Improving Your Audio Recording Setup
In this time of Pandemic, the importance of Social Media and Internet projects are more apparent since live concerts are not possible. Are we, as musicians, equipped with the best equipment and practices to allow the best presentation for projects? In Episode 5 we had the pleasure of having on as our featured guest Eric Van Wagner who helped discuss topics and answer questions from our community of musicians on how they could improve the audio quality of their projects.
Eric is the lead audio instructor at GrooveU as well as respected audio engineer both the rock/pop and classical music world. Contact for private lessons
The conversation was guest hosted by our community member Ken Kubota - producer and founder of JHMJams.
Contact Eric for one on one tutorials for audio tech and editing.
Visit his community AudioBeginners on FB and the website.
0:00 Intro
10:08 Entry Level Microphone Choice // USB VS XLR
12:47 Microphones to invest in and why
16:06 Microphone Placement (See PDF on our website)
21:41 Audio Interface
24:07 What your budget for audio equipment should look like
25:04 Compression and LUFS on Social Media Platforms
28:42 Differences between a Dynamic Microphone and Condenser Microphone
31:36 Ribbon Microphones
32:41 Large vs Small Diaphragm Microphone
35:16 Mic stands and setup
38:01 DPA Mics and placement
41:33 Post Production? Less is More
44:20 Plugins
45:14 Final Words of Wisdom
47:11 Wait! What about Autotune?
49:31 Eric's info
Audio Software
Simple is better.
Logic and Protools are great but have a huge learning curve. It is better to start out simple with Garage Band (OSX) or Audacity (Windows).
If you do feel you want to take the next step and will eventually work with an engineer try out the free versions of these great programs:
Avid ProTools First (free version)
Presonus Studio One
Audio Setup Reference
Here is a guide to Mic placement by Eric from his book The Basic Track Series:Book 1
DPA makes incredible mics but are very expensive. This resource from DPA can be used with their mics or any other brand for setup reference
Recommended Mics to invest
*Note USB mics are not recommended as they are not future-proof due to the trends of OS support. However if you were to get one, they are all similar in their respectable price points. The Mic’s listed below are XLR input which offer the best, pure sound and can be used virtually forever for your projects. They do require an audio interface which are addressed in the next section.
Large Diaphram (Single)
Audio Technica AE3000
AKG Pro Audio C214
AKG Pro Audio C414
Small Diaphragm (Buy pairs):
sE Electronics sE7
Slate Digital ML-2
Shure-KSM137
Shure-SM81-LC
For Sax and Brass
Audio-Technica PRO 35
Audio Interface
If you buy one of the above microphones you will need an audio interface since they are not USB but XLR input.
You can buy an interface to connect to your computer (USB) or to your mobile device (iPhone)
Computer/USB
Focusrite Scarlett
Presonus STUDIO 26 Recording System
Lightning Port/iPhone
Shure-Digital-Audio-Interface