Every month or so a bunch of local Baltimore Producers and Engineers get together at Mobtown to talk shop (and drink beer) in what we call the Baltimore Recording Club. We talk about projects we’re working on, critique mixes and chat about records we all love. We all decided it was time to do our first mic shootout. This time around we did a kick drum mic shootout with all the typical (and then some others) mics we had at our disposal. Sadly we didn’t have an AKG112. Next time!

The details: DW Olive Ash 20″x18″ kick drum -> Mic (mic placed a little off center near the resonant side) -> Tascam DM4800 preamp -> Logic 9. We used no compression and leveled out the mics so there was relative consistency. We aren’t scientists, so this shoot out wasn’t and exact science. But you get the idea. We wear jeans. Not lab coats.

Thanks to Frank Corl (for being one of the best drummers in Baltimore, as well as playing killer quarter notes for the shootout), Dawn Dineen, Aaron Wold, Evan Kornblum & Hannah Winograd.

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Sennheiser 421
-Very beige. Neutral.

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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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