Darkwood band9/18/2023 ![]() ![]() The most important microphones when recording an ensemble are the stereo pair capturing the whole group - and for that, we used two OC818s in an ORTF configuration. Recording a string ensemble is one of the most exciting challenges, and my recent session with composer and musical director, Glenn Hogue, involved layering many takes of the ensemble to give the impression of a much larger group, meaning any shortcomings in the microphones would be magnified. I prefer something bright, aggressive and in your face, which the OC818 is not - but the artist I was working with loved the old school flavour of the mic, so I won’t argue with that! acoustic guitar, a rap vocal, and a string quintet. I also got to try out the OC818 on a rap vocal. I also had the pleasure of trying out a pair of Austrian Audio OC818s and a single OC18 on drums, a 12-string the rest of the band playing live and the hypercardioid pattern of the OC818 did a brilliant job at rejecting the sound of the guitars and bass. It’s very simple to use all the drums went through the 828 on the way into my console, and it helped me to generate a sonic consistency, with extreme clarity in the high end. I also ran the drums through a Focusrite ISA 828, which I found to be an extremely clean and quiet preamp. Because it has been designed as a voice microphone, I suspect an EQ curve has been built in to reduce the proximity effect this may also be why it sounds fab on guitar cabs: the wooliness in the low mids and any harshness at 3k found on a voice (and often problematic on guitars) has already been reduced by design. It sounded really good on snare - it gave a bit of hi-hat bleed which could probably be fixed with some kind of mic shield - but I actually left it on there regardless because I liked how expansive it sounded. I also tried it on a few different sources on other sessions. Yet by itself, the ICON Pro gave a similar top to bottom sound. ![]() Previously, my preferred method of recording guitar cabs in the studio has been blending a Shure SM57 and a Sennheiser MD421. Super crisp, detailed, and very clear - not too bright, with no harshness – while still capturing the weight from the low mids without being in any way wooly. The ICON Pro has a beautifully modern, high fidelity, full-range sound. ![]() Seeing as the ICON Pros are gaining a reputation as a live guitar cab mic, it seemed natural to use them here, and they didn’t disappoint. To allow for the easiest possible communication and to get the creative juices flowing, we had the band set up in the live room with their amps, and singer, Fuzz, in the vocal booth. ![]() The aim of the Fuzz Skyler session was for the band to play live with good separation, so that they could work on new material and record the backbone to a future EP. During a couple of recent recording sessions - one with rock band, Fuzz Skyler one with a string quintet and one with a rapper - Headliner asked him to put Earthworks ICON Pros to the test on guitar cabs, and Austrian Audio’s OC818s on drum overheads, acoustic guitars, vocals, and strings. James Patrick is a house engineer at Darkwood Studios - a beautiful multi-room recording space set in the rural Hertfordshire countryside. ![]()
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