Small Things That Can Transform A Recording
Excerpt from: Production Experts Blog, Posted by Luke Goddard
https://www.production-expert.com/production-expert-1/dont-miss-these-small-things-that-can-transform-a-recording
Professional people can make their chosen job look easy. Great recordings don’t happen by accident, often being the sum of many carefully chosen parts and well-made decisions. In this article we look at the areas where ‘the devil is in the details.’
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Some Things Don’t Matter
Sometimes it’s only at the end of a project where we can truly take a step back to know what actually mattered in getting the final result, and what really didn’t matter at all. Of course experimentation is valuable, where it’s understood that some options will end up on the scrap heap. Overridingly though, those at the top of their game know which avenues to pursue, versus those that don’t matter.
Although engineers have to keep one eye on the big picture, there are some technical and creative details that always count, both to listeners and clients. Recently Russ recently wrote about attention to detail as a way to elevate our value as audio professionals. Here we talk about what some of those creative and technical details are and how they can elevate any recording.
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All of the The Details are in the Recordings -
Your Space
It’s often true that the things that make or break a recording happen early on, starting with the recording itself and (hopefully) culminating in a shorter mix that contains all the good stuff that seems to mix itself.
Most productions happen in the available space. Whether that’s a world famous scoring stage, or the artist’s bedroom, most productions happen where they happen. Deliberation on the choice of venue is one thing, but optimising the results before record is pressed is one detail that absolutely counts.
By listening, mics and/or sources can be placed to get the best out of less-than-ideal small home setups, where breaking up flutters with packing blankets or similar on stands can help. Pointing mics’ nulls at other reflective surfaces, listening and refining positioning is always worthy of attention. Low end in small spaces can be particularly bumpy, so working ‘in thirds’ can help - for example in a room 3 metres square, working 1 metre away from the boundary should mean the mic (and/or source) isn’t sitting in a massive standing peak or trough.
Large purpose-built spaces often have virtually none of these problems, and in an unfamiliar space getting advice from those who work there can get you straight to the point. No room is a magic bullet no matter how legendary that space might be. It is possible to get sub-optimal results by setting instruments up in the wrong place in any space, and house engineers’ input is the shortest route to getting results that meet the client’s expectations.
Wherever you’re working, placement of source and mic in the room is one detail that will inform the sound of the whole title from start to finish.
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Your Microphone Selection - And Placement:
Given that the recording location is determined, the recording detail that everyone is going to notice is the choice of mic and it’s placement.
Choosing a mic to suit a particular voice is the one decision that deserves a lot of attention, even though - what that choice actually turns out to be should not matter. With all ears on the top line, the vocal needs to be captured with a mic that agrees with the voice, conveying the pleasing parts of the singer’s timbre without adding its own colour. The same still goes for instrumentation, where taking the time to audition candidate mics can pay dividends later.
No mic can sound its best without careful placement. Yes, using your go-to position for a given source will work, but engineers who get the best results tune their mic positioning and make few assumptions about a sound until its quality is confirmed. If there is not a huge choice of mics available, spending time on positioning can actually be a bigger factor than the choice between Large Diaphragm Condenser Mic A versus Dynamic Mic B.
Moving directional mics in or out can regulate warmth along with the amount of captured ambience. Setting the mic slightly off axis can also downplay excessive brightness on guitars or vocals. Acoustic instruments have complex patterns of radiation that deserve exploration - with unknown instruments, recording test positions with spoken word ‘idents’ is invaluable. Paying focused attention to the finer points of positioning and always listening to details will elevate any recording!