'The Five Most Common Recording Mistakes' -- Supporting Resources For Download!

This page contains various additional resources to support my video series ‘The Five Most Common Recording Mistakes’. This site also hosts a huge range of free mixing and recording resources relating to my books, including the 'Mixing Secrets' Free Multitrack Download Library and the 'Recording Secrets' Library Of Mic Positions. To stay up to date with the latest freebies and uploads on this site, sign up for my monthly ‘Small-studio Secrets Mail’ mail-out – and if you have any follow-up questions about the videos or these resources, don’t hesitate to drop me a line!

Mistake #1: Ignoring The Source

Audio Files

• The Tonal Impact Of Changing Mics: Here are a range of different classic microphones recording the same snare drum and the same acoustic guitar:

• The Tonal Impact Of Changing Instruments: Here are three different snare drums and three different acoustic guitars, recorded with the same mics in each case:

• Interaction With The Recording Room: Here’s a Fender Telecaster played through a Fender Twin Reverb amplifier (recorded with a Shure SM57 microphone six inches from the grille cloth) in four different recording locations, to show the impact of simple room acoustics effects: the middle of a large empty wooden-floored concert hall measuring 18x12x5m WAV/MP3play_arrow; the centre of a small studio live room, measuring approximately 4.7x4.2m, with a ceiling sloping from 2.2m to 4.8m high WAV/MP3play_arrow; in the centre of the same studio live room, raised a foot off the floor on a heavy-duty podium WAV/MP3play_arrow; and in the corner of the same studio live room WAV/MP3play_arrow.

• Using DIY Reflection & Absorption: Here are three different stereo recordings of an acoustic guitarist in a studio live room: the first has the player and mics surrounded with acoustic absorbers WAV/MP3play_arrow; the second surrounds them with acoustic reflectors WAV/MP3play_arrow, and the third applies no acoustic treatment WAV/MP3play_arrow. Notice particularly the enhancement of the instrument’s high frequencies when the early reflections become more prominent in the reflective environment.

Further Reading

• Read More From Al Schmitt: If you wanted to read the rest of the interview from which the quote in the video was taken, you can find it in Howard Massey’s excellent book Behind The Glass (Volume I).

• Preparing Electric Guitars & Drums For Recording: Check out these two recent SOS articles for tips on optimising the raw sound of electric guitars and drums for recording.

Mistake #2: Clinging To Miking Templates

Audio Files

• Snare Miking Examples: The first set of examples I played were Shure SM57 recordings of a single drum performance, with three mics positioned at different distances from the head: 3cm WAV/MP3play_arrow, 8cm WAV/MP3play_arrow, and 20cm WAV/MP3play_arrow. I followed that by playing another multimic recording with same mics all 8cm from the drum, but angled towards different parts of the drum head: the centre WAV/MP3play_arrow; midway between the centre and the edgeWAV/MP3play_arrow; the centre WAV/MP3play_arrow

• The Results Of Template Drum Miking: Here are the two audio examples I played to demonstrate the dangers of clinging to miking templates: an overhead mic pair WAV/MP3play_arrow and its corresponding snare-drum close mic WAV/MP3play_arrow. The question is: where’s the snare sound going to come from? (If you’d like to experiment with these recordings within their full production context, you can download the raw multitracks here: Flags: ‘54’.)

Further Reading

• 'Recording Secrets' Library Of Mic Positions: As mentioned in the video, I’ve set up a growing database of instrument recordings, extensively multimiked with identical microphones so as to provide an unrivalled insight into the art of microphone placement. Compare dozens of different mic positions and combinations around the same instrument quickly and easily, so you can fast-track your own productions and make the best use of limited studio time. So far the library features 450 audio files covering 20 instruments, including acoustic guitar, electric guitar, upright piano, grand piano, upright bass, kick drum, snare drum, cymbals, saxes, clarinets, and flute.

• Salvaging Template-miked Drums At Mixdown: As mentioned in the video mixing the template-miked drum recordings above was a bit of a palaver – for more details, check out Mix Rescue March 2011. Suffice to say, it’d have been a lot quicker to get a respectable sound if the mics had been put in sensible places to start with…

• Unorthodox Real-world Miking Techniques: The Sound On Sound ‘Session Notes’ feature frequently demonstrates how project-studio conditions often demand unorthodox miking methods if you’re going to achieve easily mixable results – for example in the April 2013 or January 2016 articles. Do make sure you check out the audio files accompanying those articles to judge the effectiveness of the techniques for yourself.

Mistake #3: The Cardioid Reflex

Audio Files

• The Tonal Impact Of Proximity-Effect Bass Boost: Here’s the same vocal performance recorded with three Avantone CK1 small-diaphragm cardioid condenser microphones at different miking distances from the singer’s mouth: 12cm WAV/MP3play_arrow; 20cm WAV/MP3play_arrow; and 28cm WAV/MP3play_arrow. Switching the first of these two CK1s to their omni capsules, on the other hand, avoids these proximity-effect changes: 12cm miking distance WAV/MP3play_arrow; 20cm miking distance WAV/MP3play_arrow.

• Resistance To Plosives & Mechanical Vibration: Here’s a comparison of how the same large-diaphragm multi-pattern condenser mic’s sensitivity to plosives and mechanical vibrations varies depending on the polar pattern selected: plosives (cardioid) WAV/MP3play_arrow; plosives (omni) WAV/MP3play_arrow; mechanical vibrations (cardioid) WAV/MP3play_arrow; mechanical vibrations (omni) WAV/MP3play_arrow.

• Handheld Large-diaphragm Omni Condenser For Vocal Recording: Here’s a vocal recording demonstration I did with a handheld AKG C414B-XLS large-diaphragm condenser microphone set to its omni pattern and protected with a foam wind sock WAV/MP3play_arrow.

• Spotlighting Demonstration: Here’s the same acoustic guitar performance recorded by the same model of mic using two different polar patterns: cardioid WAV/MP3play_arrow and omni WAV/MP3play_arrow.

• Low-end Response & Realism: Here’s a comparison of two piano recordings using two spaced pairs of Rode NT55 small-diaphragm condenser mics, the first pair with cardioid capsules WAV/MP3play_arrow and the second with omni capsules WAV/MP3play_arrow.

• Off-axis Tonal Coloration: These three vocal recordings were made with the singer 120 degrees off axis to a Groove Tubes GT57 multi-pattern large-diaphragm condenser mic, with its polar-pattern switch set respectively to cardioid WAV/MP3play_arrow, figure-eight WAV/MP3play_arrow, and omni WAV/MP3play_arrow. For reference, here’s the sound of the on-axis cardioid too WAV/MP3play_arrow. (I’ve level-matched these recordings to make their tonalities easier to compare.)

• Spill Reduction: Here’s a recording of a figure-eight microphone recording the acoustic guitar of a singing guitarist WAV/MP3play_arrow. Bear in mind that the singer is only about two feet from this mic.

• BONUS: Polar Patterns For Tonal Variety: To demonstrate the tonal variety available from using different polar patterns, check out these three vocal recordings, which were all recorded on-axis at the same distance from a multi-pattern large-diaphragm condenser mic with its polar-pattern switch set respectively to cardioid WAV/MP3play_arrow, figure-eight WAV/MP3play_arrow, and omni WAV/MP3play_arrow. Clearly, the omni microphone also picks up more room sound, but bear in mind that you can combat this by moving closer to it WAV/MP3play_arrow without the strong proximity-effect bass-boost you’d expect from directional polar patterns.

Further Reading

• **Introduction To Non-cardioid Polar Patterns:**If you’re new to the idea of non-cardioid polar patterns, here’s a straightforward introduction: ‘Using Microphone Polar Patterns Effectively’.

• Recording Singing Guitarists: For more demonstrations of methods for recording singing guitarists, check out Sound On Sound’s Session Notes January 2014’ column and this great article on ‘Recording A Singing Guitarist’.

Mistake #4: Spillphobia

Audio Files

• Separation Anxiety: Spill needn’t be a problem, even when you’re recording a whole band in one small room. Take this recording WAV/MP3play_arrow, for example, where a whole band were set up in very close proximity in a single room, but which still sounds present and upfront because the band were balanced sensibly in the room itself. (There’s very little processing involved – just three compressors and six bands of EQ spread across all 20 input channels.) There’s plenty of separation between the instruments too, as you can hear if I solo the drums WAV/MP3play_arrow, bass WAV/MP3play_arrow, and guitars WAV/MP3play_arrow respectively.

• Accommodating Spill In The Mix: Just because this band-recording’s vocal mic WAV/MP3play_arrow picks up loads of hi-hat spill, that’s not the end of the world, as long as you adapt the band sound WAV/MP3play_arrow, either during recording or mixdown, to have too little hi-hat. In that way the vocal mic simply provides the missing hi-hat level within the context of the full mix WAV/MP3play_arrow.

• Enhancing The Mix Sonics With Spill: Here’s another one-room band recording WAV/MP3play_arrow, but in this case the spill was more actively embraced as a means of making the mixdown simpler. The only plug-ins I’ve used on this mix are four simple high-pass filters, yet the ensemble sound blends very effectively without effects or processing – largely on account of the spill components. Now let me solo the sax, piano, drums in this mix so you can hear how much spill there is in each case, and how much better each sounds within the full mix (ie. with its spill) than in isolation:
  Saxophone: WAV/MP3play_arrow Piano: WAV/MP3play_arrow Drums: WAV/MP3play_arrow
  (If you’d like to experiment with these recordings within their full production context, you can download the raw multitracks here: Spektakulatius: ‘Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t’.)

Further Reading

• More Information About The Featured Sessions: Two of the recording sessions I’ve used for these audio examples have been featured in SOS ‘Session Notes’ columns (June 2015 and January 2015). Further information about the first of these sessions can also be found on it’s dedicated resources page, and you can see how the spill helped make the recordings easily mixable in this three-part video series.

• Practice Dealing With Spill At Mixdown: If you want to increase your experience with handling recorded spill at mixdown, here are some suitable raw multitracks you can download from Bruks, The Don Camillo Choir, Dunning Kruger, Jesper Buhl Trio, Selwyn Jazz, Spektakulatius, Wesley Morgan, and Zwiepack.

Mistake #5: Deferring Decisions

Audio Files

• The Results Of Fence-sitting When Recording Acoustic Guitar: Here are the individual mic signals from the acoustic-guitar multimic recording I mentioned during the video: a large-diaphragm condenser microphone by the soundhole WAV/MP3play_arrow; a dynamic microphone by the soundhole WAV/MP3play_arrow; and a small-diaphragm condenser microphone by the fretboard WAV/MP3play_arrow – none of which provide a particularly usable sound. (If you’d like to experiment with these recordings within their full production context, you can download the raw multitracks here: Flags: ‘54’.)

Further Reading

• Fence-sitting Case Studies: Whenever I talk about deferring production decisions, it immediately brings to mind these two specific Mix Rescue articles: May 2013 and March 2011. In both cases a lack of sonic decision-making during the tracking session cost me hours of remedial work while trying to reach a respectable result at mixdown.

• Recordings That Mix Themselves: If you make decisions as you go along, your multitracks will pretty much mix themselves. This is something I’ve demonstrated in a number of SOS ‘Session Notes’ columns, for example June 2015, January 2016, April 2016, May 2016, and June 2016, April 2017, and August 2017, all of which were very quick and straightforward to mix.