I chose to record Take Me Away with my band Ultraviolence. I chose this as it was easy to get the musicians as we are all studying in Bradford College. This song is one we all know really well and is a quick and easy song to record.
Here is a list of microphones I used in my recording of Take Me Away.
- Kick – D112
Snare x2 – SM57
Tom – MD421
Floor Tom – MD421
OH R – AT 4041
OH L – AT 4041
Guitar DI
Guitar Mic #1 – MD421
Guitar mic #2 – Neumann TLM 103
Bass mic – RE20
Bass DI - Vocal – Neumann TLM 103
- Vocal – WA14
Why did I choose these mics?
I used a microphone on every drum on the drum kit, as I wanted a clear sound for everything. I chose the D112 as it is a well known and high quality bass drum mic. It can handle up to 160db which makes the bass drum not distorted, and it’s frequency range means the sub bass, at 100hz or below is captured really well, and it is boosted at 4k hz so it helps the kick cut through the mix.(AKG,2015) I used two snare drum mics, one in the usual position on top of it, and one underneath. The underneath one ended up sounding really bad and will not be used in the final product. I chose to use the SM57 as it is a very commonly used mic, not only for drums but on many other instruments, as it reduces background noise and instrument spill better than other mics.(Shure,2023) I chose the MD421 microphone for the toms as it is a popular mic that makes the toms sound good. The hi hat can be recorded separately, but I thought just having overheads would be enough. However as this song is mainly played on the hi hat, having a separate mic for it would’ve been a good idea. I used the at4041 as it is ideal for cymbals due to it’s 80hz cut off and a boost in the high frequencies.(audio technica,2025)
I chose to use two microphones to get two different sounds, as well as DI it. The guitar DI wasn’t needed as I figured out during this process that it gives you a clean sound with no effects, which is not what this track wants as it is quite distorted and has a certain tone made by the guitarist’s pedals and amp. When I recorded lead guitar, I didn’t do the DI. I chose the Neumann TLM 103 because it captures the sound very well as it is a very sensitive microphone. It is also quite a quiet microphone, and as Clarke’s guitar amp is quite loud, it should produce a nice recording. I chose the MD421 as it is a well renowned microphone for many different instruments.
For vocals I chose the Neumann TLM 103 again as it is a renowned microphone for getting good quality vocals and as it is very sensitive it will capture the parts of the song where Amy’s vocals are quiet quite well.(Neumann,2019) I also used the WA14 as it is a popular microphone used by the likes of The Police and Queen. It can handle sound up to 165 db so when the vocals are loud in chorus it won’t sound distorted and is also a sensitive microphone.(Warm Audio, 2024)
I chose to use one microphone for the bass and DI it as well. The DI ended up sounding much better and cleaner. However, it was good to hear the difference between them. I chose the RE20 because it is known as a good microphone for bass instruments such as a bass guitar or a kick drum, however, looking at the frequency pattern, it starts at 45 HZ which isn’t amazing for a bass instrument.
I recorded bass, drums and rhythm guitar at the same time. We did 3 takes. However, none of these takes were perfect on the drums, I should’ve listened to it fully and made us do another take.
I then recorded more takes of the bass and guitar to get a better version, without the spill from the drums and for a take with no or less mistakes. I recorded the lead guitar on a separate day as Clarke wasn’t available on the day we did it.
However, these takes weren’t good enough, there was a mistake by everyone on each take. So we decided to record it again.
This time I recorded the drums and two guitars at the same time. We did 3 takes back to back, I then split it up into the three takes after we recorded it. As a band we picked the best take, sadly there is a mistake on the guitars before the solo, however we didn’t have time to record it again.
I then recorded vocals and bass on the same day a week later. I got two takes of the bass and decided the second one was better. The vocals took a bit longer, as I had some issues with the headphones and her hearing herself over the music. Once I fixed this we did two takes, one with each microphone. There is no break for the vocals after the chorus going into the second and the outro, so for the best sounding vocals, we stopped the recording after the chorus and went again from the verse. I decided the 2nd take was better, using the WA14.
I am happy with how the recording sounds, all of the instruments sound good.
The recording process for Easy was a similar process, with the drums being miked up the same way, and the bass was ran through a DI. The piano was ran through 2 DI boxes, a left and right one. The left captured the left, lower in pitch, side of the piano, and the right captured the right, higher in pitch, side. All these instruments were recorded at the same time. The guitar was recorded on a separate day, and it was ran through a DI box. The instrumentalists had the original track of Easy in their headphones to play along to.
I am happy with how the recording sounds, all of the instruments sound good. The take isn’t perfect as there are a few mistakes, especially on the guitar.
audio technica. “AT4041.” Audio-Technica.com, 2025, www.audio-technica.com/en-gb/at4041?srsltid=AfmBOorzgWw_rxCdzov2Lefj2Gy-ARlmGYewiyy6Aag1eyBdDf_v1J0O. Accessed 19 May 2025.
AKG. “D112 MKII | Professional Dynamic Bass Drum Microphone.” Uk.akg.com, 2015, uk.akg.com/outlet/D112MkII.html.
Shure. “SM57 – Dynamic Instrument Microphone – Shure United Kingdom.” Www.shure.com, 2023, www.shure.com/en-GB/products/microphones/sm57?variant=SM57-LCE. Accessed 19 May 2025.
Neumann. “Neumann Studio Microphone TLM 103.” Neumann.com, 2019, www.neumann.com/en-gb/products/microphones/tlm-103. Accessed 19 May 2025.
Warm Audio. “Warm Audio WA-14 C414-Style Microphone in Single and Stereo Pairs.” Warm Audio, 2024, warmaudio.com/wa14. Accessed 19 May 2025.
Echevarria, Danny. “Electro-Voice RE20 Review: 5 Reasons I Love Recording with This Mic.” Pro Audio Files, 15 Dec. 2021, theproaudiofiles.com/electro-voice-re20/. Accessed 20 May 2025.