recently installed Pro Tools 7.3 LE on to my Mac and I have an Iomega hard drive that I was going to use for recording however when I try to change the audio settings from ‘T’ to ‘R’ I get an error message which reads “IOMEGA cannot be designated as an Audio Record volume because it is not a valid audio volume.” Could you tell me what this means and if there is any way to use this hard drive for recording.
Many Thanks
Martin
