work with what you've got

when it rains, it pours. i am definitely blessed with work to do. i'd rather be too busy than have nothing to do.

first off, i got back yesterday from a two week run with Stellar Kart and got back the first mix from Tricia's worship record. it's a song called "Lean" that was loosely inspired by the old hymn "Leaning On The Everlasting Arms." "wow" you might say. "why is one song done so early?" well i'll tell you. that song is going to appear in an upcoming Now Hear This compilation. we're very excited. we had it mixed by Ainslie Grosser (@ainslieg). i'll have plenty more to show and tell very soon about the rest of the record.

secondly, let's talk about something else exciting. as i said earlier, i just got off the road with stellar kart for a two week run. while i was out, i brough some gear with me and we recorded an EP - the contents which are very very secret. "how secret" you ask? well let's just say that if said secrets were to leak on the internets, many clandestine agents around the world would be outed, nuclear war would ensue and would probably bring about the end of the human race.

i've never done a record while on tour. this was definitely a lesson in less-is-more. what's surprising is how well things can turn out when you don't have your best tools. it just reinforces the fact that what makes a good recording are the ideas, not the gear.

here's a shot of the rig.

a single shock mounted road case, digi 002 rack, motu 8 channel mic pre and avalon 737. that drawer contains a bunch of mics, cables, dongles, headphones and random stuff. everything was run off of a macbook.

the day we recorded drums, we were incredibly fortunate to be playing a show at a church that had halfway decent acoustics. it wasn't as good as a professionally designed studio, but it was good enough. here's a shot:

notice the panels on the wall. they're absorption panels to deaden the room. also notice the angled walls. without getting into a long drawn out discussion on acoustics, just accept this fact when i tell you that you don't want any parallel surfaces in a room where you're recording.

here's jordan's setup

we didn't have the best mics available. here's the quick rundown - audix d6 and shure beta 52 on kick. audix i5 and 57 on snare(s) two unidentified mics on toms that came from manic drive. akg c1000's on overheads, audio technica 4050's for room mics and 57's for hat and ride. what's interesting about using a dynamic mic on hat and ride is that the pattern wasn't as wide as a condenser which is what i typically use. which means better isolation. i don't know why i haven't tried this before.

also, i tried something new with the room mics. i brought a long headphone extender cable with me. i grabbed one of the room mics and record enabled it and put the headphones on. i had jordan start playing and i just walked around the room listening to the mic. the trouble with room mics is usually with the cymbals. it's hard to find a good spot that's not so harsh on the high end. we ended up finding a sweet spot with some good low end about 15 feet in front and to the left of the kit. not exactly where i guessed it would be. if i'm ever trying to record drums in a room that i'm not familiar with, i think i've found a new trick.

here's another interesting thing i tried:

ok, things are about to get nerdy. be warned. if you don't like technical talk, you might want to skip the next few paragraphs.

noticed how one mic is about two feet behind the other mic. 22 inches to be exact. the night before i was thinking about an article i read where chris lord alge was talking about making sure if he was mixing two channels of bass how important it is that they're in phase with each other. forgive me if those of you reading already know this, but when you encounter phase problems, certain frequencies will cancel out depending on the phase. anyway, i was thinking that there could be a way to use phase cancellation to create a desired effect. i didn't have all my normal equipment to record drums like i usually do at darkhorse. with a kick drum i find myself almost always scooping out 300 Hz (or somewhere around there.) different frequencies have different wavelengths - actual physical wavelengths. i figured if i could find the exact wavelength of 300 Hz and place the second mic so that frequency would be exactly 180 degrees out of phase, then that frequency (and that frequency alone) would cancel out. the formula to use is:

c/f = w

where c = the constant (in this case being the speed of sound in meters per second [343 m/per sec])

f = frequency

w = wavelength

so when i plug my numbers in i get this:

343 / 300 = f

f = 1.14 meters

that's science!! well...math, really. mrs. labbe, if you're reading this (and she might actually be), you are probably so proud right now.

yes kids. i just did some algebra. i hate to break it to you, but you actually do need to use some of that stuff they teach you in school.

anyway, 1.14 meters is roughly 44 inches. if i want the mic to be 180 degrees out of phase, i need to place it at half that distance which is 22 inches.

did it work?? BEAUTIFULLY. i couldn't believe it. i didn't use any EQ and the kick sounded great. granted, i did have to move the fader up and down a bit to find the sweet spot where it was canceling out just right, but nevertheless, it worked. also, i should give some credit to @jordanmesser for having a good sounding kick and knowing how to tune it and play it well.

so lesson be learned. to everybody complaining about not having great gear:

a shoddy craftsman blames his tools.