Infinite Choices
An object exists in space and time. The observer’s perspective of that object is relative to the observer’s vector and distance from the object and the ‘now’ that must become the ‘then.’ By then an infinite number of perspectives of any solitary object is available as time precedes to and proceeds from the point we perceive as the ‘now.’ ‘Now’ is where we all physically exist in theory as long as you don’t get too deep into string or wave or whatever other theories you might subscribe to. So it should be easy to understand that many perspectives of the same object can and do exist and change as time marches on. Should be!
Location Assessment
One of the challenges to recording good sounding acoustic instrument tracks is microphone placement. It’s all a matter of Perspective. The tracks for Dirt Road Delight’s recording of Daniel Parkin’s song ‘Palm of His Hand’ used in ‘Winter’s Bone‘ as well as the entire DRD Debut Album were recorded inside a log cabin originally built by a Cherokee Indian around 1795. This cabin now belongs to singer, song writer, musician and friend Bobby Don Bloodworth. It sits near the Toccoa River in the Appalachian Mountains of North Georgia and is one of the most scenic locales on the face of the planet. It is a two century old structure that witnessed an amazing part of American history and at the time of the DRD sessions the mortar was gone – as in all gone. The logs of the cabin are chestnut and the tin roof is laid on Lodgepole Pines – both trees extinct in those woods for well over a hundred years. The ceiling of the room where control room and recording area are set up is 3/4″ plywood on top of log floor and ceiling joists. The outside walls contained two windows and a crumbling stone fireplace on one side, a door with planks on the other wall, and two more plank walls on the interior – the entire usable space about 18′ by 18′ of varying densities, materials and shapes.
Evaluation of the Givens
The sound of any room depends on building materials, shapes and angles of walls, floors, ceilings, how acoustic treatments are applied to surfaces and what pieces exist within the space that react to acoustic energy. YPOM Digital travels with assorted panels of acoustic foam. In Bobby Don’s Old Indian Cabin I placed most of that foam on the plank wall that was about six feet behind the listening position of the mobile studio control room setup. I used four pieces of foam to create an acoustic baffle by clamping two sheets of foam together at the top and hanging them over a boom microphone stand in a position to shield laptop computer fan noise from the live microphones. The laptop fan was usually the loudest thing going between BD’s dogs (who were actually pretty good most of the time) and the Air Force Base over the mountain.
Sonic Variables and Alternating Techniques
YPOM Digital recorded the DRD Debut Album in Bobby Don’s log cabin during October 2009. Depending on time of day we might experience a number of variables to the recording environment. During daytime we had to be on the look out for tractors or other farm equipment. There were even a few days when we had to listen for campers partying down next to the river – those folks liked to get down and we did not want to rain on their parade so we’d patiently wait till lulls in the action to continue live recording. Early evening and night-time the crickets came to life. You always had to be listening for military jet, transport plane and helicopter traffic. Thanks to modern digital editing software it was possible to completely remove jet noise on a fiddle track where the jet was missed during traditional style linear overdubs – possible but tedious and time-consuming so not cost-effective. The fiddler was experienced and proficient in traditional linear tape recording techniques where we would stop whenever he missed a lick, roll back a bit then punch back in to continue the track. His tracks proved to be the easiest tracks to piece together but required listening to the entire mix during the recording process to get the punches right so the jet noise was buried by the mix as we were working. The jet only got us on one song so that was not so bad. The method of laying down individual stacked tracks for the other instruments with musicians not experienced in traditional studio recording techniques allowed us to solo the control room mix to listen for outside noise sources during the recording process resulting in very clean tracks but proved to be the most difficult and time-consuming to edit together at the beginning of the mix process due to the number of track choices combined with pitch and timing corrections required for some of the parts. So there are pros and cons to both methods as we can see here.
Flexible Cue and Mic Techniques
Recording acoustic instruments is something I normally do with two microphones. In the musician’s cue I’ll sum the mics mono for the pickers cue mix but use a stereo feed in the control room mix panned hard left and hard right on the instrument mics. I then get the picker to play as I physically adjust each microphone to get the best sonic character and clarity while listening through the control room headphone mix. The hard Left and Right pans allow me to discern exactly what I’m getting from each microphone without affecting the quality of the cue mix going to the musician. Later for mixdown I’ll adjust the pans and levels according to where in the mix spectrum I want the instrument to show up. Recording fretted instruments I start off using a bridge and 12th fret technique placing two ST44a tube condenser mics a few inches away from the bridge and the 12th fret and adjust the positions till I hear the clearest loudest output with minimal phasing between the two feeds. I normally record flat with a touch of compression through the optical compressors built into the Focusrite preamps. If the natural sound of the instrument in the room is good equalization and reverb may not be required once we get to the mixdown stage. The goal is to get hearty levels recorded with the cleanest most natural sound of the instrument possible. To maximize signal to noise ratios for those of us who enjoy tech terminology.
Gaining some Perspective
It is all a matter of perspective and the final test is how it sounds in when played back on the control room monitors and on your stereo reference point. On the road my stereo reference point is the CD player in my vehicle so after all is said and done I base my final decisions on how it sounds in the car. The bottom line is maximizing level and sonic quality during the recording phase so minimal to no processing is needed during the mixdown phase. Your ears are the best tool you have at your disposal. Awareness of potential outside noise sources and paying strict attention to the part being laid down is your best defense. Perspective – it’s always a matter of perspective!
