• Techniques
  • Has anyone used the ARC2 mic for anything else? (p.2)
2014/06/20 16:59:53
Danny Danzi
I found it Sharke!
 
https://dl.dropboxusercon...20By%20The%20River.mp3
 
My engineer at the other studio Joey was playing this and it later became a pretty killer tune that we wrote. Just the ARC mics and an old Ibanez acoustic right into Sonar with a little light compression going in by default. All our input channels have a little comp enabled while going in. This was like a 2:1, -10 thresh, 4.0 ms attack, auto-release.
 
We used a very small amount of Breverb when it first came out in whatever version of Sonar that was and we were just messing around. It's not great or anything, but it's not terrible either. The only thing we did to it was eq it to sound decent. You know...high pass/low pass and just eq to taste. But we didn't do any major processing or turd polishing. :)
 
-Danny
2014/06/20 19:20:41
The Maillard Reaction
Danny Danzi
it's pretty cool considering we did absolutely nothing and didn't even strategically place them or anything. :)
 
-Danny




That is the beauty of an omni mic. They usually sound pretty good and sound very much like what you hear with your ears. They are similar to your ears in that their placement is much less critical than something like a hyper cardiod pattern microphone.
2014/06/20 23:07:32
sharke
That actually sounds amazing Danny. I need to experiment more with placement etc. I only tried it very briefly with a nylon string guitar. The results sounded pretty nice but not fantastic. I had it pointed about 6-8 inches away from the 12th fret. Basically I'm a complete newbie when it comes to miking up acoustic guitars so this is a whole new area for me. Since I started getting back into music I've primarily messed with synths and samples, largely because of the convenience and the fact that I don't have a lot of time in the day to be musical. But it's a shame because if I do say so myself, I'm actually a pretty accomplished fingerstyle guitarist. I really need to get it together to have my steel string repaired. It's an amazing sounding hand made job and it got neglected for years because I became a classical nut for a while. Once I get it fixed I want to get into recording guitar. I've been tempted by all of these expensive and great sounding acoustic guitar libraries, but what's always stopped me from forking over the cash is this loud inner voice which says "Are you nuts? Did you spend the last 25 years playing guitar like a banshee just to click guitar parts into a piano roll with a mouse?"....lol!
2014/06/21 13:34:20
Danny Danzi
sharke
That actually sounds amazing Danny. I need to experiment more with placement etc. I only tried it very briefly with a nylon string guitar. The results sounded pretty nice but not fantastic. I had it pointed about 6-8 inches away from the 12th fret. Basically I'm a complete newbie when it comes to miking up acoustic guitars so this is a whole new area for me. Since I started getting back into music I've primarily messed with synths and samples, largely because of the convenience and the fact that I don't have a lot of time in the day to be musical. But it's a shame because if I do say so myself, I'm actually a pretty accomplished fingerstyle guitarist. I really need to get it together to have my steel string repaired. It's an amazing sounding hand made job and it got neglected for years because I became a classical nut for a while. Once I get it fixed I want to get into recording guitar. I've been tempted by all of these expensive and great sounding acoustic guitar libraries, but what's always stopped me from forking over the cash is this loud inner voice which says "Are you nuts? Did you spend the last 25 years playing guitar like a banshee just to click guitar parts into a piano roll with a mouse?"....lol!




Thanks Sharke. :) Definitely play it live brother and don't get into those libraries unless you really have to. I think the thing that keeps me going in this field is challenging myself to play new instruments. God has definitely blessed me with the ability to make noise on a few instruments which adds to the fun. For example, the most fun I have when recording...is playing bass. I absolutely love it. Though programs like Trillian are cool, there's nothing like the real thing while PLAYING the real thing. It not only makes your production sound better, it brings (for me) some fun into the equation. :)
 
One thing I will say....and this is nothing against the ARC mics....but that guitar sounds good no matter what we put on it. This is more proof that the instrument is just as important as the capture. Honest when I tell you, we did nothing to that print. As a matter of fact, one side is hotter than the other because of the placement and the mic's aren't the same model #. Not sure how much THAT aspect comes into play, but the left one sounded a bit better to me where the right one was the older mic. In any case, they are definitely cool to record with if you need them. They have even worked for me in an over-head situation and I even used one of them on hats one time.
 
It's weird Sharke...I have this incredible mic locker yet in certain situations, the nice mic's will ruin a mix so fast it will make your head spin. Sometimes you get clients in with really cheap instruments. I try to get them to use some of my stuff whenever I can...but that would be like me using someone else's stuff, so I get it. But with the lower quality instruments....it can make them sound even worse with really good mics. Sometimes lower grade mics actually can hide some of the bad stuff sort of like tape compression/saturation low passing some annoying digital highs. So it's good to have mic's like this in certain situations.
 
I'd think your nylon string guitar would probably sound really dark with the ARC mic. Try this if you get a minute. Stay at the 12th fret like you're doing, but go as close as you can without touching your fretting fingers. If the sound appears a little dark, tilt the mic towards the headstock a little at a time while still keeping it close to the neck. Think of your neck like a speaker cab. Tilting towards the bowl makes it darker...towards the headstock makes it a little brighter. You can try tilting up or down as well.
 
OR....with lesser quality mics, this has always worked for me. Put it where your ears hear it the best and literally set the mic up side-ways like your ear canal is so the mic is not shooting directly at the sound. 45 degree or 90 degree sometimes works...other times, shoot it directly at the sound source and see how you fair. You'll have to use a bit more pre-gain if you get distant and will get a little room in the print, but sometimes it's just what the doctor ordered. Best of luck brother. :)
 
-Danny
2014/06/21 14:41:26
michaelhanson
Ha! I share your bass enthusiasm Danny, it's the track that I enjoy working out and playing the most; I look forward to that part of the songs construction.

You also hit the nail on the head with the quality of the instrument being a BIG part of the track captures quality.
2014/06/22 08:22:35
Guitarhacker
There's definitely a different mindset going on when you have a neck in your hands and 4 fat strings under your fingers that can't easily be replicated on a keyboard with a sampler.
 
Just how I see it.
2014/06/24 01:15:52
sharke
Danny Danzi
sharke
That actually sounds amazing Danny. I need to experiment more with placement etc. I only tried it very briefly with a nylon string guitar. The results sounded pretty nice but not fantastic. I had it pointed about 6-8 inches away from the 12th fret. Basically I'm a complete newbie when it comes to miking up acoustic guitars so this is a whole new area for me. Since I started getting back into music I've primarily messed with synths and samples, largely because of the convenience and the fact that I don't have a lot of time in the day to be musical. But it's a shame because if I do say so myself, I'm actually a pretty accomplished fingerstyle guitarist. I really need to get it together to have my steel string repaired. It's an amazing sounding hand made job and it got neglected for years because I became a classical nut for a while. Once I get it fixed I want to get into recording guitar. I've been tempted by all of these expensive and great sounding acoustic guitar libraries, but what's always stopped me from forking over the cash is this loud inner voice which says "Are you nuts? Did you spend the last 25 years playing guitar like a banshee just to click guitar parts into a piano roll with a mouse?"....lol!




Thanks Sharke. :) Definitely play it live brother and don't get into those libraries unless you really have to. I think the thing that keeps me going in this field is challenging myself to play new instruments. God has definitely blessed me with the ability to make noise on a few instruments which adds to the fun. For example, the most fun I have when recording...is playing bass. I absolutely love it. Though programs like Trillian are cool, there's nothing like the real thing while PLAYING the real thing. It not only makes your production sound better, it brings (for me) some fun into the equation. :)
 
One thing I will say....and this is nothing against the ARC mics....but that guitar sounds good no matter what we put on it. This is more proof that the instrument is just as important as the capture. Honest when I tell you, we did nothing to that print. As a matter of fact, one side is hotter than the other because of the placement and the mic's aren't the same model #. Not sure how much THAT aspect comes into play, but the left one sounded a bit better to me where the right one was the older mic. In any case, they are definitely cool to record with if you need them. They have even worked for me in an over-head situation and I even used one of them on hats one time.
 
It's weird Sharke...I have this incredible mic locker yet in certain situations, the nice mic's will ruin a mix so fast it will make your head spin. Sometimes you get clients in with really cheap instruments. I try to get them to use some of my stuff whenever I can...but that would be like me using someone else's stuff, so I get it. But with the lower quality instruments....it can make them sound even worse with really good mics. Sometimes lower grade mics actually can hide some of the bad stuff sort of like tape compression/saturation low passing some annoying digital highs. So it's good to have mic's like this in certain situations.
 
I'd think your nylon string guitar would probably sound really dark with the ARC mic. Try this if you get a minute. Stay at the 12th fret like you're doing, but go as close as you can without touching your fretting fingers. If the sound appears a little dark, tilt the mic towards the headstock a little at a time while still keeping it close to the neck. Think of your neck like a speaker cab. Tilting towards the bowl makes it darker...towards the headstock makes it a little brighter. You can try tilting up or down as well.
 
OR....with lesser quality mics, this has always worked for me. Put it where your ears hear it the best and literally set the mic up side-ways like your ear canal is so the mic is not shooting directly at the sound. 45 degree or 90 degree sometimes works...other times, shoot it directly at the sound source and see how you fair. You'll have to use a bit more pre-gain if you get distant and will get a little room in the print, but sometimes it's just what the doctor ordered. Best of luck brother. :)
 
-Danny




Thanks for that Danny, I'm going to have a big sit down and play with miking my nylon string this weekend. You're right, it did sound dark with the ARC mic. I'm going to try tilting it toward the headstock this time. First things first though, I need to put on a new set of strings, those haven't been changed for a while 
 
I know what you mean about high quality gear exposing the bad stuff...kind of reminds me of something a friend told me years ago. He worked in an audiophile hi-fi store and he'd often have kids come in who'd come into a bit of money and wanted to buy a kick-ass system. He'd tell them to come back with a couple of their favorite records to demo, and invariably they'd come in with something like Oasis, and wonder why it sounded better on their cheapo stereo back home 
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