How much can a microphone stand?

...continued from front page

However, it is within the area of studio recording microphones that the
biggest improvements in price-performance have emerged over recent years.
The advent of cheap mic preamps and cheap condenser microphones have
provided unsurpassed quality for many home studios where budgets are
invariably restricted. Notably, among Australian mic producers, Rode have
been a strong market contender, with their NT-1A condenser microphone
selling by the truckload in the sub-$400 price range. Rode's NTK and
high-quality models are excellent condenser microphone choices in the
$500-1500 price range. Traditionally such value and quality was restricted
to much higher budgets. Audio Technica are another manufacturer of high
quality condenser microphones, and their AT-3035 model represents
considerably good value. For vocals, or on acoustic instruments, condensers
in the sub-$800 price range usually produce astonishingly good results. The
only catch for the home recording buff is that they will need a decent mic
preamp to lift the signal to the required recording levels.

In fact, an interesting website is www.microphone-data.com, where
specifications of most of the product on offer in this marketplace has been
compiled to enable the avid consumer to drool over every aspect of mic
design.

An issue with choosing the microphone is not how well it supposedly performs
in the brochure, but how well it suits the source voice or instrument, and
how well it complements the accompanying mic preamp. Mic preamps start
around the $250 mark for domestic quality preamps, and excellent devices
can be bought for under $1500. Focusrite (especially the Platinum series -
www.focusrite.com ) are a fine choice. dBx (with their mini pre) and ART also
produce compact mic preamps ideal for home recording use. If you are using a
condenser mic which requires phantom power, then check that your preamp has
a phantom power option to suit the mic you intend to use.

It is imperative that the sound source, the microphone, and the pre-amp, are
all considered as equal parts of a critical chain, when deciding what is
ideal for recording your material.

Another market which has opened up in recent years is the PC-based recording
market. If you are recording to PC, then there are a host of USB
mic/instrument preamps which convert the mic's analog signal to digital for
hard disk recording via the PC's USB port. You simply plug the USB interface
into your PC USB port, and connect your mic or instrument, set the recording
levels, and record. Simple. These units are often powered via the USB port
itself, meaning that portable recording is an option. Tascam's US122 US
interface offers excellent value and functionality, and Edirol
(www.edirol.com) is another manufacturer supplying audio interface devices
for USB recording. These are compact and fairly good in quality, especially
for home recording. USB recording interfaces usually offer 16-bit quality
(although many believe that higher sampling rates are ideal). Yet coupled
with a good microphone, they provide a great way to record music or vocals
via your PC, on both laptops and desktops. Coupled with a program like
n-tracks (www.fasoft.com) you can have a decent digital hard disk recording
studio for under a grand! USB isn't the first choice for studio quality
recording, but it's a very economical first step, and is way simpler and
less noisy than the cassette and reel-to-reel tape options on domestic
recorders of twenty years ago. You can stamp your audio material to CD quite
cheaply using the PC's CD burner, and any number of suitable programs such
as Nero.

Although all this quality is now affordable, I still resort to low-tech
solutions. Often I insist on singing my tracks through a telephone handset
onto the home phone answering machine. Look out for my next CD single Mum -
can you come and pick me up from the station?.

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Gettler works the words

...continued from front page

A few examples. "He morphs the familiar into the unexpected, and then repeats the process through the same piece over and over again." Having served up the fashionably picturesque term, "morph", just where we expect the term "unfamiliar", he places the unexpected yet familiar term "unexpected". Then, he "repeats the process over and over again". Again: the repetition of the word "hypnotic" has a mesmerising effect. Later, to convey what Gettler must consider to be a dramatic moment, borrowing from the language of stage directions, he says simply: "Tension builds. Enter Isaacs with the melody." It works. Then, at the end, having ridden the hills of a mauve-cum-blue if not purple landscape on flying warhorses (and, why not?), Gettler concludes: "Great music...". But, whoops, he is not saying, in so many words, at least, that this is great music, for the phrase continues: "whatever genre, is about tension and release". While we might contend with Gettler on this assertion as what music is all about, or at least require of him a "please explain", the phrase demonstrates that tension and release have their place, not just in music, but in prose, too.
Am I reading too much into too few words? Well, if you will place your tongue firmly in your cheek as you can see I have done in emulation of Gettler, you may be on the way to entering into Gettler's universe of referents.
Now, although the expression "tongue in cheek" may make it seem that Gettler views the entire of task of music reviewing as just a joke, have patience. This multi-referentiality, more than merely eclecticism or dilettantism, has the serious burden of conveying Gettler's enthusiasm for the music. Not to mention his enthusiasm for writing the review.
Whether the music deserves that enthusiasm is not at issue here; what is at issue is whether Gettler manages to place your attention where he wants it: on the music; and that he does in spades.

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