The Microphone

The most important thing is to get a good recording from the microphone. If you don’t get it right here, it will be downhill all the way. “You can’t polish a turd”, so I was told at college.  To some extent you can bring up a bad recording but the only way to get a really good recording is to mic it up properly. So, you need a reasonable microphone and there is a lot out there to choose from. 

Types

There are different types of microphone that will bring a different sound. They also vary in quality of sound and usually the better mics cost more. However, you don’t need to spend out a fortune for a reasonable mic. You also need a mic stand onto which you can fix the microphone.

Microphones can be grouped into Dynamic or Condenser mics. Dynamic mics work without the requirement of a power supply whereas condenser mics require a power supply: for example 48 volt phantom power (e.g.: supplied from the mixing console). Condenser mics tend to be more sensitive than the dynamic mics; particularly in the upper or treble frequencies the condenser mic will pick up the subtleties more. 

Both dynamic and condenser mics also have different polar patterns for example the omnidirectional mic and the unidirectional or cardioid mic.  An omnidirectional mic is sensitive to sounds arriving from all directions whereas a cardioid mic is most sensitive to sounds arriving from one direction - ie, from the front but will reject sounds more from the rear of the microphone.  In other words, if you use a typical cardioid mic it will record what’s in front of it but not behind it whereas an omnidirectional mic will be sensitive to recording from all around the mic.  So, if you use an omni mic it will also pick up more room reverberation than the cardioid mic. An omni mic will therefore give you more room ambiance in the recording.   Omnis also tend to give a more natural sound and do not suffer so much with the proximity effect as do cardioids. The proximity effect is where the bass increases as you move the instrument or didge closer to the mic. So if you place the didge close up to a mic the bass will be increased significantly. Some microphones have the feature of being able to switch between cardioid and omni giving you more versatility.

Position

The only way to get an optimum position when recording is to experiment with the placement.  You need to find where to place the mic in the room because it will sound and record differently in different parts of the room.   If you do a little experiment and blow  into your didge in the corner of a room you will find it very boomy.  In other words the low frequency will be amplified just by playing it in that corner. However, it’s better that the recording is clear and not boomy otherwise it will muddy the mix.  Therefore a corner is not a good place to record. If you get a clear or clean recording you can always enhance the bass by increasing those levels on mixing. 

I have found some of didge recordings to be too bass heavy or just boomy.  It sounds terrible on a good hi fi system.  It’s worth keeping this in mind if you are going to sell your CD because although a boomy recording may sound fine on a small getto blaster or computer it will not sound good on decent hi fi.  So, it’s back to the drawing board. The bass may also be increased when it is played close to the floor, so it may be worth raising the stick up a few feet or so to eliminate this problem. To find the best sound from the mic, you need to keep moving it around the room until you find a sweet spot.  The reason for this is that different size rooms along with its furnishings have different acoustic properties unlike a dedicated recording studio that may spend thousand of pounds on acoustic treatment!  The untreated room will therefore colour  the sound recording more.  

There is also the decision of how far the mic should be placed from the didge itself.  When performing live a mic tends to be placed right up close to the stick and there’s not much choice of where it is placed, but for home studio recordings you can move it away several inches or over a foot or so.  You have to experiment to find out what will work best for you or the recording. No amount of theory can compensate for practise!

The Mixer

You will need to connect the microphone into a mixing desk (or via an interface/into computer) as the mixer controls the incoming mic signal (eg didge or vocals, guitar etc).  Once the signal is in the mixer you can record as many tracks as the mixer will allow.  For example, an 8 or 16 track mixer, enables you to record that many tracks.

There are two types of mixing desk: analogue and digital.  Analogue desks are widely used for live performance PA systems whereas digital is used now by most recording studios. With analogue, the signal (eg, didge or vocal) is picked up through the microphone, carried down the wires into the mixing desk, out the output side into an amplifier and then into the loudspeakers where we hear the end result: a didgeridoo or voice amplified. On the other hand, with a digital mixer, the analogue signal is converted into digital where it can be manipulated to do all kinds of ‘things’ that you couldn’t do with an analogue mixer, except it cant make a cup of tea!  Digital mixers are very powerful tools when it comes to recording.

So what does the mixer do? Well, it enables you to mix all the tracks together, say a didgeridoo, drum, voice and other instruments that you want to record: a bit like making a cake, mixing all the ingredients together in the right proportion so that hopefully it comes out perfectly.  For example, when you listen to a track on a CD you will hear, say, the drum in the middle (of speakers), vocals in the middle, guitar to the right or left, shaker or clapstick to the right or left and so on.  In other words, the mixing desk enables you to mix the different instruments so that you end up with a stereo sound or picture. (To understand more about stereo hi fi picture, go to articles : Hi Fi section) On a mixer there are Pan controls that enable you to place a recorded instrument anywhere in the sound stage.  

The mixer also enables you to use EQ (equalisation) on the sound tracks, which are controls similar to the treble and bass on a Hi Fi system.  However, the mixer also has a Mid EQ control making it a powerful tool in honing in the right sound for the mix (be it for a natural sound or using it for more artistic purposes). If you have recorded the didge and you want it to sound good, you will most likely need to use some EQ, hopefully sparingly, even for a natural mix.

Levels: the mixer allows you to adjust the various volume levels of each track by use of a volume or fader control. In other words you can make any instrument such as the didge, clapsticks, or other instrument, sound quieter or louder in the mix. The master fader controls the overall level of the tracks mixed together. (This section to be continued)......

Acoustics

Studios spend a lot of money of acoustic materials to treat the room resonances/modes. For most of us a budget approach is more realistic.  The size and shape of the room will make quite a difference to the sound and large rooms tend to be better certainly from a bass point of view.  Small box shape rooms are more boomy which is undesirable when recording.....

Monitoring...

To be continued...

Proper recording studios spend thousands of pounds on high quality equipment and acoustics, enabling them to provide high quality recordings, with a good sound engineer.  Here are some simple ideas on how to get a good recording from a home recording studio.

Recording the Didgeridoo