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how badly did i whack that up
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hi i'm steve albini and today we're
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going to be talking about miking speaker
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cabinets
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one of the first things you need to
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decide when you're putting a microphone
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on a cabinet
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is physically where to place the
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microphone that is
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what part of the speaker you're going to
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be pointing at and
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what distance you're going to be working
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from so
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considering the placement of the
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microphone across the face of the
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speaker
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the center of the speaker cone is going
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to be moving
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in and out of the magnetic gap the most
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accurately that is
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it's going to be the most tightly
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controlled by the mag electromagnetic
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effects
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and the movement of the center of the
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speaker is going to be the most accurate
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representation of the input signal
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as you move out toward the perimeter of
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the speaker there are a lot of other
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effects that creep in
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the speaker itself can ripple or crumple
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there can be a harmonic mode generated
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around the perimeter of the speaker
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the mechanical installation can cause
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noise or damping
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all of those things argue that the
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perimeter of the speaker is going to be
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a less accurate representation of the
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input signal
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than the center of the speaker and all
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of those things argue for pointing the
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microphone toward the center of the
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speaker
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now those things those irregularities
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do contribute to the sound quality of
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the cabinet and the speaker overall when
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you're listening to a
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loudspeaker you're typically listening
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at a distance
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so if the guitar player is fond of their
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guitar sound
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that normally means that they've been
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hearing it at a distance and they like
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the sound of it at a distance
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so to capture that sound
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that argues for backing the microphone
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off from the loudspeaker slightly
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there's an added benefit to that when
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the microphone is very close to the
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loudspeaker
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it's hearing all of these eccentricities
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at their most at their highest level and
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also the microphone can be exaggerating
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one or more of these eccentric sound
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effects there are also internal cabinet
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reflections that is where the sound is
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bouncing around inside the cabinet
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and where the sound is bouncing off of
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the mechanical frame of the speaker
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and those short reflections create comb
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filtering effects and can
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dull the sound quality as you move away
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from the loudspeaker
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all of those effects sort of sum
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into a general cabinet sound that is the
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sound of the cabinet as
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at a distance is where all of those
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effects have combined
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and summed into a single sound which you
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can identify as the sound quality of
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that speaker
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so if you're trying to capture the sound
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quality of a specific speaker cabinet
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my default is to start with the
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microphone at the center of the speaker
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and then back it off to a distance where
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i can hear with my ear
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that the effects of the local
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resonances and oddities of the cabinet
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have sort of combined
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into a single sound that translates to a
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working distance typically of 12 to 14
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inches for a guitar cabinet
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for a smaller amplifier system like a
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small combo amplifier
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the working distance can be a bit closer
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let's go into studio a and i'll show you
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how i set a microphone up on a
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loudspeaker
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so this is the amplifier that i want to
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put a microphone on
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i put it up on this chair so that it
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will be
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closer to the working height of the
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microphone stands and i won't have to
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stoop so much
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and whenever i do that i like to secure
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a small amplifier with a strip of gaffer
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tape on the front and back of the
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amplifier
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so that the working vibration of the
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amplifier doesn't cause it to move off
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axis from the microphone
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the first thing i need to do is figure
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out where the center of the speaker cone
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is if i'm going to put the microphone in
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front of it
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a couple of ways to do that if you put
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your hand around the back of the small
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amp like this you can feel the center of
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the magnet
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on the back of the speaker and if you
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point your finger there
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you can put your finger in a
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corresponding position on the front
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opposite that other finger
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and that'll find the center of the
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speaker you can also just look through
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the grille but
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if you can't see through the grille you
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can use a light like the one on your
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cell phone
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which will show you precisely where the
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center of the speaker is and once you've
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found the center of the speaker you'll
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know where to put your microphone
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now this microphone is going to be at a
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working distance and it can be difficult
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to tell
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at a working distance whether you're on
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the center line of the speaker or not
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so what i like to do is i like to bring
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the microphone right up close
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line it up with the center of the
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speaker and once i'm certain that it's
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lined up i can move it back along that
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axis to any working distance
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now this mic stand is all is adjusted
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all the way to the bottom
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and it might seem that i wouldn't be
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able to get this microphone in front of
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the center of the speaker
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but there's an extra little adjustment
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here this screw which is normally used
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to collapse the mic stand for storage
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if you loosen that you can lower the
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center post of the mic stand
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and get even a big microphone like this
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down in line with the center line of the
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speaker
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now that i'm centered on the speaker i
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can move this back to any working
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distance
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oh wait a minute one more thing
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the working distance of the microphone
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can have a tremendous effect on the
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sound quality
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you can use this to your advantage to
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improve the sound quality
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of a thin or weak sounding amplifier for
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example
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you can take advantage of a principle
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called the proximity effect
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all microphones exhibit this
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characteristic some more than others
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but at a closer working distance you
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tend to get more low frequency response
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that's the proximity effect figure eight
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microphones
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tend to have more proximity effect than
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directional microphones
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omnidirectional microphones have the
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least proximity effect
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so as the microphone gets closer to the
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loudspeaker
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it exaggerates the low frequencies and
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if the mic if the amplifier sounds kind
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of weak
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kind of thin then you can beef it up
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slightly by using a microphone with a
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greater proximity effect the microphones
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with the greatest proximity effect are
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those
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that are in a physically large housing
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as the microphone gets close to the
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loudspeaker
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the polar pattern is created by the
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sound striking the front of the loud
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front of the microphone and some of the
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sound traveling around
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to the back of the microphone and the
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interference of those two is what
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creates the polar pattern of the
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microphone
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if the microphone is in a physically
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large housing that is if it's a ribbon
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microphone with a large magnetic
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armature
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then the sound gets to the front of the
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microphone the working element
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fairly quickly but it has a relatively
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long
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distance to travel to get around to the
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back of the microphone
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that tends to make the rear pattern
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less in as the
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microphone gets closer that is
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microphones tend to lose their
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directional qualities the closer they
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get to the sound source
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and it also tends to exaggerate the
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proximity effect
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so for the greatest proximity effect you
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would use
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a bi-directional microphone say a ribbon
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microphone
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with a large magnetic armature that is a
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large footprint
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because that would make for the the
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greatest acoustic
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shadow and the most exaggerated
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proximity effect
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let's go back into the studio and i'll
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show you some more useful microphone
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techniques
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a normal working distance for me for a
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cabinet like this
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would be 12 to 14 inches something
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like that if i wanted to emphasize the
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low frequencies using the proximity
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effect
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to make this amplifier sound bigger or
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heavier i can choke the microphone
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right up on top of the speaker
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proximity effect on a small combo amp
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[Music]
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no
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okay this is a bass amplifier
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uh in this instance it's for a bass
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guitar but it could be
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for an electric keyboard uh an organ
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a electric piano or rhodes a wurlitzer
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synthesizer any of those instruments
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that needs a good bass response you
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could be using a bass amplifier for live
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monitoring
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with any of those instruments it's
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important to record the lowest
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frequencies
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with accuracy so i tend to use a
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microphone like this the buyer m380
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it's a microphone with good low
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frequency response but it's also a
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figure eight microphone
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so i can move it very close to the
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speaker and take advantage of the
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proximity effect to extend the low
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frequency response
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so this microphone is going to be very
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heavy in low frequencies
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and i can be certain that even the
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lowest notes are going to be accurately
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recorded
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now there is high frequency detail
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coming out of the amplifier as well and
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if you lose that information you can
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lose the articulation of the notes
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so i tend to also use a brighter
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microphone like this
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the sennheiser 421 and record them
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simultaneously with their diaphragms
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aligned so they stay in phase
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then in the control room i can balance
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these two microphones against each other
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and synthesize the most accurate
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representation of the speaker
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you can think of it as something like
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the woofer and tweeter in a hi-fi
288
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speaker
289
00:10:03,519 --> 00:10:05,200
where you have one driver that's
290
00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:06,720
covering the low frequencies and another
291
00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:08,640
one that's covering the high frequencies
292
00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:10,720
and the blend of the two of them gives
293
00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:12,880
you the most accurate representation
294
00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:16,240
buyer m380 low frequency response at
295
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close distance
296
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[Music]
297
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sennheiser 421 high frequency detail
298
00:10:49,690 --> 00:10:51,839
[Music]
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00:10:51,839 --> 00:11:05,650
both mics
300
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[Music]
301
00:11:12,839 --> 00:11:14,079
ah
302
00:11:14,079 --> 00:11:17,360
is a little tiny amplifier
303
00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:21,200
this is a ribbon microphone the stc 4038
304
00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:23,519
with a figure eight pattern and a large
305
00:11:23,519 --> 00:11:24,720
armature
306
00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:28,240
so it will exhibit the proximity effect
307
00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:30,160
and the acoustic shadowing that i
308
00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:32,560
described earlier
309
00:11:32,560 --> 00:11:35,600
at a normal working distance this
310
00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:37,760
microphone will be picking up the guitar
311
00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:40,079
from the front lobe but the rear lobe
312
00:11:40,079 --> 00:11:40,800
will be
313
00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:42,720
picking up the free field ambient sound
314
00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:44,399
of the room
315
00:11:44,399 --> 00:11:46,640
so if i want a more ambient sound off of
316
00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:47,600
this signal
317
00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:50,000
i can just move this microphone back the
318
00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:50,639
front
319
00:11:50,639 --> 00:11:52,399
lobe will still be picking up the direct
320
00:11:52,399 --> 00:11:54,320
signal of the mic of the amplifier
321
00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:56,079
but the rear lobe will be picking up
322
00:11:56,079 --> 00:11:58,240
relatively more of the ambient sound in
323
00:11:58,240 --> 00:11:59,200
the room
324
00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:00,959
so you have a great deal of flexibility
325
00:12:00,959 --> 00:12:02,560
with the placement of a microphone like
326
00:12:02,560 --> 00:12:03,120
this
327
00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:05,440
changing the character of the sound if i
328
00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:07,920
bring it up close
329
00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:09,600
the acoustic shadow and the proximity
330
00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:11,120
effect will exaggerate
331
00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:12,880
the bass response of the amplifier
332
00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:15,519
making this small amplifier sound bigger
333
00:12:15,519 --> 00:12:17,279
at a normal working distance i'll get an
334
00:12:17,279 --> 00:12:18,880
accurate representation of the sound of
335
00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:19,920
this amp
336
00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:21,279
and if i move the microphone a little
337
00:12:21,279 --> 00:12:23,360
farther back i'll be using
338
00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:25,200
more of the rear lobe of the microphone
339
00:12:25,200 --> 00:12:27,120
and less of the front lobe and i'll get
340
00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:38,850
a more ambient sound
341
00:12:38,850 --> 00:12:50,829
[Music]
342
00:12:50,839 --> 00:13:00,420
so
343
00:13:00,430 --> 00:13:04,829
[Music]
344
00:13:04,839 --> 00:13:08,200
so
345
00:13:08,210 --> 00:13:18,550
[Music]
346
00:13:18,560 --> 00:13:27,590
i blew that my performance
347
00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:29,279
this is a bigger cabinet with two
348
00:13:29,279 --> 00:13:31,839
speakers with multiple speakers in it
349
00:13:31,839 --> 00:13:33,760
and that gives you the option of using
350
00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:35,120
multiple microphones on different
351
00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:36,399
speakers
352
00:13:36,399 --> 00:13:37,760
the speakers themselves might be
353
00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:39,920
different with different sound qualities
354
00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:41,440
and you may want to record them
355
00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:43,360
separately or you may want to take
356
00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:44,399
advantage
357
00:13:44,399 --> 00:13:46,800
of different sound quality microphones
358
00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:48,000
either for balancing
359
00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:50,800
later or to synthesize a stereo image
360
00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:52,079
from a mono signal
361
00:13:52,079 --> 00:13:53,760
in this case i have a ribbon microphone
362
00:13:53,760 --> 00:13:57,360
here and a condenser microphone here
363
00:13:57,360 --> 00:13:58,880
the ribbon microphone will be slightly
364
00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:00,880
darker slightly heavier the condenser
365
00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:02,240
microphone will be slightly brighter
366
00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:03,360
slightly
367
00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:06,720
slightly more high energy more high-end
368
00:14:06,720 --> 00:14:09,430
energy
369
00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:12,639
anyway i've also got a microphone at a
370
00:14:12,639 --> 00:14:14,320
distance picking up the ambient sound in
371
00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:15,199
the room
372
00:14:15,199 --> 00:14:16,480
that microphone is over there by the
373
00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:21,030
conga drum
374
00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:23,519
i have this microphone on the floor so
375
00:14:23,519 --> 00:14:24,880
that its pickup pattern
376
00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:26,639
normally omnidirectional becomes
377
00:14:26,639 --> 00:14:28,639
hemispherical that is it's picking up
378
00:14:28,639 --> 00:14:30,000
the reflected sound from all the
379
00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:31,199
surfaces in the room
380
00:14:31,199 --> 00:14:33,360
above the floor it's not hearing any of
381
00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:35,279
the reflections off of the floor
382
00:14:35,279 --> 00:14:36,800
those would be near field reflections
383
00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:38,240
which would cause coloration of the
384
00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:39,680
sound
385
00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:40,959
it's a good practice when you're putting
386
00:14:40,959 --> 00:14:43,040
a microphone on the floor to put a stand
387
00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:43,920
or get
388
00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:45,680
or some piece of hardware over the top
389
00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:46,959
of the microphone
390
00:14:46,959 --> 00:14:49,279
acoustically it's basically transparent
391
00:14:49,279 --> 00:14:50,959
but it prevents people from stepping on
392
00:14:50,959 --> 00:15:10,010
the microphone accidentally
393
00:15:10,020 --> 00:15:19,520
[Music]
394
00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:19,930
[Applause]
395
00:15:19,930 --> 00:15:38,829
[Music]
396
00:15:38,839 --> 00:15:40,160
ah
397
00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:42,880
a combo amplifier like this ac 30 or a
398
00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:44,320
fender twin
399
00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:47,279
sometimes has two speakers now you can
400
00:15:47,279 --> 00:15:49,199
record those two speakers independently
401
00:15:49,199 --> 00:15:51,440
or you can record one of them
402
00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:53,600
but if what you're after is the overall
403
00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:56,160
sound of that amplifier
404
00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:58,000
at a at some distance away from those
405
00:15:58,000 --> 00:15:59,279
two speakers
406
00:15:59,279 --> 00:16:01,759
the sound of them sums into a phantom
407
00:16:01,759 --> 00:16:03,120
center
408
00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:04,959
that is if you're close very close to
409
00:16:04,959 --> 00:16:06,880
the cabinet you can hear the two
410
00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:08,480
speakers discreetly
411
00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:10,639
but if you back up just a little bit
412
00:16:10,639 --> 00:16:12,480
you'll find a point where
413
00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:14,079
between midpoint between those two
414
00:16:14,079 --> 00:16:16,320
speakers you're hearing both speakers
415
00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:18,320
and the whole of the cabinet
416
00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:21,040
from a single point that phantom center
417
00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:22,480
is a good place to put a microphone if
418
00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:23,759
you want to use one microphone to pick
419
00:16:23,759 --> 00:16:25,600
up that amp
420
00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:27,759
you can find that center by crouching
421
00:16:27,759 --> 00:16:30,079
down and moving your head back and forth
422
00:16:30,079 --> 00:16:31,360
and you will be able to hear very
423
00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:33,360
clearly the point at which all the sound
424
00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:36,000
from the cabinet sums to a single point
425
00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:37,040
and that's how you know where to put
426
00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:46,550
this microphone
427
00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:48,639
i'm not going to do the jumping thing
428
00:16:48,639 --> 00:16:50,079
that started to hurt
429
00:16:50,079 --> 00:16:53,120
after a while okay you may have noticed
430
00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:54,399
that in these
431
00:16:54,399 --> 00:16:57,199
demonstrations the microphone position
432
00:16:57,199 --> 00:16:58,959
relative to the speaker cabinet
433
00:16:58,959 --> 00:17:03,680
is and on that is the
434
00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:07,360
plane of the speaker cabinet
435
00:17:07,360 --> 00:17:09,520
is parallel to the plane of the
436
00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:13,990
microphone diaphragm
437
00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:16,319
when i first started working i didn't
438
00:17:16,319 --> 00:17:17,520
know what i was doing
439
00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:19,919
and so i mimicked the practices of other
440
00:17:19,919 --> 00:17:21,760
people that i'd observed
441
00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:25,039
and it was a very common practice for
442
00:17:25,039 --> 00:17:27,839
a speaker cabinet to be mic'd from the
443
00:17:27,839 --> 00:17:29,840
side with the microphone coming in at an
444
00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:31,440
angle
445
00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:33,600
if this is an overhead view of the
446
00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:34,799
cabinet
447
00:17:34,799 --> 00:17:36,880
the microphone would be very close to
448
00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:38,080
the speaker and
449
00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:42,230
sort of angled in from the side
450
00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:44,160
and when i tried that mic position i
451
00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:45,520
found it unsatisfying
452
00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:47,919
it didn't sound that clear i felt like i
453
00:17:47,919 --> 00:17:49,120
was
454
00:17:49,120 --> 00:17:53,120
uh reaching for the equalizer often
455
00:17:53,120 --> 00:17:56,240
and i started to think about why it
456
00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:57,840
didn't sound that good
457
00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:00,240
and experimenting in with moving the
458
00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:01,600
microphone position and i found that
459
00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:03,360
when i had the microphone
460
00:18:03,360 --> 00:18:05,919
more perpendicular the sound was
461
00:18:05,919 --> 00:18:07,520
instantly brighter and clearer and
462
00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:09,600
sounded better to me
463
00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:12,640
um and if you imagine the
464
00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:16,710
the plane of the speaker
465
00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:22,710
emanating sound this away
466
00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:25,919
and if the microphone is at an angle
467
00:18:25,919 --> 00:18:28,799
then the angled diaphragm of the
468
00:18:28,799 --> 00:18:29,679
microphone
469
00:18:29,679 --> 00:18:33,679
is going to be getting
470
00:18:33,679 --> 00:18:37,280
sound across it at slightly different
471
00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:37,919
times
472
00:18:37,919 --> 00:18:40,320
and that's going to cause some phase
473
00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:41,600
cancellation and the very high
474
00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:43,360
frequencies
475
00:18:43,360 --> 00:18:45,360
uh and indeed i noticed that when i had
476
00:18:45,360 --> 00:18:46,480
the microphone at an
477
00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:49,679
at an angle it sounded duller and less
478
00:18:49,679 --> 00:18:51,039
precise to me
479
00:18:51,039 --> 00:18:52,799
but if the microphone is perpendicular
480
00:18:52,799 --> 00:18:54,960
to the plane of the speaker
481
00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:59,039
then you know within a very small error
482
00:18:59,039 --> 00:19:00,799
the whole of the diaphragm is being hit
483
00:19:00,799 --> 00:19:04,080
by the sound at the same time
484
00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:06,720
um and i believe this practice was
485
00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:07,600
derived
486
00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:11,679
from um live sound engineers having to
487
00:19:11,679 --> 00:19:13,760
keep the stage uncluttered in front of a
488
00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:15,280
speaker cabinet
489
00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:16,960
um the area in front of the speaker
490
00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:18,960
cabinet is prime real estate for
491
00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:21,120
dancing and other kinds of showmanship
492
00:19:21,120 --> 00:19:22,559
uh
493
00:19:22,559 --> 00:19:27,679
you know whatever people do on stage
494
00:19:27,679 --> 00:19:32,390
i've never been on stage so i don't know
495
00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:34,480
rather than put a microphone out in the
496
00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:36,080
middle of the stage where it could get
497
00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:37,520
kicked
498
00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:39,039
live sound engineers developed the
499
00:19:39,039 --> 00:19:40,640
practice of having the microphone off to
500
00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:42,320
the side of the speaker cabinet
501
00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:45,039
and then sneaking it in at an angle so
502
00:19:45,039 --> 00:19:46,559
as a kind of a defensive
503
00:19:46,559 --> 00:19:50,240
maneuver and then that just survived as
504
00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:51,520
received wisdom
505
00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:55,510
into the studio
506
00:19:55,520 --> 00:20:00,080
and all of my practices in the studio
507
00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:03,760
are derived from an iterative
508
00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:06,880
experimental process
509
00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:08,799
i would try something and if it didn't
510
00:20:08,799 --> 00:20:10,799
sound good i would try to think about
511
00:20:10,799 --> 00:20:14,000
why it didn't sound good and that would
512
00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:17,039
guide future experimentation and until
513
00:20:17,039 --> 00:20:17,760
eventually
514
00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:19,919
i developed a set of practices that i
515
00:20:19,919 --> 00:20:20,799
think
516
00:20:20,799 --> 00:20:24,640
are durable and versatile and can be
517
00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:26,960
used in a lot of different situations
518
00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:29,760
i encourage everybody to experiment with
519
00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:31,120
their studio practices
520
00:20:31,120 --> 00:20:34,240
because that's how the
521
00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:37,280
profession grows and
522
00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:40,320
matures we get better at things over
523
00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:41,120
time
524
00:20:41,120 --> 00:20:43,120
because we're bad at them at some point
525
00:20:43,120 --> 00:20:52,710
and we stop doing that
526
00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:54,799
you34115
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