My Top 10 for the Baltimore City Paper for 2011.

1 Sigur Rós, Inni (XL)
2 She and Him, A Very She and Him Christmas (Merge)
3 Beyoncé Knowles, 4 (Columbia)
4 M83, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming (Mute)
5 Steve Reich and Kronos Quartet, WTC 9/11 (Nonesuch)
6 YEVETO, Remote Unelectrified Villages (self-released)
7 Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues’ (Sub Pop)
8 Florence and the Machine, Ceremonials (Island)
9 Foster The People – Torches (Columbia)
10 INFINITE HONEY, Infinite Honey (self-released)

Recently I had the great opportunity to try out some new mics. This time around I got to test out JZ Microphones for a few weeks. Thanks Kate! Each JZ mic is hand crafted in Riga, Latvia. And when I say handcrafted, I mean it, every component is meticulously hand-soldered. This isn’t your Chinese-made condenser. This is the real deal.

JZ Vintage 47

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It’s time to showcase a condenser mic this month! And there’s nothing we like more than a versatile mic you can find for under $400.

I first got into recording doing a lot of solo and acoustic performers. I emailed one of my favorite songwriter/recordists at the time and asked him what mic he used to track his acoustic guitars. It just so happened the Audio-Technica 4033 was the mic he’d been using for years to record guitars and vocals. This being THE first studio mic for me, I put it in front of as many instruments as I could and received pretty incredible results. Audio-Technica even boasts that this was the mic to break the $1000-barrier in it’s class. (more…)

No, not the SM57. The S-M-Seven.

While it’s not my favorite mic, nor is it the most interesting, by any means, it certainly reproduces many sounds wonderfully and accurately. Simply put, it’s utilitarian. And build like a tank. My SM7 has taken many o’ falls and still, many many years later, works like a charm. I’d say, in any given record I produce it’s used multiple times. And not on just one instrument. It yields great results with vocals, drums and bass/guitar amps. I’ve even used it on kick drums (more of the vintage flavor) and have been very happy with the output. It’s claim to fame was when it was discovered that engineer Bruce Swedien used this mic for most of the vocals on Michael Jackson’s 1982 record, Thriller. You know the record that spawned seven top 10 singles and has sold over 110 million copies? So aside from the fact that Michael sounds great behind it, other people do as well. It’s not just Michael’s amazing voice. It’s a cardioid dynamic mic that can stand up next to a U47, U87 or any other variety of vintage condensers.

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It’s quite possibly my favorite mic. It’s a dynamic. But it certainly has qualities of a condenser. It’s definitely one of the most accurate, flat and detailed of the mics in my collection. I love what it can do with female voices that have a lot of sibilance. It’s my go-to mic for snare bottom. I love what it does to guitar cabs with just a little too much presence. What’s even better about this mic is the off-axis rejection with its super-cardiod polar pattern. Which means it’s incredible to use live, either in the studio or for performance. The mic also has a 5-switch bass roll-off just like it’s younger sibling the 421. It also has a high/presence boost which I rarely use, unless a snare is really dull.

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Brooke Fraser Flags (Wood and Bone)
Fang Island Fang Island (Sargent House)
Lands and Peoples EP (self-released)
Prince 20Ten (NPG)
Katy Perry Teenage Dream (Capitol)
Secret Mountains Rejoice (Friends)
N.E.R.D. Nothing (Interscope)
OK Go Of the Blue Colour of the Sky (Capitol)
Trans Am Thing (Thrill Jockey)
Brian Eno Small Craft on a Milk Sea (Warp)

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