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Double Bass Great studio mics for DB

Chris Fitzgerald

Chris Fitzgerald

Student of Life
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Oct 19, 2000
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38,452
Louisville, KY
www.chrisfitzgeraldmusic.com
#1
I recorded an album last Saturday in a studio I had never visited before. The engineer put me in a booth with a mic I had never used before: an AKG C12. I’ve always been a little doubtful about the apocryphal stories I’ve heard about some of the vintage mics, tending to think that the quality of the recordings is more likely due to the fact that only the top artists likely get a chance to record in the studios that can afford these mics. In other words, that the player makes the mic and not the other way around.

But we just got the roughs of the session back a few days ago, and I have to say that this mic captured the best bass sound I’ve ever gotten in any studio. Wow! It’s too expensive for me to consider buying, but it will make me more inclined to go back to record in this studio again, and to ask studios on future sessions if they have one.

What are some of your favorite high end mics that you’ve recorded with in the studio?
 
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#2
Chris, what was the mic placement?

I've gotten amazing results with two cheaper SDCs in an XY pattern pointed near the top half of the bass (around Rabbath 5th pos.), but as I talked about in this other thread, the AKG C5600 pointed right at the bridge, about 10 inches way, is probably the best my fundamental was ever captured. (The C5600 is the "cheaper, more durable" version of the AKG C414).
 
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#3
fu22ba55 said:
Chris, what was the mic placement?
Click to expand...

It was about 10-12" off the top, pointed toward the bridge. But instead of being straight in front of the bridge, it was off a bit on the treble side because I was reading the charts and needed the music stand front and center.
 
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#5
I'm sorry you now know why those mics are so expensive ! I've been kind of heart broken that I've never been able to reproduce the bass sound I got at Electric Audio years ago for less money but I've never gotten close. I think they were using a vintage Neumann U48 on my bass... I'm not 100 percent sure my memory is right on that. It was old and looked fragile. Microphones are like basses; two can be very similar but one will have magic the other doesn't for complicated reasons that are hard to specify and cherished vintage ones are cherished for good reason.

At other studio's I've always used nice, LDC recreations of classic mics which were much more expensive than anything I could afford for home use but they still didn't sound as good. I always record in the same room as everyone else with some baffles etc.
 
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#6
Chris we both use the Line Audio CM3 or CM4 for it’s value and sound it’s a remarkable microphone. The Peluso CEM6 small diaphragm condenser (modeled after the Schoeps CMC6 MK 41) is the best studio microphone I’ve recorded with. Just my take however.
 
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#7
Chris Fitzgerald said:
It was about 10-12" off the top, pointed toward the bridge. But instead of being straight in front of the bridge, it was off a bit on the treble side because I was reading the charts and needed the music stand front and center.
Click to expand...
A bit off to the treble side can give a more "punchy" sound, IME. In old pictures you almost always see the (LDC) off to the treble side, pointing at the bass.
 
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#8
Chris Fitzgerald said:
I recorded an album last Saturday in a studio I had never visited before. The engineer put me in a booth with a mic I had never used before: an AKG C12. I’ve always been a little doubtful about the apocryphal stories I’ve heard about some of the vintage mics, tending to think that the quality of the recordings is more likely due to the fact that only the top artists likely get a chance to record in the studios that can afford these mics. In other words, that the player makes the mic and not the other way around.

But we just got the roughs of the session back a few days ago, and I have to say that this mic captured the best bass sound I’ve ever gotten in any studio. Wow! It’s too expensive for me to consider buying, but it will make me more inclined to go back to record in this studio again, and to ask studios on future sessions if they have one.

What are some of your favorite high end mics that you’ve recorded with in the studio?
Click to expand...
Sounds not too bad....:P It would be nice to get a comparison between the C12 and the Austrian Audio OC818, which should a similar capsule...
 
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#9
Back in the analog days when I worked for a music production company the very competent engineer put me behind baffles with a Telefunken U47(U67?) placed exactly where you said-best results I ever had.
 
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#11
The best result I got was an omni pencil condenser attached at the bridge, and a cardioid one pointing the neck. I think they were both Schoeps. This approach requires the bass to be isolated as the omni mic will pick up everything in the room.
 
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#12
Chris Fitzgerald said:
I recorded an album last Saturday in a studio I had never visited before. The engineer put me in a booth with a mic I had never used before: an AKG C12. I’ve always been a little doubtful about the apocryphal stories I’ve heard about some of the vintage mics, tending to think that the quality of the recordings is more likely due to the fact that only the top artists likely get a chance to record in the studios that can afford these mics. In other words, that the player makes the mic and not the other way around.

But we just got the roughs of the session back a few days ago, and I have to say that this mic captured the best bass sound I’ve ever gotten in any studio. Wow! It’s too expensive for me to consider buying, but it will make me more inclined to go back to record in this studio again, and to ask studios on future sessions if they have one.

What are some of your favorite high end mics that you’ve recorded with in the studio?
Click to expand...

Love the C12, and absolutely one of the best microphones for recording upright. It has a natural compression that emphasizes that articulation and really smooths out the width of each note. I have a clone that I built for my home studio (it has the original tube, output capacitor, transformer, one of the best cloned capsules on the market, and the original circuit design) and WOW does it sound killer. I have a Flea 47 (the top Neumann U47 clone available) and honestly, the C12 is much more my favorite for upright. In general — when available — tube microphones on upright are a match made in heaven!
 
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#15
I saw this microphone when I was in Danny’s class last winter last winter. He built it himself which is an amazing feat in and of itself.
Danny did a wonderful workshop where he discussed the various microphones he has used in the studio. I still have his flyer from that
session which he offered for free on a weekend last winter. :)
 
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#17
I have this suspicion that one reason old microphones make such good sounding recordings is that they AREN'T super accurate. No one actually listens to music with their ear an inch off the guitar soundboard.
 
#18
turf3 said:
I have this suspicion that one reason old microphones make such good sounding recordings is that they ARENh'T super accurate. No one actually listens to music with their ear an inch off the guitar soundboard.
Click to expand...
Another thing about this is when the recording was done. My impression of old mikes is based somewhat on the fact that some of my recordings were done decades ago with all analog equipment.
Whether or not tape saturation and such can be duplicated by digital equipment is what audiophiles can argue about.
 
#19
Ric Vice said:
I saw this microphone when I was in Danny’s class last winter last winter. He built it himself which is an amazing feat in and of itself.
Danny did a wonderful workshop where he discussed the various microphones he has used in the studio. I still have his flyer from that
session which he offered for free on a weekend last winter. :)
Click to expand...
Thanks, Ric! Hard to believe it was that long ago!
 

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