From: jhenders@jonh.wimsey.bc.ca (John Henders)
Subject: Recording Electric Instruments. Was Re: What we've learned
Originator: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
Reply-To: jhenders@jonh.wimsey.bc.ca
Organization: Totally Nonexistent
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 13:06:02 GMT
	id <m0mLGAz-0000CYC@wimsey.bc.ca>; Thu, 20 Aug 92 10: 20 PDT
	id <0I1Y1JD@jonh.wimsey.bc.ca>; 19 Aug 92 18: 23 -0800

In article <9208170232.AA21698@alumni.cco.caltech.edu> chowkwan@alumni.cco.caltech.edu (Raymond Maihin Chowkwanyun) writes:
>>
>>>Slamet Hendry writes about the natural sound of instruments:
>>
>>>But what about those electrical instruments such as electric bass,
>>>synthesizer, slide guitar, etc. There is no way you can compare their
>>>sound reproduction w/ the real thing, since the sound itself is produced
>>>by electrical intruments, as opposed to comparing piano reproduction w/
>>>the real piano.

...stuff deleted


>indeed, these "electrical" instruments are just as valid
>a "real thing" as acoustic instruments.   in terms of
>the quality of reproduction in a listening environment,
>however, electric instruments seem to be easier to reproduce
>accurately, perhaps because of the mechanics with which
>the original sound was produced...or because it's much
>easier to get hold of a complete signal with relevant
>overtones than is readily possible with acoustic instruments
>with much more complex harmonic structure).

        The methods of miking electric instruments in the studio 
are as varied as the imaginations of those doing the recording.
The point usually though is to get the sound the artist wants or 
is used to hearing ( or what he wished it sounded like )
        
	Some of the more of the wall tricks I've heard are:

    	Putting a guitar amp in a long hall way, clode miking it, and 
having several mikes spaced along the corridor. A mixture of these 
sounds was what ended up on the final mixdown.

        Another interesting trick I heard done was to mike the guitar
as it would be done on stage, feed that signal to a large 3 way pa
stack, and mike the stack for mixing. This recording definately sounded
like the "live" sound of the electric guitar. 

        I don't have any quite as amusing anecdotes on other electric 
instruments, but I'm sure lots have been done.

        One interesting point I haven't seen discussed on this group is
the fact that many high-end people use equipment quite different than 
that found in most recording studios. Wouldn't the most accurate 
reproduction come from matching what the equipment it was recorded on.

        I've heard a lot of classical music is mastered or mixed down on
B&W 802's, while the majority of recording studios use JBL or Urie as
their main monitors, with Westlake occupying a distant second.

        Now we have all heard Dick Pierce's opinion of JBL's technology,
with all it's shortcomings, yet it still remains an Industry standard
though the latest crop of near field monitors is catching up. If most 
of the readers of this group were to audition the popular Yamaha NS10's
used in many studios for near field monitoring, they'd be shocked at how
they sound. The new Meyer M1's that are becoming popular now are a 
considerable improvement, but, still, the sound of most studio systems
is different than the high-end systems people regularly discussed here.

-- 
					 jhenders@jonh.wimsey.bc.ca		


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