FINAL- BRAIN STEW
For this project I played guitar in the recording of green day- brain stew. When rehearsing this i had to think about the tone and effects of the guitar. i decided upon not much reverb to give more effect to the pauses, and a heavily distorted tone to give more power to the power chords. I started by using major and minor chords but it didnt sound right in the song so i switched to power chords to fit it to the style of the song.
Mics
A crucial part of recording is finding the correct equipment to use for the job. Different things require different types of mics, a great example of this is the drums because there are a wide range of frequencies emitted.
Kick
On the kick drum an EV RE20 was used for the inside because is a dynamic cardioid mic witch means it can pick up a clear sound with minimal distortion in loud environments. Dynamic cardioid mics polar pattern are named after there heart shape, this results in high sensitivity from the front, lower sensitivity from the sides and almost none from behind. This will be helpful when doing EQ especially because it means there are less frequencies to cut out giving it a more full and natural sound.
Snare
On the snare head we used an MD 421 witch is a large diaphragm microphone witch we would have used on the toms as well if we set them up. This mic is amazing for its directional pickup pattern perfect for drums, and its hum compression coil witch means low frequency interference is canceled out. On the bottom of the snare we used an SM 57. To mic up the bottom of the snare gives more depth and dimension to the sound but is not always necessary unless you have a very deep snare. What i like about the SM 57 on the snare it its balance of low end weight put also picking up the more punchy high end, perfect for the snare.
Over Head
Over heads are used in drums to create a stereo recording of the full kit, the benefits of stereo is to give the listener a more immersive listening experience by panning the signals to the same direction the mic was placed, it also gives a wider sound witch is nice. apart from this the main reason for them is to pick up the cymbals so its important to use a mic thats good with high ends but also dynamic enough to pick up the rest of the kit nicely. For this the WA-14 is a good option with its smooth high and mid ends. Its a large diaphragm mic and has 3 polarity patterns (cardioid, figure-8 and omni) this gives options to capture sounds and reject noise, making it a great mic for many applications.
Vocals
For the vocals we used the SM7B which is often regarded as one of the best dynamic mics, it was designed to get the most out of the human voice. When recording i was confused on the mics low output but upon research i realise its designed to be that way and its recommended by sure to add around 60 db of extra gain to get proper results.
Bass Guitar
DI (direct imput is is when the signal is directly plugged into the DI box witch means it can be directly transferred to the preamp, this gives a cleaner sound with no bleed from other instruments witch is often an issue when needing to mic up an instrument. 2 DI boxes were also used to mic up the keyboard, using 2 signals- left and right- witch i panned from side to side later in production.
Guitar
for the guitar amp i plugged it into a tube amp, looking back i would have preferred to use a solid state amp to get a more direct clinical sound, i am also more familiar with them witch makes it easier for me to use. I used an SM57 and an MD421 to mic it up witch are both great in the mid range.