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Tricks for your Tracks

May 2010

When recording & mixing, document the session. You may think that you will remember details & recall them in the future, but you won't remember everything. It's better to do this as the session progresses rather than waiting until the end. Notes include dates, titles of songs, times of song, names of musicians, instruments & brands, amplifiers, types of microphones & placement, placement of players, & placement of baffles, among other things. A floorplan of the studio can be helpful. Also consider where the knobs were set on pedals, amplifiers & the like. A digital camera with a mic to take snapshots & audio notes will speed things up. All this can prove invaluable when you are asked to do a fix or remix from a session that happened months or even years ago.

A quick route to a great stereo sound is to use the Blumlein technique developed by engineer Alan Blumlein the the early 1930's. Begin with 2 figure-8 pattern mics. These can be ribbon type or condenser. It's important that they be the same model so that the left & right images will be similar. Aim the front of the lower mic toward the sound source. Invert the second mic & place the front of it toward the source with it's capsule directly above the lower mic. Now take the lower mic & turn it 45 degrees to the left & turn the upper mic 45 degrees to the right. The 2 mics now have 90 degrees of separation relative to the source. Route the lines onto 2 separate tracks & pan the tracks hard left & right.