Recording Mic for steel...

[Steve Wood]

Hi All,

Just starting to get into home recording, and I'd like to slowly piece together a nice chain.

I play a Fulawka D10 through a Goodrich and Session 400. But after that it's anybody's guess. Currently I go direct from the amp to my Focusrite Scarlett unit, to a macbook.

I know I can do much better, but with limited funds it has to be piece by piece.

So, any suggestions for a good quality mic, cable, mic pre, compressor, interface?

Lets warm up my tone, it's getting cold up here.

Cheers,
Steve

[Jerry Kippola]

Demeter tube direct/ urea 1176

[Brad Sarno]

http://en-us.sennheiser.com/e-609-silver

[Brad Sarno]

Good interfaces, affordable, reliable, decent sound, easy...


http://www.motu.com/products/motuaudio/audio-express

[Darrell Owens]

I see that Brad Sarno has recommended a Sennheiser for your studio, and that is a great mic. I have a room full of mics, preamps, amps, etc. but when it come to getting a clean warm sound recording at home, I use a Revelation Preamp direct to the Mac running ProTools, and in the pro studio, I do them same thing. The Revelation emulates A warm tube amp and you don't have to worry about ambient noise ruining your best cut. The engineers love it because it is an easy set up and they don't have to monkey with a mic and an amp.

[Daniel Policarpo]

I would not discount direct recording yet, either. For years I used a great old Electro Voice Dynamic mic into whatever, but lately I've really enjoyed the direct signal options derived from running a Fender Mustang III direct.

Direct recording does not have to sound sterile or cold, unless you want it to. The effect from adjusting second-level parameters relative to SAG, BIAS, cabinets/speakers, etc from some of the newer amplification options is profound. Peaveys manufacture great amps, but there are amplifier designs for direct recording that I think might be better suited for what you have in mind, as well as being less costly in the long term than starting from scratch, while allowing more time to work out other aspects of your recordings. Still, mic'ng things up has its own rewards in the process, and I'd also be interested in hearing what others recommend in the way of mics and signal components.

[John Macy]

Don't discount direct--I use Brad's Octal V8 pre amp with fantastic results--If I go with a mic on the amp, my first choice for steel is the Sennheiser 421...

[Bob Hoffnar]

I would get a cheap decent mic like a shure 57 or the 609 and experiment with volume and mic placement.

[Brian McGaughey]

I've never tried but I've heard of a technique of micing both the front and back of an open backed cab.

Reverse the phase on the back mic. Mix the two at mixdown to your pleasure.